[Foundation-l] PediaPress

[Robert S. Horning]

On 11/13/2010 11:08 AM, Ryan Kaldari wrote:
> What's the URL for Robert's service? I would love to try it out. If the
> service isn't mature yet, is there a code repository somewhere?
>
> Ryan Kaldari
>
>    
Much of what I was trying to get started was covered on this very 
mailing list.  If you go into the archives and look up Wikijunior to see 
some of the efforts that were made, including some initial publications 
that were made through Lulu (that were also removed from Lulu at the 
request of the WMF).  The organizing efforts were being done on 
Wikibooks as much as could be done, and that was pretty much where it 
ended too.

The problem was that PediaPress offered money, which we didn't.  There 
isn't really a name to the group as it was only loosely organized, but 
there were several volunteers working with me at the time we were trying 
to put things together.  I also paid out of my own pocket for a couple 
of trial runs to see how the system could work, and tried to make a 
business case for the effort.  I was also looking for some kind of 
partnership and noting that handing money was quickly going to be a 
major issue.  It was also something that the WMF did not want to get 
directly involved with for reasons that I understand completely too.

Much of the motivation for the whole effort I was involved with centered 
on the original promise that Wikijunior was going to be set up for 
making printed versions of the Children's books created by that 
project.  Apparently some money was given to the WMF by some donor with 
some guidelines on how the project was to be set up.  To the best of my 
knowledge that money has never been fully accounted for other than being 
swallowed up by the operations of the server farm and the general 
operations budget of the WMF.  As an administrator on Wikibooks at the 
time, I felt personally responsible for maintaining the Wikijunior 
community and to follow through with the promises that were made in 
terms of getting those printed versions of Wikijunior books out to the 
public.

It never happened, however.  When the PediaPress deal was announced, it 
sort of sucked whatever wind was left in the effort out, and some other 
needs in my own life came up that also took precedence.

I keep holding out hope that eventually things are going to change, and 
I wouldn't mind trying to put together some other similar effort again 
to restart the momentum that was lost years ago.  Unfortunately most 
times I try to do that it falls flat on its face with nobody else 
interested in helping out or even considering the idea.  I was hoping to 
have a more volunteer effort like what is being done with the wiki 
projects or perhaps more like Distributed Proofreading that would help 
prepare and publish the books.  I still think something like that is 
needed, but at the moment there is no home and the only URL I can give 
is my e-mail address at the moment.

There have been some semi-recent changes in the publishing industry that 
I think makes a volunteer effort work out much better where everything 
that is going on including how the funds are raised and spent being more 
out in the open can happen.  My problem is merely getting people 
together that are interested in something like that at the moment or 
even finding a forum to present the idea.  I have hoped that 
Foundation-l would be that forum, but apparently it isn't.

-- Robert Horning
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