Recollect. Everything you do online: recorded, archived, and securely backed up. A little scary for most people, but it might be useful for some. Artists and writers wishing to leave a proper digital archive. Or researchers wanting to map their project’s online research paths in microscopic detail. Although I’m not sure how much success Recollect would have in auto-archiving content from behind paywalls.

New Pew Internet report on teen search skills. Pew surveyed teachers of intelligent Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands teenagers. Teachers filled in a multi-choice question survey, asking them about online research skills among their advanced students. There’s nothing unexpected in the summary, and several hints at some rosy-eyed visions of the past…

“What was once a slow process that ideally included intellectual curiosity and discovery is becoming a faster-paced, short-term exercise aimed at locating just enough information to complete an assignment.”

Predictably… Google, Wikipedia, and YouTube head the pack as the first port of call in a homework research task.

One figure that did seem of note is that 78% of such teachers say that in-school website censorship filters have either a major or minor effect on their teaching.