The IBM Database Technologies group is offering free copies of its DB2 relational database for Intel or Unix, to be used in teaching or academic research. RDBS teachers can also find instructional materials on . [, dbworld, 15Oct97.] (A 60% discount may be available for uses other than teaching or research.)

The Washington DC Information & Communication CyberGuide, with links to US educational grant sources, has moved to . [Jim Kendrick , 06Oct97.]

Malcolm Bradbury's "Unsent Letters" says that "... briefly, a conference is what you hold when you want to give a particular group prestige; a congress is what you have if you wish to make the prestige international; a convention is what you have if you want to have a good time as well; a course is what you have if you want the good time to go on for several weeks; and a colloquium is if you want to have a good time for several weeks with a very small and select number of people. ... At conferences the participants confer; at a congress they dissent; at a convention they listen; on a course they fall asleep; at a colloquium they do the same but often in the same bed. To put it another way: a conference is an elite meeting on equal terms; a congress is a group of elites meeting on opposite terms; a convention is a mob meeting on equal terms; a course is an elite instructing a mob; and a colloquium is a group capable of considering all these phenomena." [Keith Bostic , QOTD, 16Oct97.]

"Hamlet on the Holodeck" is a new book from interactive fiction professor Janet H. Murray of MIT's Center for Educational Computing Initiatives (and founding director of the Laboratory for Advanced Technology in the Humanities). Topics include story-telling, literature, television, computers, Yugoslavian folk tales, science fiction, MUDs, MOOs, computer gaming, alife, Woggles, VR, AI, and maybe how to make big bucks by developing innovative computer software products and services. (NY, Simon & Shuster, ISBN 0-684-82723-9, 1997.) [Bill Park , 12Oct97.]

Purple Moon (Mountain View) has released Rockett's New School, a PC/Mac game for girls of age 8-12. It's about Rockett Movado, who moves into a new 8th grade and must figure out who the cool kids are, what she should wear, and how to be accepted. Choices include where to sit in the cafeteria and whether to introduce herself or wait until someone says "Hi." The game is drawn in comic-book art, with 23 speaking characters and more than 45 plot paths. About $30, with Rockett doll. , (888) 278-7753. [AP. SJM, 12Oct97, 4F.]

Larry Tesler has created Stagecast Software Inc. (Palo Alto) to market the Apple-developed Cocoa website development environment for kids. They say, "We're entering a new stage in education software. The market is going to take off." [SNS, 18Oct97.] (Do kids want an easy-to-use website editor? Of course! My kids have always wanted real tools, not plastic hammers and screwdrivers. But they do lose interest with complex applications and poor user interfaces, or with tools that can only be used for adult purposes.)