Merlot is a consortium which serves several functions:
The two most important IMO are:
1) providing a single clearing house site for web-based "learning objects"*
(for want of a better word) in various academic disciplines. The Physics
section is obviously the one of predominate interest for this group.
2) A peer-review process for these learning objects.
*a common example of a learning object would be an interactive applet
illustrating some aspect of a topic in physics.