I am very much enjoying this author tour around Germany.

The first presentation in Cologne started in true dramatic fashion with technology problems, sorted out by a friend of mine who got a round of applause for saving the day. He got the computer to talk to the electronic projector - known here as a ´beamer´.

In Essen yesterday, I met up with Carl Dowse, a tutor with the consultants-E and someone who knows most things about wikis. I found somewhere else apart from England where it rains most of the time.

Today, I had internet access in the session Hannover, and could show the new online dictionary from Macmillan and also M-Pulse. I am more and more convinced that the open dictionary - with the facility for users to to add an entry - is a fantastic development. You can use the code to place the MED (Macmillan English Dictionary) as a widget on your own web page. See my website for an example.

Imagine geting your own students to submit a new word. It will be filtered by a lexicographer, of course, but may well appear in the open dictionary!

So, Berlin tomorrow and Hamburg on Friday...

best wishes