Just blasting through with time for a quick note. I lapsed so readily into buckminsterfullerese on the subject because it was just Friday that I had a long conference call with the client, and was commissioned to create that very thing. It was right on the tip of my forebrain.

It's an online course delivery system. Imagine content organized conventionally in the hierarchy course/topic/chapter/page. A new thing is to attach what amounts to mini-forums at each level, where people can comment and interact with the instructor, and, I envision, do an analog of highlighting the textbook and making marginal notes. But open to the group, so that it becomes collaborative.

So now I have to figure out an algorithm by which I can automaticallyi take the individual message streams at each level, and summarize them for the next level up. Lather, rinse, repeat, up to the course level. All while maintaining sufficient context so that it's not increasingly non-sequiterish the higher you go.

Welcome to my world. It's a weird world at times, but very real.