BUSINESS BLOGGING - A growing number of businesses,are using Web logs to manage and improve the flow of information among employees. These blogs, not accessible to the public, typically allow many people to contribute entries that can be read by others in the organization. As business interest in Web logs grows, more companies are moving into the market - or expanding into it, as in the case of software developers that had focused on personal Web log tools but are now aiming at teams and organizations. One such company, Six Apart, plans to begin selling its corporate product in the next few weeks. And 20six, a British company, plans to introduce blog software for teams in the fall. It may be too soon to tell whether the corporate blog will emerge as a genuinely useful tool for business communications or simply another way for bores and blowhards to blather. But a growing circle of adopters swear by
their blogs. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/07/technology/07NECO.html (New York Times, 7 July 03)

MIT AND TIAX COLLABORATE FOR 'LIVING LAB' - MIT and TIAX, a collaborative software firm will create "the PlaceLab," a living laboratory that will allow researchers and companies to study how new technologies, materials, and design strategies will change the way people live. The PlaceLab, located in a condominium building in Cambridge, MS, is an apartment-scale facility that will be occupied by families who volunteer to participate in experiments ranging from one week to several months. The
first of a series of research projects will be launched in early fall 2003. As a shared research facility operated jointly by TIAX and MIT, proposals will be accepted from academic researchers and industry to take advantage of the resources of the PlaceLab. For more information, visit:
http://architecture.mit.edu/house_n/web/placelab/PlaceLab.pdf (Syllabus News Update,
8 July 03) (Requires Adobe Reader)

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