In its struggle to remain relevant, Britannica is planning to open its gates to the public for contributions, to a certain extent following Wikipedia's model. But even its announcement shows that commercial interests can prevail over truth. Although Wikipedia's influence is clear, it is not mentioned once!

Martin Weller posted an interesting presentation prepared for the Open University on how Web2.0 and Higher Education can go together (The Ed Techie: web 2.0 workshop).

After years of a substandard, limited-value web presence, THES has launched a new website on a new address (http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk) with new features. Here's a list from the announcement email:

BBC NEWS | Education | Call for more university links "Widening participation in higher education should be seen as talent spotting by universities. This prospectus sets out how we want them to make that happen."

The problem with the typical macro predictors of university (or other) success is that they are often too crude and based on last-decade's research. They might work over large populations but not necessarily work all that well when applied to any given individual. But the idea of 'talent spotting' is very intriguing. Particularly if we go even further and apply the analogy of professional sports scouts as they are known in the US.