Re: [Wikiversity-l] Greek Wikiversity

Hi all, In advance of the IRC meeting on Saturday (UTC) [1], I'm raising the issue of the Greek Wikiversity to give some background to the current situation [2]. According to [2] (and from personal correspondences), GerardM, a member of the language subcommittee [3], "is concerned about a lack of structure and maturity in the Wikiversity project" and is therefore reluctant to authorise a new Greek Wikiversity. This acknowledgement of a lacking of structure is attributed to me, from my recent talk at the Wikimedia Nederland conference in Amsterdam. However, I'd first of all like to clear up what I said - which was that there are *questions that Wikiversity needs to address*, amongst which its ongoing relationship with Wikibooks. I explicitly acknowledged that Wikiversity was set up as an experiment, and was in the process of finding out how best to organise its resources, both internally, and with respect to other projects, particularly Wikibooks. I also acknowledged that my understanding of Wikiversity is hugely biased towards the English Wikiversity, and that there were different ways of organising materials and activities on other language Wikiversities. And, from the day as a whole, I observed that there is still some confusion between Wikiversity and Wikibooks, and that some Wikibooks communities (at least the Dutch) are incorporating non-textbook pedagogic material in Wikibooks in order to avoid "splitting" the existing Wikibooks community. There's nothing much new in the above - we have always known that there is a subtle line between Wikiversity and Wikibooks, as well as being multiple perspectives on what either project should include. *However*, I would like to point out that these are issues that the Wikiversity, Wikibooks, and other communities will be working out as we develop - and, as has been made clear in our previous discussions on this list, will be negotiated in the context of each language community *on its/their own terms*. Moving onto the current situation with the Greek Wikiversity, this is in the hands of the language subcommittee, seemingly being stalled by GerardM. However, as I've raised with the language subcommittee, and according to [3], the subcommittee is asked to assess the "feasibility of new language wikis" - which is *not* the 'feasibility of the *project*'. In my correspondence with the language subcommittee, GerardM has indicated that it might be problematic to authorise new language projects when questions still remain about the project as a whole - to which I have responded that this is outside the scope of the language subcommittee (also acknowledged by Pathoschild, a member of the langcom [4]), and asked GerardM to state clearly how his concerns relate to the scope of the subcommittee. I received no reply; I asked again two days ago, and am still awaiting response. (I've also made clear that my comments can be posted in public [4] - which hasn't been done yet.) So, if the language subcommittee remains stalled on this issue (and whether or not GerardM has a veto, I don't know), then it would possibly be a matter for the board. (The special projects committee - of which I am a member, and which authorised the language subcommittee - has not responded to this issue, and is effectively dead in any case.) However, I would like the language subcommittee to make at least some response to what I've raised, so I would ask for some more time before bringing it up with the board (if that is necessary - and I hope it won't be). In the meantime, we can use the IRC meeting to discuss whether the Wikiversity community at large thinks it is a good idea to set up new language projects (one of GerardM's proposals), as well as further the discussion about Wikibooks and Wikiversity across different languages. Thanks, Cormac [1] http://beta.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:IRC_meeting:What_is_Wikiversit… [2] http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pathoschild/Status/wv-el [3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special_projects_subcommittees/Languages [4] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special_projects_subcommittees/Languages/Arc… _______________________________________________ Wikiversity-l mailing list Wikiversity-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikiversity-l