John,
I think that the slowdown has a couple of reasons: the newness has worn off so the initial burst is over and the true longterm growth has not started yet. Also, I was making a lot of contributions but am not currently due to limited access to the Internet living in the Third World at the moment. And, the more complicated nature of textbooks requires a higher level of commitment than the regular Wikipedia, where any person can work on any module without concern for any other. Here, there is a higher level of organization to make a book.
What will help: time will only help us, as even small contributions snowball over time into something impressive. Organized or institutional backing, like the grant the WikiMedia Foundation recently recieved from the Beck Foundation (do I remember that right?) to develop some booklets for kids, or better than money, the dedication of a group of educators working together with the tools available on the site. That�s where I think that you folks in Utah can help, showing that things can be done even if it is with one book. Things get very exciting very quickly when people start to work collaboratively on wikis over the web, especially when you know what kind of a difference the work will make.
As for the delay in getting the emails sent out, I think it was an oversight by our very overworked volunteer Brion, who seems to have the responsability of watching spam along with so many other things.
Please let me know if there is anything else that you think I can do for you at any time.
Karl
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On Wed, 1 Dec 2004 13:59:15 -0800 (PST), Karl Wick karlwick@yahoo.com wrote:
What will help: time will only help us, as even small contributions snowball over time into something impressive. Organized or institutional backing, like the grant the WikiMedia Foundation recently recieved from the Beck Foundation (do I remember that right?) to develop some booklets for kids...
You did remember right. The Beck Foundation will be giving us $10000 once our 501(c)3 status comes through. See http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikijunior for more details and http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikijunior for the three children's books in progress.
Angela.
I sincerely appreciate you guys being willing to entertain my questions.
It's funny, because I now revere Wikipedia so much, that I just assume that all aspects of Wikipedia are running on full throttle. Hearing your responses reminds me as to what I should have known all along....that I/we am/are the community.....and what it is, or what it is to become, is squarely up to me/us. I guess that's the beauty, huh?
So...I have a question...where is the best place to read up on "...Here, there is a higher level of organization to make a book."
What types of moderation infrastructure or policy or technology are in place to make a textbook? This is obviously a huge key to success (state adoption).
I very much look forward to learning/engaging more.
John Dehlin
On 12/1/04 2:59 PM, "Karl Wick" karlwick@yahoo.com wrote:
John,
I think that the slowdown has a couple of reasons: the newness has worn off so the initial burst is over and the true longterm growth has not started yet. Also, I was making a lot of contributions but am not currently due to limited access to the Internet living in the Third World at the moment. And, the more complicated nature of textbooks requires a higher level of commitment than the regular Wikipedia, where any person can work on any module without concern for any other. Here, there is a higher level of organization to make a book.
What will help: time will only help us, as even small contributions snowball over time into something impressive. Organized or institutional backing, like the grant the WikiMedia Foundation recently recieved from the Beck Foundation (do I remember that right?) to develop some booklets for kids, or better than money, the dedication of a group of educators working together with the tools available on the site. That‚s where I think that you folks in Utah can help, showing that things can be done even if it is with one book. Things get very exciting very quickly when people start to work collaboratively on wikis over the web, especially when you know what kind of a difference the work will make.
As for the delay in getting the emails sent out, I think it was an oversight by our very overworked volunteer Brion, who seems to have the responsability of watching spam along with so many other things.
Please let me know if there is anything else that you think I can do for you at any time.
Karl
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John,
I dont know of anywhere that you could read up on the higher level of organization needed for a wikibook than for th WP, its an observation of mine that a book is organized at a higher level whereas the Wikipedia encyclopedia is able to be more organic and live without a higher, systemized organization.
To write a wikibook, the organization does not have to be fully outlined at first. Parts or modules can be written one at a time and then incorporated into one volume. Further editing can reveal what is missing and fill in the gaps, as well as edit for consistancy of tone, etc.
The quality of the work depends on the effort and ability of the people creating it. I believe that "normal" teachers working together are more than capable of creating an excellent work. And even if the work begins as mediocre, it can be continually revised and improved by the best minds who are willing to contribute.
The level of moderation infrastructure is not extensive on the site. If you want to create a book here with people you have you will have control as well as responsibility for things to turn out well. My experience shows that on the Wikipedia there are not very many problems on finding aggreement except in extreme cases, and even in those cases things are not too difficult to resolve in an aggreeable manner. One key is following tbe state guidelines; that will help you reach aggreement more quickly.
Hope that helps sir! Karl
--- John Dehlin < > wrote:
I sincerely appreciate you guys being willing to entertain my questions.
It's funny, because I now revere Wikipedia so much, that I just assume that all aspects of Wikipedia are running on full throttle. Hearing your responses reminds me as to what I should have known all along....that I/we am/are the community.....and what it is, or what it is to become, is squarely up to me/us. I guess that's the beauty, huh?
So...I have a question...where is the best place to read up on "...Here, there is a higher level of organization to make a book."
What types of moderation infrastructure or policy or technology are in place to make a textbook? This is obviously a huge key to success (state adoption).
I very much look forward to learning/engaging more.
John Dehlin
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