Thanks to Tim Maly for this pointer on Twitter (always enjoy his tweets): Amazing historical piece on what we would come to know as the "open web" indeed. Here's the beginning:

2.10: The (Second Phase of the) Revolution Has Begun: "If this sounds wrong, consider Mosaic. Mosaic is the celebrated graphical 'browser' that allows users to travel through the world of electronic information using a point-and-click interface. Mosaic's charming appearance encourages users to load their own documents onto the Net, including color photos, sound bites, video clips, and hypertext 'links' to other documents. By following the links - click, and the linked document appears - you can travel through the online world along paths of whim and intuition."

In the age of increased suburbanization of the web via Facebook, mobile platform apps and video sites, it's time to ponder what the third phase of the revolution will look like. I'm pulling for the open web based on whimsical hyperlinks to once again rise to drive the same type of innovation and sharing that occurred in those silo'd days of CompuServe and Prodigy. Oh, and a federated twitter built on RSS and real time pinging. Here's to the (non-silo'd) future.

Exactly what I'm doing this year with my 8th Grade Physical Science students...

A Classroom Experiment: Ditching a Textbook - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education: "I'll be replacing the traditional 'conflicting viewpoints' textbook, though, with materials gathered from a variety of resources: the web, the news media, the popular press, and more traditional scholarly venues. As the semester progresses, the students will take on some responsibility for determining course content."

I'm hoping guessing this will be a precipitous trend in the coming decade with a tipping point about 2-3 years out. My children will never know of dreaded back strain due to poorly conceived cookie cutter textbooks. Primary sources, love of reading and engaged critical thinkers will then thrive.

I'm working on our GriffinScience Text(s)book for next "year" (not sure why we call them school years...) and it's coming together nicely. We aren't going to be using a standard textbook for many reasons. Cost is one, but the assumption that science can be learned via a medium like a textbook is antithetical to the scientific endeavor. Instead, I'm writing everything (along with student work during the "year" that will be incorporated into the book) that will be the backbone of our class. Of course, the students will be doing most of the work and this is a labor of love to provide them with pointers. This isn't me emptying my head and asking them to memorize the facts I proclaim. Instead, this is more of a compass for their own studies of Physical Science. All of the excerpts in the book are from primary texts by scientists and in the public domain. This will all be public domain as well. I'll have it all out there on http://texts.griffinscience.com soon if you'd like to follow along and maybe learn a thing or two about your universe from the incredible young people with whom I'll be working. Here is the HTML outline that you can expand: > GriffinScience Textsbook Here is text file with the outline you can download:

> GriffinScience TextsBook.txt And here is an .rtf file you can open in Word or Pages or OpenOffice:

> GriffinScience TextsBook.rtf I'm also wrapping up on an mp3 version as well as an iPod/iPad/iTouch app (and hopefully Android as soon as I get into the App Builder beta since I don't have time to learn a new programming language after slogging through Objective-C this summer). I'll keep you posted on when those are in the App Store. More soon!

I started using the web very early as a middle schooler in the early 90's. I don't remember the first browsers I used when I realized what a "browser" was, but I do remember being in love with Mosaic then Netscape (and always disliking/distrusting Microsoft's browser from the beginning). That love translated into affection for Firefox (I even have two Firefox tshirts). So, as I come to this crux, I have to wonder... Chromium or Firefox? My searching around has found this interesting thread:

Arch Linux Forums / Firefox vs. Chromium - The final verdict: "That's an entirely different thing. Adblock for FF prevents ads from being downloaded, hence makes your web experience faster and less annoying. The 'Adblock' for chromium is just a CSS hack that will hide the ads after they've been downloaded (and sometimes shown for parts of a second which is even more annoying)."

I don't think I could browse the web without Adblock, NoScript and Firebug. They are just exemplary add-ons for any web browsing experience. I didn't realize that Adblock's Chromium extension was limited in such a way, but it makes sense. Plus, would I really like to experience the web via a Google product (even if it is "open") instead of something from the Mozilla group? Reading this fascinating interview of Mozilla's Asa Dotzler doesn't make me lean to Chromium any further, either. So... Firefox or Chromium? It sounds like I've made up my mind towards Firefox (I am a steadfast Thunderbird user, after all), but since I primarily use Apple hardware (Macbook Pro, iPhone, iPad), it's not a black/white issue. However, I do love the thought of using the Firefox/Thunderbird combo for most of what I do.