National Science Ditial Library projects, partners and pathways met in Washington, D.C. Sept. 30-October 2, 2008 to discuss new directions for the 8-yr-old NSF initiative designed to leverage online educational STEM opportunities for students and learners of all ages nationwide. Many partners and projects have been part of NSDL since 2000, and as usual, the conversations and collaborations in and around sessions were highly-valued by attendees as a way to cathch up professionally and personally.  A brief report from NSDL’s Annual Meeting earlier this week featuring community-contributed Haiki can be found here.  As is traditional, here are NSF Program Director Lee Zia’s (currently on leave from NSF) annual poetic musings. You can view past Zia Haiku here.

Let content be free;
Create value with context.
Service you can sell!

When nouns become verbs:
To google, or go ogle?
The hit list beckons.

Who learns what, and how?
Social graph meets concept map.
Make my dream come true!

Change is in the air.
But the learner still comes first;
Begin with the end.

Views are author’s own.
Not official policy
Of the NSF.