Just for variety's sake, we take you back to the halcyon days of mid-March for a discussion of what makes a community more than just a collection of little interactions. And it's just as valid now as it was then. Some truths are timeless, huh?

Finding yourself plunking the kids down with something unhealthy - weaponized anthrax, ninja throwing stars, Bob the Builder - just so you can grab some keyboard time? How do you tell when a healthy pastime is turning into unhealthy competition for your children's attention?

We bring in an expert: our daughter, code-named Little Sweetie, who dishes the dirt on how our computer use makes her feel. Some of it's sobering, some of it's encouraging, and it all builds up to five questions to ask about your computer use... plus a bonus five questions from LS.

Twitter and its microblogging siblings let you follow a stream of one-line updates from your friends. It's pretty much the shortest form of social media out there... but that doesn't stop us from going on at length about it. 

Alex came home from a talk by Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus, and she was in a soul-searching frame of mind. How does the web support meaningful social change? And is there a particular kind of change the web does an especially good job at?

We cover a lot of terrain in 15 minutes. Here are a few of the signposts we pass along the way:

• Grameen Bank
• The Elders
• Muhammad Yunus's official site
• Kiva.org
• the PLAN Institute

Your thoughts are always welcome - just leave a comment below!

It's episode 16 - a significant number in the binary world, and we start with a few words about our own 10th cohabitation anniversary (we believe that's the "Macbook Air anniversary"). Then it's on to parenting and a not-unrelated note, project management. Is it time for you to switch to a new project management system? Maybe we'll help you figure that out.

It was a wide-ranging conversation (we've spared you seven minutes of it, and it still weighs in at over 17 minutes), and lots of links did verily arise:

• Skitch
• Basecamp
• Basecamp's profile of Alex's workflow
  
• Heh... Alex's photo on the Highrise site tour (scroll to the bottom and look for "Suzanna Cavatrio")
  
• Google Sites
• I Want Sandy
• Toodledo
• MailTags

A special guest star joins us as we ask: how is your (and their) computer use affecting your kids?

Here are some of the links we touch on:

• the XO Laptop
• Sesame Workshop
• the Sesame Workshop video player (check out the still-in-beta message)
• Super Why

A little encouragement goes a long way in keeping the Web 2.0 world turning. Alex and Rob talk about how to offer a few kind words to the folks who do everything from posting Creative Commons-licensed photos to creating fantastic YouTube videos.

(Speaking of a few words, kind or otherwise, that comment field down below would probably love to hear from you...)

A little linky goodness from this episode (in which we definitely establish that Rob is a. flossing and b. eating his okra):

• Kate Trgovac's amazing Squidoo lens on laptop bags
• Rob's speechwriting Squidoo lens
• And while we're in a Squidoo frame of mind, some great suggestions for commenting on Squidoo lenses without being all spammy.

This episode finds Alex and Rob with some company in bed: the kids. (Parental discretion advised: contains explicit sounds of complaining toddler.) We talk about what happens when your favourite online community members participate just a little too much... and what you can do about it.

This episode, Rob talks about the release of Google Sites... which Alex hasn't had a chance to check out yet, leading her to ask, how do you keep up with the news in your field when everyone's so busy these days?

We come up with six questions to ask about keeping up to date with the latest developments, and propose that Feb. 29 become World Catch-Up Day... when everyone has a chance to catch up on the reading they've missed, and the creation of new content is strictly prohibited.

(As it turns out, we adhered to that last aspect of World Catch-Up Day... but not out of intention. Rob and one of our children came down with a bug, and Friday was spent consoling and caring instead of posting this episode.)

This episode, we take on wikis: when you should use them, and when you should try something else.

And we try on a new feature: the tip-off, where we alternate coming up with handy tips on a topic until one of us runs out. The result is our first 20-minute episode... which tells us we might want to review the rules. Maybe require each tip to be phrased as a limerick...

For your linking enjoyment:

• The BlueGrassWiki
• Mark Glazer's post on how the next president should use participatory media
• Wired article on the wiki reviewing ACLU documents on Guantanamo detainees