Via Phil Ringnalda, the W3C have published three useful articles on HTML internationalisation techniques. In classic W3C style, the boilerplate and verbiage at the start of the documents threatens to overwhelm the actual content. Here's a tip: jump straight to chapter 2, which is normally where the interesting stuff starts. Here are the ammended links:

• Choosing a page encoding
• Declaring the language of content
• Handling Bidirectional Text

3:23:04 PM    

In what appears to be a pretty savvy piece of marketing and customer relationship building, Thompson Netg recently handed out "Illuminati" awards for outstanding achievements of employee learning programmes within UK businesses. The Illuminati Awards were conceived "to honour excellence in learning among [Thompson Netg's] 5,000 global customers worldwide".

I'm not sure how long they've been doing this, but it seems like a pretty good way to give your customers a pat on the back for doing business with you as well as gaining some free press. (Although "Illuminati" might not have been the best name for the awards... brings to mind secretive cabals trying to rule the world from the shadows... hmm... then again that does sound like some training departments I know... :)

Winners of the 2004 U.K. Illuminati Awards were:

• Best Leadership Development Programme - GNER
• Best Internal Marketing Programme for Learning - LCH.CLEARNET LTD
• Most Innovative Learning Programme - Teletech
• Learning Leader of the Year - BT

BT Retail had this to say: "We have made huge progress, with e-Learning now being used for 80% of all training in BT Retail to fulfil both individual and corporate training goals. BT recognises e-Learning is a most effective medium for enabling the training of a diverse, geographically dispersed workforce to meet business-critical deadlines." ... 80%! That's the highest percentage I've heard of (maybe I don't get out enough). Pretty impressive... if it's working for them. [e-Learning Eclectic]

3:21:21 PM    

Saba announced today that "Renault and Nissan will implement Saba Enterprise Learning to standardize training and certification management processes for their entire worldwide network of automotive dealers."

"Renault and Nissan chose Saba for its ability to implement a global, multi-lingual solution for hundreds of thousands of users worldwide and simultaneously manage web-based business-to-employee and business-to-business learning initiatives. Saba Enterprise Learning will initially be deployed across five continents to the primary and secondary network of dealers for several Renault and Nissan brands." [e-Learning Eclectic]

3:20:33 PM    

SkillSoft Press Release

"Skillsoft announced the winners of SkillSoft’s annual Excellence in e-Learning Awards on April 21 at the company’s Perspectives conference. Each year, SkillSoft recognizes individuals and organizations that have demonstrated innovation, significant business results, leadership, and other accomplishments in enterprise learning."

Some of this year's winners were:

• E-Learning Leadership: Deloitte,
• Industry Achievement: HP Services Workforce Development
• Program of the Year: U.S. Air Force CBT,
• Instant Learning: Deloitte

3:18:54 PM