All,
I read this article with some concern. Thoughts?
http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/29/california-regulator-seeks-to-shut-down-le...
Of course, hackathons and editathons in the Wikimedia space are typically offered for free, but I don't know from the article whether that makes a difference. (The article doesn't have anything to say about what "compliance" entails.)
Interested in learning more about what's going on here.
Pete -- Pete Forsyth Principal, Wiki Strategies [[User:Peteforsyth]] on Wikipedia/Wikimedia
I really don't see this applying to hackathons/editathons, there's not much "schoolish" about those. The regulators are going after the "learn to code in 12 weeks" style programs that are springing up. You can read more about what compliance entails here: http://www.bppe.ca.gov , but just going from their mission I don't see any way they'd care about *athons:
"The Bureau exists to promote and protect the interests of students and consumers: (i) through the effective and efficient oversight of California's private postsecondary educational institutions, (ii) through the promotion of competition that rewards educational quality and employment outcomes, (iii) through proactively combating unlicensed activity, and (iv) by resolving student complaints in a manner that benefits both the complaining student and future students."
-Leigh
Leigh,
Thanks for this. I looked at the agency's site, without much luck -- but Ben Kovitz did find something encouraging, in item (f) of "exempt institutions" in the 2009 Act: http://www.bppe.ca.gov/lawsregs/index.shtml
So, unless there are active efforts to offer courses that charge over $2500, you're probably right -- my concern may have misplaced.
Still, I think this sort of thing is worth keeping our eye on, for a few reasons: (1) Like some others in the Wikipedia world, I present a variety of things designed to teach people about Wikipedia, ranging from one-off edit-a-thons to event series to a full-fledged 6 week online course. These are generally offered for free (see above), but it's worthwhile to have some awareness of what might catch regulators' attention. I see these various kinds of events as related - so my interest is in more than just one-off edit-a-thons. (2) I didn't mention before why I sent to this list -- but in general, I've found that most of my events attract more women than men. That's also the experience of the Wikipedia Education Program (or at least it was in the first year or so). This is meant as nothing more than anecdotal, but I think it's worthwhile to consider increasingly formal education programs as a viable tool for addressing the gender gap. (The article also noted the targeted code academy programs' efforts toward gender balance.) (3) It also might be worth considering stuff like this as an opportunity, rather than a threat. To the extent there is regulation around teaching computer/online skills, perhaps it's worth thinking about whether diversity is something that should be on the radar of an agency like this, and what might be done to encourage that.
For anybody interested in this topic, I also posted to the Wikimedia-SFbay email list, and there have been some worthwhile replies there as well: * http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-sf/2014-January/thread.html
And I first heard about it on the Sudo Room email list, where there's also lilely to be some discussion: * https://lists.sudoroom.org/pipermail/sudo-discuss/2014-January/005300.html
-Pete
On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 5:10 PM, Leigh Honeywell leigh@hypatia.ca wrote:
I really don't see this applying to hackathons/editathons, there's not much "schoolish" about those. The regulators are going after the "learn to code in 12 weeks" style programs that are springing up. You can read more about what compliance entails here: http://www.bppe.ca.gov , but just going from their mission I don't see any way they'd care about *athons:
"The Bureau exists to promote and protect the interests of students and consumers: (i) through the effective and efficient oversight of California's private postsecondary educational institutions, (ii) through the promotion of competition that rewards educational quality and employment outcomes, (iii) through proactively combating unlicensed activity, and (iv) by resolving student complaints in a manner that benefits both the complaining student and future students."
-Leigh
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
"At Hackbright Academy, it's $15,000 for a 10 week program.... At Hack Reactor, where tuition costs over $17,000"
We are clearly not the target here; these scams are.
On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 7:50 PM, Pete Forsyth peteforsyth@gmail.com wrote:
Leigh,
Thanks for this. I looked at the agency's site, without much luck -- but Ben Kovitz did find something encouraging, in item (f) of "exempt institutions" in the 2009 Act: http://www.bppe.ca.gov/lawsregs/index.shtml
So, unless there are active efforts to offer courses that charge over $2500, you're probably right -- my concern may have misplaced.
Still, I think this sort of thing is worth keeping our eye on, for a few reasons: (1) Like some others in the Wikipedia world, I present a variety of things designed to teach people about Wikipedia, ranging from one-off edit-a-thons to event series to a full-fledged 6 week online course. These are generally offered for free (see above), but it's worthwhile to have some awareness of what might catch regulators' attention. I see these various kinds of events as related - so my interest is in more than just one-off edit-a-thons. (2) I didn't mention before why I sent to this list -- but in general, I've found that most of my events attract more women than men. That's also the experience of the Wikipedia Education Program (or at least it was in the first year or so). This is meant as nothing more than anecdotal, but I think it's worthwhile to consider increasingly formal education programs as a viable tool for addressing the gender gap. (The article also noted the targeted code academy programs' efforts toward gender balance.) (3) It also might be worth considering stuff like this as an opportunity, rather than a threat. To the extent there is regulation around teaching computer/online skills, perhaps it's worth thinking about whether diversity is something that should be on the radar of an agency like this, and what might be done to encourage that.
For anybody interested in this topic, I also posted to the Wikimedia-SFbay email list, and there have been some worthwhile replies there as well:
And I first heard about it on the Sudo Room email list, where there's also lilely to be some discussion:
-Pete
On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 5:10 PM, Leigh Honeywell leigh@hypatia.ca wrote:
I really don't see this applying to hackathons/editathons, there's not much "schoolish" about those. The regulators are going after the "learn to code in 12 weeks" style programs that are springing up. You can read more about what compliance entails here: http://www.bppe.ca.gov , but just going from their mission I don't see any way they'd care about *athons:
"The Bureau exists to promote and protect the interests of students and consumers: (i) through the effective and efficient oversight of California's private postsecondary educational institutions, (ii) through the promotion of competition that rewards educational quality and employment outcomes, (iii) through proactively combating unlicensed activity, and (iv) by resolving student complaints in a manner that benefits both the complaining student and future students."
-Leigh
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap