[Foundation-l] Wikiversity

[Erik Moeller]

Anthere:

> Wikielearning might be a solution. 
 > E-learning has the benefit of being a rather framed word at least...

Wikimedia has a history of coming up with confusing names, I'd like one 
that will be correctly remembered and spelled for a change. 
Wikielearning? Wikelearning? Wikilearning?

> *naming* should really be one of the *last* issue when thinking 
 > to create a project.

I see it more in the middle, which is where we are with Wikiversity. As 
you correctly say, the name can delineate what the project will be 
about, as can a temporary name.

The problem with this project is that it can consist of many individual 
components, but we cannot tell in advance which ones will be successful 
and which ones will fail. For example, we may want to *experiment* with 
the idea of using this framework to publish peer reviewed original 
research. However, if this fails entirely, we will want to remove this 
component and carry on regardless. It may very well turn out that we do 
the best possible job at primary education, and completely suck at 
tertiary learning -- again, we can choose to then narrow our focus. But 
imagine a "Wikiversity" which *only* does primary education!

The current proposal at
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikiversity
(which was originally just a big discussion page before I refactored it) 
is deliberately open about these goals. I'd like the process of 
precisely defining the scope to be developed in practice rather than in 
theory.

We are talking about an extremely ambitious project, and it is almost 
certain that it will not succeed in all its goals. If we call ourselves 
a "wiki university" already, then we set expectations, we limit the 
framework, and we make it impossible to backpedal if we disappoint the 
expectations set in the project, and its name.

That's why, to me, the time to choose the name has come. We need to 
spend some more time on the definition, certainly, but I see technical 
evaluation as the next priority.

Erik