To be fair to Facebook part of the momentum here is a general sense of angst about who owns what when it is stored in “the cloud” or on “social networking sites.” But, Facebook also has changed their language to reflect a pretty (in my opinion) ridiculous policy. So while Facebook has become the lightning rod here, they did bring it on themselves. To get a clear picture of different TOS read Amanda French’s rundown of different TOS (seriously go read it, its important).

Never fear poor students . . .the internet has responded and now you can Rent-a-Textbook. This seems to me to be a better option than torrenting, not only because it is legal but because you get the physical copy. (I’ll admit the user interface on a book is pretty good, preferable in many cases. When was the last time your book ran out of batteries?) I am sure the cat and mouse game of textbook publishers and exploits will continue for quite some time, but ultimately this information is going to follow the music model and get really cheap (think iTunes). Let’s just hope the textbook industry learns faster than the RIAA. (Okay, probably won’t happen but here’s hoping.)

(thanks to @dancohen for tweeting about this)

While all of the posts are connected, and a similar theme runs throughout, each has a slightly different angle. Start with Fluid Learning the first in the series, then check out The Alexandrine Dilemma and Crowdsource Yourself, ending with Inflection Points. Seriously most of what I read on the web I read once, tag it, and thus file it for later reference if I need it (and usually never think about it again), in this series I read each piece at least twice, some three times. They are that good.

Attending MLA, not to mention being on the job market can be an expensive endeavor, forcing poor underfunded graduate students to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars when all is said and done. While I think much could be done to reduce the cost (hello electronic submission, and don’t ask for a transcript unless you really need it), this is a short term fix. As it stands, according to the email there were two hundred applicants who the MLA was not able to fund with a $300 travel grant to attend the conference. The solution is simple, microfund, if 6,000 tenure track faculty each gave $10 all of the grad students who applied could receive the grant. (A grant which for most would not even cover airfare I might add.) So, please consider clicking this link and helping out some poor job seeking grad student. Do it for the grad student you used to be, or do it just to demonstrate the power of the digital. (And maybe next time they will have a link that doesn’t require you to sign in to give.)

Update: A representative of the MLA commented below, and I was wrong. Non-members can contribute click the link below the login.

• lumifi is a online research tool for helping you to search and organize information from the web (sort of like a web based DevonAgent, DevonThink). You can watch the introductory video here.

I realize I am a Devon Think groupie, but the news that a new version is in the work for this year has me anxiously awaiting the release. In my opinion it is the best, “brain in a box” software out there. My largest complaint with Devon is the interface (it is rather dated an un-Mac like), but never fear reworking the UI is one of the upgrades.