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Really cool to see this news this evening that Obama claims the nomination:

My favorite line from Jeff Zeleny’s article:

“They are members of Mr. Obama’s team — a political start up — that is responsible for defeating one of the most tried and tested operations in Democratic politics.”

And, what’s also cool is that he’s in St. Paul, tonight to announce this.  Deuce Cities!

Last evening, I had the chance to see Jandek play a live show at the Mendelssohn Theatre here in Ann Arbor.  It was a really dark set - Jandek on a fretless bass guitar and vocals, Christian Matjias on the harpsichord, and James Cornish was on trumpet.  Thanks to WCBN for bringing him here, and thanks to Jandek for a really intense, and intriguing show. read more about the man, the project, the mystery here.

Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society is celebrating its 10th Anniversary May 15th - May 16th with an event called Berkman@10.  The two day event features a selection of distinguished speakers, several scheduled as well as participant determined breakout sessions, book releases, and other presentations that explore cyberspace, the future of the internet, open education, open media, cooperation, transparency in government, and a host of other relevant themes.

One of the coolest aspects of the event, by far, is the number of ways for those of us who aren’t there to plug-in to what’s taking place. David Weinberger and others have put together a list of social tools event attendees are utilizing to capture and communicate in real time, including Twitter, an IRC channel, Second Life, and Webcasts.

Check it out.

My sister and I had the great opportunity to spend the past week traveling throughout Guatemala.  We started the journey in Guatemala City, flew to the El Petén region to explore the Mayan ruins of Tikal, visited with friends starting a non-profit organization in Antigua, and relaxed on the scenic shores of Lago Atitlán.  We roasted marshmallows over flowing lava, swam in crystal clear lakes, ate fresh mangoes and fresh made corn tortillas, and, best of all, met some amazing people.

In the next few days, I’ll be posting a number of photos from the trip on my flickr page.  As most of our time was spent away from Internet cafes, I’ll recap some of the trip experiences and reflect on my perception of how Guatemalans seem to be addressing issues areas including the high cost of energy, education, health care, and communication technology. One week is certainly not enough time for me to provide any significant commentary on these issues, but I will say that the time spent talking to people and observing environments very well may be enough to ignite some interesting discussions.

Anyone familiar in some small part with what has been happening with the University of Michigan’s Open Educational Resources initiative will already know we have had a number of great developments over the last few months. We’ve had student dScribes from the School of Information participate in a pilot program to help gather, vet, and clear content for publication and we’ve made significant progress on the development of the software tools we’ll use to manage the process of clearing course content.

But what we’re most excited about now is the emergence of what we’re calling…Open.Michigan

Open.Michigan is more than an Open educational Resources site. It represents the diverse collection of Open initiatives on campus - from open access publishing and open archives to open source software and open standards. The site provides greater visibility to the various projects and attempts to expand the dialogue between campus participants and external collaborators.

We also hope to build upon the Open Community’s strong participatory culture, inviting people to explore the Open.Michigan website, subscribing, authoring, and commenting on our blog, taking a look at our wiki, and following updates on our Twitter (open_michgan) and joining our new facebook group, Open.Michigan.

We’re excited about this transition and look forward to your feedback and participation as Open.Michigan continues to evolve and expand.