The idea is to use Wikipedia to capture the zeitgeist by selecting the most popular entries, Beate Varnhorn, the editor in charge of Bertelsmann’s reference works, said in an interview by telephone. “We think of it as an encyclopedic yearbook,” Dr. Varnhorn said, leaving open the possibility of new editions if the 2008 version is successful.

A printed volume would seem to negate the benefits of an online encyclopedia. The Wikipedia Web site has hyperlinks that can take a user from topic to topic; with the print volume, a reader will be directed to different entries but will have to get to them by thumbing through the pages.

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Wired magazine is reporting on a 14 year-old’s invention of a card game called Elementeo, in which students use chemical properties on their cards to win out over their opponents:

The game is based on a 121-card deck of chemical elements, compounds and catalysts. Every card has an explanation of the element or compound’s uses and chemical properties. For example, the Oxygen card can rust neighboring metal cards and the Copper Conductor card can shock any metals. The oxidation state of an element is used as its attack power, and its physical state determines its movement on the board. The goal of the game is to reduce the opponents electrons to zero through strategic use of each card’s chemical properties.

What a cool way to synthesize learning!  Check out the sample card for Rubbing Alcohol that accompanies the article!

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My sister, a communications prof, and I were talking tonight about Web 2.0, and she brought up an expression from her Media Studies course: “Leaning forward versus leaning back.” She made the analogy that Web 1.0 was leaning back, meaning that you passively absorb what’s coming at you, whereas leaning forward indicates active engagement, which is Web 2.0.

We then got talking about blogs, which on the surface seem to be about leaning forward: asserting your perspectives and putting them out into the blogosphere. But blogs aren’t just for those who want to express themselves — there’s still plenty of room for leaning back and using them as a source for information. I’m curious to see how this forward/back concept will play out as my colleagues go through the Exploring Elementary 2.0 module: who will use blogs for expression and who will use them for information.  I definitely started as a “leaning back” blog reader long before I ever started writing a blog.

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