For the first time ever, I decided to allow my students to work on a Wikibook project. Normally, my tech comm seniors (Univ. of Minnesota) have to do a community service project. In the past, they have prepared manuals and materials for "Dress for Success," "Helping Hands," and "The Immigration Project" among other non-profits. Service learning as part of tech comm reflects a general philosophy within the UofM that students should do 20 hours of community participation.

The MIT Center for Collective Intelligence is publishing a collaborative book called We Are Smarter Than Me. From the site:

Be an author of the first networked book on business. Together we will write the book on how the emergence of community and social networks will change the future rules of business. Collaborate with authors from MIT, Wharton, and thousands of professionals from around the world. See your name in print when the book is published next fall by Pearson Publishing. Meet your co-authors in March, 2007 in Las Vegas at the Community 2.0 event.

Well, I was extremely proud to login to my Rhetoric and Composition Wikitext this afternoon and see that it's won the Book of the Month Award for October. As you all know, I started this wikibook as a project in my Computers and English class last year, and it's since been picked up by several volunteers and at least one other professor that I know for sure (Lanette) and another individual named Bruce Schauble, a dept. chair from Punahou School, Honolulu. I am definitely honored by this award and hope that the many students (and faculty members) who have contributed to this project share my happiness. It was a lot of hard work, but it was also fun, and now anyone with an internet connection can begin the journey towards effective composition.