Inspired by the way Wikipedia changed the encyclopedia with its online format and user-contributed content, a new digital dictionary hopes to change the way the world articulates and understands the meanings of words.

Launched two weeks ago, Wordia is a visual dictionary that encourages members of the public to contribute to a collective pool of video definitions. As with any online dictionary, users can search for the traditional meaning of a word thanks to the involvement of HarperCollins with 76,000 words and 120,000 basic textual definitions. But appended to an increasing number of those traditional definitions are videos--both professionally produced and user-generated--expressing individuals' own, personal meanings for the words in question. Look up "purple," for instance, and two young "orators" tell you that it means "wacky... and kinda deep and mysterious... spiritual... agitated... royal... eggplant?" Search on "nascent," and you'll get a video definition featuring Michael Birch, the Bebo founder who is now supporting Wordia.

The site's founders explain: "We've found that this visualisation works; place a word into context visually and it helps you to recollect its meaning much more easily then a textual definition. The 'author' breathes life into it--and their video acts as an easy-to-remember reference--an aide memoire or mnemonic as it were." Powered by YouTube and supported by the Open University and the National Literacy Trust, the ad-funded site also lets users rate and comment on videos.

It's easy to imagine etymologists objecting to a site like Wordia. After all, even Wikipedia relies on citations, references and volunteer editors to maintain at least some level of credibility and authoritativeness; relying on everyday users to define language in a purely subjective way risks severing the connection with the words' true, objective meanings. On the other hand, there's certainly a distinct entertainment value to searching through Wordia's video definitions, which may even be able to reflect nuances and modern interpretations of words in ways traditional definitions can't. Wordia is currently available only in English; one to partner with for other languages?

Website: www.wordia.com
Contact: production@wordia.com

Taking a casual approach to learning, Hamburg-based Language Lounge combines English lessons with a coffee shop. For a monthly fee, members can drop by from Monday to Thursday between 5 pm and 9 pm for conversation classes. The company compares its setup to a gym membership: there's no need to sign up for a fixed day or time--members can just join in whenever it's convenient. Light membership is priced at EUR 59/month and allows members to attend one class per week. The school's premium membership gives access to as many classes per month as a member wants to attend, and is priced at EUR 99/month. Language Lounge's informal group classes are led by native English speakers with at least two years of teaching experience, and the lounge is also open to customers who'd rather stick to speaking German.

It sounds like a relatively easy way for language teachers to set up their own language 'gyms'--find an existing being space that could use some extra customers four or five evenings a week, and partner with a few fellow teachers once word gets out.

Website: www.language-lounge.com
Contact: info@language-lounge.com

Spotted by: Susanna Haynie

Faber & Faber, which describes itself as one of the last of the great independent publishing houses in London, recently launched an academy for aspiring writers. The Faber Academy's inaugural creative writing course will take place from October 9-12 at Shakespeare & Company, the fabled English bookstore in Paris. Novelist Tobias Hill will be teaching a four-day course that focuses on "How to Tell a Story Without Telling Your Readers What to Think," with Jeanette Winterson joining in for a two-part seminar on authenticity and voice in fiction. The course costs GBP 500 excluding travel and accommodation (but including lunch) and tickets were sold out within days of going on sale. A second course—also taught by Tobias Hill--will be held in London from October 30-November 2, and the publisher plans to organize future sessions in Dublin, Edinburgh and Berlin.

Viewed through a consumer trends lens, the Faber Academy is a clear example of what trendwatching.com dubbed status skills: "In economies that increasingly depend on (and thus value) creative thinking and acting, well-known status symbols tied to owning and consuming goods and services will find worthy competition from status skills: those skills that consumers are mastering to make the most of those same goods and services, bringing them status by being good at something, and the story telling that comes with it." Other successful examples include the Nikon School and the BMW Performance Driving School.

By helping aspiring novelists hone their writing skills under the tuition of its well-known authors, Faber & Faber builds a stronger connection with its core customers (participants are likely to be readers and good customers), and promotes powerful word of mouth marketing, since participants will no doubt be eager to share their Faber Academy experience with friends and family. All of which is great PR for Faber & Faber, and emphasizes their dedication to writing and writers, as opposed to mega-publishers who often seem solely focused on the bottom line. Last but not least, the courses could provide a welcome additional stream of revenue. If your brand isn't already boosting its customers' talents and abilities, this is one to learn from ;-) (Related: Out-of-print books, printed on demand by Faber Finds.)

Website: www.faber.co.uk/academy
Contact: patrickk@faber.co.uk

Roughly 17 million air passengers travel through Paris during the summer, presenting the city's airports with a significant logistical challenge. To keep tempers cool and spirits high this year, the Aeroports de Paris implemented an unconventional plan: free dance lessons for passengers.

Much like the free light therapy the airports offered over the winter holidays--which we covered back in January--summertime passengers can use their wait time at the airport to learn any one of 15 dances offered by the airport's resident trainers from "L'Ecole des Vacances," including Afro Jazz, Disco, Hip Hop, Mambo, Modern Jazz, Rock & Roll, Salsa, Samba, Tango, Cha-Cha and more. Music and trainer instructions are broadcast through cordless headsets so as to minimize the disturbance to other passengers, and lessons last 10 to 15 minutes each. At Paris-Orly, they take place on a dance floor in terminal South at boarding gate 17, with roving workshops also available in the boarding area at Paris-Orly West. At Paris-Charles de Gaulle, the dance floor is located in terminal 2E, gate E51, with itinerant workshops in Terminals 3 and 2F. Dance floors were designed by the Aeroports de Paris boutiques. Classes are available each summer weekend between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. through August 17th.

There's nothing quite like free love to elevate consumers' moods, particularly when it includes a dash of sympvertising to relieve the stress of travelling and provides some status skills to boot. No doubt the airport boutiques will benefit, but another possible scenario could involve the sponsorship of such an effort by a local dance studio chain. Either way, one to emulate in any travel or hotel context!

Website: www.aeroportsdeparis.fr/Adp/fr-FR/Passagers/Departs/Evenement
Contact: www.aeroportsdeparis.fr/Adp/en-GB/Passagers/Contact/contact.htm

Spotted by: airlinetrends.com

Textbooks have long made up an all-too-significant proportion of college students' annual costs, currently approaching an average of USD 1,000 per year in the US, according to Make Textbooks Affordable. General outcry has ensued, but a new experiment from publisher Flat World Knowledge just may provide a new--and ad-free--solution.

Beginning this month and continuing through the Fall 2008 semester, Flat World Knowledge is conducting a beta test in which it is offering four different textbooks online for free to hundreds of students at 15 colleges and universities across the United States. The texts are from the areas of business and economics, and will replace traditional textbooks in a single class or class section at each participating institution. Not only will students have free online access to the expert-written, peer-reviewed and professionally edited texts, but the texts will be open as well through a Creative Commons licensing scheme, giving faculty the ability to customize them as they wish for their classes.

Unlike other free text ventures out there--such as US-based Freeload Press and Danish Ventus Publishing, both of which have been covered by our sister site trendwatching.com--Flat World's business model doesn't depend on advertising. Instead, it offers affordable supplementary materials to students beyond the free online book, including printed, on demand textbooks for around USD 30; audio books for around USD 25; and downloadable and printable files by the chapter. Also available are low-priced study aids like podcast study guides, digital flash cards, interactive practice quizzes and more.

Eric Frank, Flat World's cofounder and chief marketing officer, explains: "The time has come for open textbooks. This new model of textbook publishing will result in increased choices and dramatically lower costs for students. It can enhance learning by giving instructors more control over content, and by leveraging the power of social learning networks around content. Between the oligopolistic practices of the big publishers on one end of the spectrum--and piracy on the other--lies a better solution: open textbooks." Flat World plans to collect feedback over the course of this semester-long test, and then commercially launch its concept worldwide in time for the Spring 2009 school period. The launch will feature an expanded product roster of eight textbooks, all focused initially on business and economics subjects. A total of 15 textbooks are currently under contract and in Flat World's pipeline.

Free and open software is already gaining ground in the world of technology, and now we have the possibility of a similar pattern in textbook publishing. There's no doubt cash-strapped college students love free love, as has already been shown with photocopies, notepaper and notebooks. Will this one take hold? You can bet there are countless students hoping so. One to watch! (Related: Textbook rental for college students.)

Website: www.flatworldknowledge.com
Contact: eric@flatworldknowledge.com

Spotted by: Flemming Birch