MONKEYmedia

MONKEYmedia is an interface design firm that seems to take a holistic approach to designing interfaces. If you click on the "mentor" link, you will find interesting information about how to design interfaces. Topics addressed are:
> domains of design
> 5 styles of interaction
> device characteristics
> slicing the interface
> making content meaningful (has quicktime component)
> questions for designers (thinking about the people being designed for)

The backgrounds of the people working at this firm are interesting, ranging from degrees in interaction communication, psychology, linguistics, cognitive science, sociology, speech communications, dance, graphic arts. Seems pretty consistent with my interest in sociable media.

See their website at www.monkeymedia.com

Lynda.com

My experience with many online courses is that they are very much reading dependent. The majority of the information presented seems to be text based, which is tiring. Everything from the lecture, books, email, chat, discussion areas, newsgroup all require reading words on a screen.

My brother-in-law sent me a link to a website that has a guided tour that (at least for me) serves as a model for how online courses could be presented in a more visual format. It combines visual and audio in a way that engages the viewer. I'm not a strongly visual learner, but found the relief from constant reading to be, well... a relief.
Take a look at it for yourself www.lynda.com