ALN JOURNAL - The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks is now available online for viewing. For the current issue, JALN 4(1) CLICK: http://www.aln.org Distance Education - Current Impact, Future Trends (An International Perspective) is published by the International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID), FID Review 1( 3), 1999 The Netherlands.

This fascinating collection of 28 peer-reviewed papers addresses the state and promise of academic distance learning from the United Kingdom to Hong Kong. The volume presents a strong diversity of voices and represents an unusually broad look at the evolution of all functions related to academic distance learning not just the instructional function. Elizabeth Watson...writes about the challenges of distance learning librarianship in the Third World... Olugbemiro Jegede, Head of the Centre for Research in Distance and Adult Education at the Open University of Hong Kong, writes about the distance learning in Chinese society from the Sui Dynasty (589-618 A.D.) to the present. This is the single most informative volume we have read on international issues and development scenarios in the field of global academic e-learning in the last year. Highly recommended reading for anyone studying the diversity of the meaning and conditions of distance learning worldwide. (Note: This publication may be ordered at CLICK: http://www.fid.nl) (Virtual U Gazette, 05 Jun 2000 CLICK: http://www.geteducated.com)

THE OTHER INFRASTRUCTURE Ð Part of the attraction of delivering higher education on the Web is the apparent promise of lower infrastructure costs by avoiding the traditional campus infrastructure costs. The reality is that now we need yet another infrastructure - the digital plant. This infrastructure is comprised of four major categories: 1) personal communication tools and applications, 2) dedicated servers and software applications and 3) software applications and services from external providers. None of these work without 4) people to manage them, people, in fact, make up the key component of the Web campus infrastructure. People are at the center of this infrastructure. A good teaching and learning infrastructure includes an environment that provides: services, educational value, scalability, availability and sustainability. This is an excellent article that outlines the new infrastructure that is necessary for distance learning. This special edition on Teaching on the Internet also includes articles on: The Dot.xxx Challenge to Higher Education, Context versus Content and Looking Before You Leap, along with valuable resource listings. Rosemary Lehman (Syllabus June, 00 13[10] Ð for your free Syllabus issue CLICK: http://www.syllabus.com)