Hi Leigh, OK, good points - a conference of some sort, is a good idea....However, let's have a phone call between us first, to discuss first....I'm thinking of a process by which we can engage them in a meaningful way ....and I'd like to further discuss. It's important that we all have our 'ducks' in order...so, I'd like to have a phone or skype meeting before you 'call' the web conference. When could we set this up?
- Randy On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 4:29 AM, Leigh Blackall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > OK I will talk to the locals here, and set up a web conference to discuss > the problem. > > Wayne: I also have the gut feeling that the lack of GUI, RTE or WYSIWYG > (what ever we're going to call it - lack of easy editor) is simply an > excuse... Personally I am stuck. Those around me say they need easy editing > before they take part, but then I want teachers confident with traditional > editing so they can engage in Wikipedia et al.. easy editing will delay that > goal. > > Randy: I have have a few years experience with Wikispaces, and although it > is arguably not as 'powerful' as MediaWiki it is a mistake to ignore the > numbers of teachers prolifically using it - and very collaboratively. What > are the differences between WS and WE? There are many powerful things in > WE's favor - Print to PDF, Collaborative video editing, add free, section > editing.. but WS has ease of use, more time on the Net, widget and 3rd party > media support, better RSS, loyal user base... > > Wayne: What about a separate server like you say, that has the FCK that we > could use to create the code that we could copy past or even import somehow > to main Wikied.. so instead of using OO we use FCK separately. There would > be no risk then.. > > > On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 3:29 PM, David McQuillan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > > > The current open-office export is not really a good solution, because > > inevitably if you're doing something slightly more complicated than plain > > text, the export needs some tweaking before it is usable, and to do the > > tweaking you need to know how to edit in media-wiki text. > > > > D > > > > >>> "Leigh Blackall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 04/30/08 1:20 PM >>> > > I think the difficulties I face have already been covered by David > > McQuillin. > > > > You see, from CoL and WikiEd admin perspective, they only need 10% of > > the > > world's teachers to engage for it to be sustainable. But, for Otago > > Polytech, we need at least 10% of OUR teachers engaged for our efforts > > in > > Wikied to be sustainable. > > > > As yet, we have seen very little collaboration on Wikied. Neither the > > wider > > network or our own local network has collaborated on resource > > development or > > sharing to any siginificant measure. We have several individual teachers > > using Wikied, but the promise of reduced workloads through collaboration > > has > > not yet come. This is because we don't yet have enough local or global > > people ready or willing to use the platform who are also willing to work > > with our topics. If we did have more local people working on Wikied then > > we > > know that collaboration on a local scale would be effective. > > > > Sadly, I am seeing a number of people I teach about Bogs and wikis > > electing > > to use Wikispaces because they perceive it as easier for them AND for > > the > > colleagues they need to convince to work the wiki way. > > > > If Wikied was as easy as Wikispaces, this drain would not be happening. > > Wikied offers add free, peer sustained, educational focus. But, as Dave > > has > > said, the difficulty to edit is too bigger barrier. Open Office might be > > a > > solution, but then I would have to ask our IT Support to use and support > > Open Office. As it is now, those who use OO have to install it > > themselves - > > most don't use OO. > > > > It must be web based, it must be as easy as possible. > > > > I love the trad editing in MediaWiki. The fact that I know it means I > > can > > easily participate on many many other MediaWiki projects. But, we can't > > ignore that Wikispaces enjoys the biggest participation from teachers > > (for > > better or for worse). We could, if we dropped our barrier, help bring > > those > > teachers into MediaWiki and then pass them into Wikipedia et al. > > > > Hope that explains our local situation. > > > > On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 12:19 PM, mackiwg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > > Leigh and (other RTE friends) > > > > > > Late May early June we will start with the implementation of a major > > > overall of our current server infrastructure. > > > > > > Basically the thinking is to set-up two servers (with failover > > > capability) and have the third server helping out with processing > > > power on the generation of pdfs but also a test bed for things like > > > the FCK editor. What I'm saying is that we will certainly test the > > > technology and see if it works for us -- but may take a little time. > > > > > > Given the large distance education community that uses WE -- dropping > > > the pedagogical templates is like taking one step forward to make > > > initial editing easier, and two steps back on pedagogy for > > > asynchronous learning. > > > > > > I'm also thinking about a left brain solution -- We may be able to do > > > a few smart tricks using Open Office and have the best of two worlds. > > > The ability to work in a word processing environment and easily upload > > > content to WE, including the pedagogical templates plus the ability to > > > work off line. That said -- this is speculative at this stage -- but > > > have been playing with a few tweaks using Open Office macros and Jim's > > > wizardry in customising the mediawiki XML filter that OO uses for the > > > export. It should be too hard to have a "save as WE" option that does > > > an ftp thing to the server, > > > > > > Leigh -- for a moment, lets play pretend. Assuming rich text editing > > > is sorted, for example, in the next month. How would your life and > > > work be different? > > > > > > Lets see how best to solve the challenges -- understanding the > > > difficulties you face will help us choose the right strategy for the > > > long term. > > > > > > Cheers > > > Wayne > > > > > > > > > > > > On Apr 29, 4:26 pm, "Randy Fisher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > What seems to be clear here, is that it's only a matter of time > > before > > > an > > > > easier-to-use GUI becomes available to WikiEd. And, yes, it will > > help > > > grow > > > > our community. > > > > > > > > It seems to me though, better and more useable technology is only > > part > > > of > > > > the equation - reaching out to others in other communities (the > > survey > > > > results give an indication of appopriate folks) is just as important > > to > > > > making the WE value proposition scalable and sustainable. > > > > > > > > - Randy > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 4:04 PM, mackiwg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > I had a chat with Erik a week or three ago -- I understand that > > FCK > > > > > have really made excellent progress. > > > > > > > > > I think that there are still issues on how best to integrate our > > > > > pedagogical templates -- but we should certainly watch the space. > > > > > > > > > Cheers > > > > > W > > > > > > > > > On Apr 29, 3:52 pm, "Leigh Blackall" <leighblack...@'gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > > > > Apparently the new version of FCK works well on MediaWiki.. > > anyone > > > know > > > > > > better? > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > > -- > > > > > > Leigh Blackall > > > > > > +64(0)21736539 > > > > > > skype - leigh_blackall > > > > > > SL - Leroy Goalposthttp://learnonline.wordpress.com > > > > > > > > -- > > > > ________________ > > > > Randy Fisher - Improving Performance in Ecosystems - with Measurable > > > Resultshttp://www.wikieducator.org/User:Wikirandy > > > > > > > > + 1 604.684.2275 > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > Skype: wikirandy > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > -- > > Leigh Blackall > > +64(0)21736539 > > skype - leigh_blackall > > SL - Leroy Goalpost > > http://learnonline.wordpress.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > -- > Leigh Blackall > +64(0)21736539 > skype - leigh_blackall > SL - Leroy Goalpost > http://learnonline.wordpress.com > > > -- ________________ Randy Fisher - Improving Performance in Ecosystems - with Measurable Results http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Wikirandy + 1 604.684.2275 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.hirerandy.com Skype: wikirandy --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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