Today I clicked on a story I was reading through my RSS newsreader posted by Stephen Downes. Unfortunately the click didn't take me through to the specific post but to his home page, which, thanks to RSS and the good old plain text newsletter he sends out daily, I hardly ever get to visit.

Since, as many times before, I had a hard time finding the post I was looking for by looking at his above-the-fold home page section, I indulgently opted for giving a read to his home page feature, nicely introduced by a color image (wish I knew more about what it shows, but found no caption or info when clicking through it.

From the URL of the image I gathered this maybe a sea place in Maine, US). Nonetheless these apparently frustrating issues, which I am sure Stephen is aware of and working at improving, I read with interest his open call for readers testimonials documenting the impact he has had on our work and projects. Since Stephen Downes work is funded by the Government of Canada National Research Council's through its support for the Atlantic E-Business Initiative in the Institute for Information Technology, I have felt compelled to provide my humble share of help to this phenomenal guy.

Here is my public two-liner for Stephen, which I have sent to him by email:

"Stephen Downes and the news information he publishes on a regular basis has become a key educational reference, a unique news source and an influential powerful advisor in focusing my attention on critical issues relating to education/learning, quality research conducted by others, new technologies and his all too valuable reflections about education and the ways in which we can all contribute to its improvement in the near future.

His pioneering editorial/technical work with RSS and topic/news aggregation is one of the best living examples of how ingenious and intellectually rich people can make a difference without any major financial backing. Stephen Downes shows in practical terms with his work how effective and useful these new media technologies can be for education.

Please, keep the man in place and give him greater resources, assistants and time to do more. He is an invaluable asset for all of us."