hi there everyone, what an interesting discussion about conference papers that is reflected at a more local level with my own experience. i am lecturing a 3rd level course at the University of Lincoln, uk, (Culture, Self and Technology) which has an excellent Virtual campus - some lecturers post their lecture notes there. I will not, for two reasons: - 1. any notes i work from during lectures require a considerable amount of work before publication on the Virtual campus. 2. i personally think that it makes students lazy - lectures are not the definitive answer on the subject - merely a taster to stimulate interest. I have seen students armed with lecture notes and the dreaded highlighter who are really not listening. my second experience with the same course, is mainly with online material. My students have been told by various staff members not to use internet resources as they are 'of dubious quality'. - now my background is that i am 'writing up' a PhD that is an online ethnography, and i work with online journals and articles as a matter of course. I will allow, and even encourage my students to do so too. so now you are all wondering what the point of this story is! well firstly, i recognise the huge amount of work that goes into producing online versions of work, and secondly, outside of our own little enclave of cyber-researchers there is still a large cohort that attach no value to work published online. We necessarily must live in both worlds, and while attempting to further our careers must use the 'regular' channels in which to publish. Hopefully the 'Real World' will catch up soon. regards Denise Carter denisecarter@denisecarter.net