Summary:
From the OLPC website: “One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a new, non-profit association dedicated to research to develop a $100 laptop–a technology that could revolutionize how we educate the world’s children. This initiative was first announced by Nicholas Negroponte at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in January 2005. Our goal: to provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment, and express themselves.” The ”$100 laptops–not yet in production–will not be available for sale. The laptops will only be distributed to schools directly through large government initiatives.” (more…)

Summary:
This report describes the core concepts of XML, as well as how to deploy it and its capabilities. It tries to explain XML from scratch without getting too deep into the details. After an introduction and a first example for a possible XML structure and application, an overview about the components of the mechanisms around XML and their benefits is given. The technical analysis describes what exactly is necessary to work with XML and how. The report contains enough information to get entirely started with XML technology, but as XML is a very broad field, this short essay can not claim any form of completeness, and the interested reader should refer to the given references and various books about XML, XSLT and the other technologies involved. (more…)

Summary:
Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia, the content of which is contributed by users. The site describes itself in eleven words stating, “Wikipedia is a neutral and unbiased compilation of notable, verifiable facts.” While articles are not subjected to peer review, per se, the fundamental philosophy behind Wikipedia is similar to many “open” projects in that the expectation is that collaboration results in improvement over time. (more…)

Format for syndicating web content.

“RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs. But it’s not just for news. Pretty much anything that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS: the “recent changes” page of a wiki, a changelog of CVS checkins, even the revision history of a book. Once information about each item is in RSS format, an RSS-aware program can check the feed for changes and react to the changes in an appropriate way.â€? (From xml.com.)

Links: xml.com article | Wikipedia Article

Free online blogging hosting.

“A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world… Since Blogger was launched, almost five years ago, blogs have reshaped the web, impacted politics, shaken up journalism, and enabled millions of people to have a voice and connect with others.â€? (From Blogger.)

Links: Blogger

LiveJournal is an online journal community.

“LiveJournal is a simple-to-use communication tool that lets you express yourself and connect with friends online.

You can use LiveJournal in many different ways: as a private journal, a blog, a social network and much more.� (From the LiveJournal homepage.)

Starter Links: LiveJournal

Online community and forums for fans of television shows, particularly reality shows and hour-long dramas.

“Our mandate is, more or less, to give people a place to revel in their guilty televisual pleasures. In most cases, we have a complex love/hate relationship with the show, and this site is a way for us to work through those feelings. If we plain hated a show, we wouldn’t pay it any attention at all. (Becker, are your ears burning?)â€? (From FAQ section of TwoP site).

See also, for discussion of the relation between the forums and television executives, “The Remote Controllersâ€? by Marshall Sella, NYT 10/20/02.

Starter Links: Television Without Pity

Transliteracies Research Report By Katrina Kimport

Free online community, with multiple local chapters, hosting classifieds and forums.

“Q: What is craigslist?
A: Local community classifieds and forums – a place to find jobs, housing, goods & services, social activities, a girlfriend or boyfriend, advice, community information, and just about anything else—all for free, and in a relatively non-commercial environment.

Q: What is craigslist trying to accomplish?
A: Provide a trustworthy, efficient, relatively non-commerical place for folks to find all the basics in their local area.� (From the Fact Sheet on main Craigslist site)

Craigslist has been involved in a recent lawsuit regarding the legality of some of its housing postings in regard to fair housing legislation (see “IDEAS & TRENDS; The Ads Discriminate, but Does the Web?â€? by Adam Liptak, NYT 3/5/06). Additionally, many have argued that the Craigslist free format has made newspaper classified ads–a primary source of print revenue–obsolete (see “The Media Business, Advertising: The Newspapers Offer a Case for Keeping Them Aroundâ€? by Julie Bosman, NYT, 12/8/05).

Starter Links: craigslist

Typographical character frequently used and put to novel uses in the online environment.

“The @ symbol has been a central part of the Internet and its forerunners ever since it was chosen to be a separator in e-mail addresses by Ray Tomlinson in 1972. From puzzled comments which surface from time to time in various newsgroups, it appears the biggest problem for many Net users is deciding what to call it. This is perhaps unsurprising, as outside the narrow limits of bookkeeping, invoicing and related areas few people use it regularly. Even fewer ever have to find a name for it, so it’s noted mentally as something like ‘that letter a with the curly line round it.’â€? (from World Wide Words)

In addition to its functions in the online realm, the “@â€? symbol is increasingly commonly used to render gendered words, usually of Spanish origin, gender-neutral. For example, in referencing a population of Latinos and Latinas, typists can record Latin@s to include both men and women, without using the default of the male-specific suffix.

Starter Links: World Wide Words

Online archive of information related to early print.

“A much overlooked part of Britain’s national heritage is the wealth of printed material produced in the first three hundred years after the invention of the printing press. As well as charting key moments in the development of English literature, this material offers contemporary accounts of major historical events, such as the English Civil War, the Union of the Crowns, the discovery of the Americas and advances in science and medicine.

Launched in January 2003, the Britain in Print project will, for the first time, provide free access for all – from the home, school, library, or workplace – to information about the rich collections of early British books that are held in twenty-one of the nation’s most important libraries.” (From the web site.)

Starter Links: Britain in Print | Britain in Print has the Backing of the Heritage Lottery Fund | The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland talks about Britain in Print | Consortium of Research Libraries (CURL)

The next phase of the world wide web.

“Web 2.0 is a term popularized by O’Reilly Media and MediaLive International as the name for a series of web development conferences that started in October 2004. It has since come to refer to what some people describe as a second phase of architecture and application development for the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 applications often use a combination of techniques devised in the late 1990s, including public web service APIs (dating from 1998), Ajax (1998), and web syndication (1997). They often allow for mass publishing (web-based social software). The term may include blogs and wikis. To some extent Web 2.0 has become a buzzword, incorporating whatever is newly popular on the Web (such as tags and podcasts). A consensus on its exact meaning has not yet been reached.” (From wikipedia)

Starter Links: wikipedia definition | O’Reilly Radar definition

“Most images you see on your computer are composed of bitmaps. A bitmap is a map of dots, or bits (hence the name), that looks like a picture as long you are sitting a reasonable distance away from the screen. Common bitmap filetypes include BMP (the raw bitmap format), JPEG, GIF, PICT, PCX, and TIFF. Because bitmap images are made up of a bunch of dots, if you zoom in on a bitmap, it appears to be very blocky. Vector graphics (created in programs such as Freehand, Illustrator, or CorelDraw) can scale larger without getting blocky.” (From Sharpened Glossary)

Online search engine that provides an innovative method for searching the web.

“StumbleUpon uses [thumbs-up/thumbs-down] ratings to form collaborative opinions on website quality. When you stumble, you will only see pages which friends and like—minded stumblers have liked.” (From StumbleUpon.)

Starter Links: StumbleUpon

“RSS is a family of web feed formats, specified in XML and used for Web syndication. RSS is used by (among other things) news websites, weblogs and podcasting. The abbreviation is variously used to refer to the following standards:

Web feeds provide web content or summaries of web content together with links to the full versions of the content, and other metadata. RSS in particular, delivers this information as an XML file called an RSS feed, webfeed, RSS stream, or RSS channel. In addition to facilitating syndication, web feeds allow a website’s frequent readers to track updates on the site using an aggregator.‿ (From wikipedia.)

Popular type of “reading” alternative made from recordings of spoken words.

“An audio book is a recording of the contents of a book read aloud. It is usually distributed on compact discs (CDs), cassette tapes, or digital formats (e.g., MP3 and Windows Media Audio). The term “audio book” has been synonymous with “books on tape” for roughly 20 years. Cassette tape sales still comprise roughly 40% of the audio book market, with CDs the other dominant format type.” (From Wikipedia)

Starter Links: Wiki article

Online search engine that visualizes search results.

“KartOO is a metasearch engine with visual display interfaces. When you click on OK, KartOO launches the query to a set of search engines, gathers the results, compiles them and represents them in a series of interactive maps through a proprietary algorithm.” (From KartOO.)

Starter Links: KartOO | article about KartOO from The State

“A design cut in relief on a block of wood, for printing from; a print or impression obtained from this; a wood-engraving.â€? (from the OED. n.)

Starter Links: [under construction]

“1. a. Antiq. An instrument made of metal, bone, etc., having one end sharp-pointed for incising letters on a wax tablet, and the other flat and broad for smoothing the tablet and erasing what is written. 1. Also applied to similar instruments in later use.â€? (From the OED.n.1,a)

Starter Links: [under construction]

“A writing-room; spec. the room in a religious house set apart for the copying of manuscripts.” (from the OED.n.)

Starter Links: [under construction]

“A writer; one whose business is writing. In various specific or limited applications; 3. Used as the official designation of various public functionaries performing secretarial duties. 4. a. One who writes at another’s dictation; an amanuensis. Obs. 5. A copyist, transcriber of manuscripts; now esp. the writer of a particular MS. copy of a classical or mediæval work.â€? (From the OED.n1.1, 3-5)

Starter Links: [under construction]

Tool used to remove ink from a manuscript.

Starter Links: [under construction]

7-8th century stone cross in Ruthwell, just south of Dumfries, Scotland. Latin and Runic inscriptions as well as pictorial images on each face of the cross.

Starter Links: [under construction]

“I. 1. The Book of Psalms, as one of the books of the Old Testament b. A translation or particular version (prose or metrical) of the Book of Psalms c. A copy of, or a volume containing, the Psalms, esp. as arranged for liturgical or devotional use.â€? (From the OED.n.II.1, b-c)

Starter Links: [under construction]

“1. a. A piece of animal skin, esp. from a sheep or goat, dressed and prepared as a surface for writing; a scroll or roll of this material; a manuscript or document written on this.â€? (From the OED.n.I,1)

Starter Links: [under construction]

“1. Paper, parchment, or other writing material designed to be reusable after any writing on it has been erased. b. In extended use: a thing likened to such a writing surface, esp. in having been reused or altered while still retaining traces of its earlier form; a multi-layered record.â€? (From the OED.n.A,1-2)

Starter Links: [under construction]

“1.The book containing the service of the Mass for the whole year; a mass-book. 2. A Roman Catholic book of devotions, esp. when illuminated; an illuminated book of hours, etc.â€? (From the OED.n1.I,1-2)

Starter Links: [under construction]

“6. Illuminated matter or work; a picture in an illuminated manuscript, an illumination. In early use also: the action or process of rubricating letters or of illuminating a manuscript.â€? (From the OED.n.6)

Starter Links: [under construction]

A book printed using moveable type prior to the year 1501 AD.

Starter Links: [under construction]

“6. a. The embellishment or decoration of a letter or writing with bright or luminous colours, the use of gold and silver, the addition of elaborate tracery or miniature illustrations, etc.: see ILLUMINATE v. 8. b. with pl. The designs, miniatures, and the like, employed in such decoration.â€? (From the OED.n.6,a-b)

Starter Links: [under construction]

“A word inserted between the lines or in the margin as an explanatory equivalent of a foreign or otherwise difficult word in the text; hence applied to a simliar explanatory rendering of a word given in a glossary or dictionary. Also, in a wider sense, a comment, explanation, interpretation. Often used in a sinister sense: A sophistical or disingenuous interpretation. b. A collection of such explanations, a glossary; also, an interlinear translation of, or series of verbal explanations upon, a continuous text. 2. A poetical composition in which a stanza of some well-known poem is treated as a text for amplification, each of the successive stanzas of the ‘gloss’ being made to end with one of the lines or couplets of the text.â€? (From OED.n.1-2)

Starter Links: [under construction]

A manuscript from which another is copied.

Starter Links: [under construction]

“A leaf of paper (in OE. called bóc, BOOK); a legal document or ‘deed’ written (usually) upon a single sheet of paper, parchment, or other material, by which grants, cessions, contracts, and other transactions are confirmed and ratified.â€? (From the OED.n1)

Starter Links: [under construction]

“3. A sheet of paper printed on one side only, forming one large page.â€? (From the OED.n.)

Starter Links:[under construction]

An illuminated manuscript used primarily from the 13th through 16th centuries; a personal prayer book for the laity to abide by the Christian church’s daily protocol of devotional prayer.

Starter Links:[under construction]

“A book containing a set or collection of antiphons.â€? (From the OED.n.)

Starter Links: [under construction]

Summary:
electronic book review (ebr) is “an online scholarly journal promoting print/screen translations and new modes of critical writing on the Internet.” Edited by Joseph Tabbi and published by Mark Amerika, the site operates through a sophisticated design, by Anne Burdick, that implements and enacts the theme of weaving “thREADs.” The journal can been accessed at www.electronicbookreview.com. (more…)

Online resource and course related to paleography.

“The English Handwriting 1500-1700 course has been designed for flexibility in an attempt to serve the needs of beginners and more experienced researchers alike. There are a number of ways in which you might approach the materials presented here, depending on whether you require information from the ground up or merely a convenient reference/practice resource.

The ‘historical introduction’ with Billingsley’s Pens Excellencie are resources that might be consulted at any time, but will, in different ways, provide an introductory overview to the subject of early modern English handwriting.” (From the web site.)

Starter Links: English Handwriting Site | Humbul Humanities Hub

Online educational tool to help teach Latin paleography.

“Ductus, from the Latin ducere (to lead), is a digital program designed for the teaching of Latin paleography either locally or via the internet. The program is based on 60 extremely high resolution facsimiles of manuscripts from the period 150-1500 A.D. It includes videos depicting a (modern) scribe at work, a 14-session course, and extensive glossaries and support documentation. It is already used byteachers and independent scholars around the world. In 2000 it received The Australian Award for Excellence in Tertiary Educational Multimedia. Ductus is available either for use by individuals or by institutions with a site licensing arrangement.

Ductus features:

Ductus includes an introduction to the history of western European handwriting and detailed interactive analyses of 60 sample scripts chosen from manuscripts in European, North American and Australian collections.” (From the web site.)

Starter Links: Ductus |
Detailed information about the CD-ROM

Online learning tool for the study of palaeography.

“In its origin, the ‘tutorial’ was conceived for seminars in the Centre for English Local History on medieval and early-modern palaeography, each comprising ten hours of contact time. To a large extent, the structure has been determined by that original objective. We have, however, tried subsequently to expand the material and the structure to make it more relevant for other users. It is intended as an introduction to practical palaeography – how to read hands. Although there is a smattering of formal palaeography, diplomatics and codicology, that material is included only in so far as it assists in practical reading.” (From the web site.)

Starter Links: Palaeography Home Page| Paleography Links for Teachers | Websites For Medievalists |

Summary:
The FogScreen is an innovative display technology that allows for projections on a thin layer of dry fog. Imagine the traditional pull down screen that is found in many classrooms today. Instead of a screen being pulled down from the ceiling, fog is pushed down and held in place by several small fans, allowing for a consistent surface for display. A user may simply stand back and view the material but can also reach or walk through the fog. A user may also interact with objects displayed in the fog with the use of an input device like a data glove, a tracked wand, or simply using hands (see Technical Analysis). Currently, there are only nine FogScreens available in the world. Most of the FogScreens are used as a novel display technology for businesses looking to attract visitors at conventions, or by artists / musicians as part of their entertainment shows. However, research is being conducted in attempts to find ways that the FogScreen can be used as an educational tool. In this report, we describe the FogScreen experience itself and the findings made when deploying LEMMA (Learning Environment with Multi-Media Augmentations) on the FogScreen. Due to extreme financial and spatial efforts of the device, it is unlikely that the average citizens will be able to interact with such a technology, but there are hopes of creating smaller, less expensive FogScreens, or similar devices, in the near future. (more…)