On 11/7/05, Anthony DiPierro
<wikilegal(a)inbox.org> wrote:
For my part I think Wikiversity is a great idea, but I don't see where
it
benefits from being part of Wikimedia. Wikimedia
is primarily a media
company, and a university and a media company are only loosely tied with
one
another. Yes, books need to be used by a
university, but a) most
universities don't make all their own books, and b) Wikibooks can handle
that part of the project without being part of the university (but
merely
working hand-in-hand with the university).
If there is enough support for this project to be at all successful it
would
be no problem to start it up as its own
organization separate from the
Wikimedia Foundation. That doesn't mean it would compete with the WMF,
in
fact the two would likely co-exist quite
amicably.
The only way I really think it'd be reasonable to expect Wikiversity to
work
as a Wikimedia project would be if this came from
the top down, as a
board
mandate. Even then, for Wikiversity and Wikipedia
both to truly be
successful they would probably have to be run as separate legal and/or
economic entities. For Wikiversity to be successful it's going to
require a
lot of money. This is not to say donations, it
very well could be
self-sustaining, but I bet a lot of Wikipedians are going to want to
know
that their donations are going to Wikipedia and
not to subsidize a
university. Furthermore, there would probably be legal implications that
would necessitate forming a separate entity, especially if the
university
ever wants to be accredited (which I think it
should).
Maybe I'm just looking too far into the future. Or maybe I'm seeing this
as
a bigger project than it really is. But that's
just the way I think. I
think
you've got to set your goals high and plan out
the full path too those
goals
early on - not to have everything written in stone
but at least to have
a
rough draft of what the future has in store.
Anthony
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There was a discussion about Wikiversity on IRC last night, as part of
the Wikimedia Research Network, details and log of which can be found
here:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Research_Network/Meetings/2005-11-…
I think you're raising some interesting points here - I think what's
emerging for me is that some people are quite nervous about
Wikiversity being a Wikimedia project - if it aspires to be an
e-learning resource. I don't personally see the problem, as long as we
start small, stay realistic and grow from there, but it is clear that
more thinking (and probably research) needs to be done. This should be
collated on Meta, probably on a new page like
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Moving_Wikiversity_forward - please
feel free to add any ideas to related pages. I think at this stage we
need practical proposals, but also practical questions.
Thanks,
Cormac
Yeah, I'm not sure what the best way is to get a project like this started,
but you probably need one or a small few people really dedicated to making
it happen who all share the same vision. I have my own vision as to what I'd
like to see Wikiversity as, but I don't have the time to really dedicate
myself to the project.
Anyway, this is part of the trouble with voting on things like this. I
voted no, primarily because I think Wikiversity would do better as an
independent project, but at the same time I don't particularly object to
Wikimedians trying to do it anyway.
Maybe a more narrow focus to start out would alleviate some of the concern.
materials and then using them to teach. The first fits a
lot better in with
Wikimedia, and I don't think there would be much if any objection to the
foundation supporting this work. This could either be done on Wikibooks or,
if there is objection from people on Wikibooks, then maybe it could be done
as part of a new project.
The actual teaching part, I think can wait, but if there are a few people
really dedicated to making it happen they should get together and start
doing it, Wikimedia project or not.
All just my opinion,
Anthony