05 June 2002

Box It Right and It Fills Right Boxes & Arrows: Opening Pandora's Box: Special Deliverable #1. The parallel processes of creation and documentation feed off each other. Through the documentation, we come to a better understanding of our own conception of the system. As we develop a clearer vision of the system through the documentation, we find ways to improve the system.

Radio Outliner Teaches Better Writing When students outline and then post their comments, they learn to express direct thoughts under pressure. Radio Outliner helps new college students to structure their thoughts, as well as teaching them to support their ideas. Plus, the Outliner makes revision of thoughts easy. The publicly posted work is taken seriously. There are some other advantages. When you post in public, you're less likely to plagiarise  the work. Students working in your group will make helpful comments since they can see your work.

Inexpensive WiFi Cards Seeing a WiFi Card for $30 makes me wonder how low the prices can go. No wonder WiFi is being built into many new laptops.

Harold Rheingold at Reboot Howard Rheingold: The Internet was created for the most part by people in their 20s, not the phone company. They didn't know what the tool was for, but they knew that other people would invent uses -- they built the Internet without a central control, to enable innovation.

Mapping your Wireless Community Sweet app that mates your GPS-equipped laptop to your NetStumbler 802.11b network-detector and a satellite, stylistic or aerial map, automatically plotting all the WiFi base-stations you discover as you war-drive/walk through your environs. mapserver.zhrodague.net is a tool for visually displaying position and signal-strength of WiFi (802.11b) Access-Points. Pittsburgh Wireless Community is still in development, but their stuff works. Their website shows maps and documents that the community actually use the technology.

Shiny Balls of Mud in Japan Shiny balls of mud take Japan by storm. The latest Japanese schoolyard trend is hikaru dorodango (shiny balls of mud). Children painstakingly shape mud into near-perfect spheres, then polish them. A research scientist with an electron microscope uncovered the secret of their lustre.