Next you'll be suggesting twitter so we can keep up with his movements... geographic that is <SMILE>
On Oct 2, 2:23 pm, "Leigh Blackall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Wayne, you need a blog.. > > All this information, dispersed and broken up inside a google group and > different Wikipages. I think you need a blog so we can keep up with > everything you are doing and thinking about > > > > On Fri, Oct 3, 2008 at 6:56 AM, Wayne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Thu, 2008-10-02 at 09:49 -0700, Steve Foerster wrote: > > > Wayne wrote: > > > << WikiEducator 3.0 refers to the phases of our strategic plan: >> > > > Oooooh, okay, fair enough. > > > I've started a stub for Wkieducator 3.0 --- The idea being to provide a > > synopsis of our strategy and concise history of the project as the basis to > > ask the community to help us identify the strategic and operational > > priorities of Phase 3 in our development. > > > << TImeline: Startup of the new International Center for Open > > Education is scheduled for 1 May 2009. COL has agreed to fund the > > technical infrastructure of WIkiEducator for the first 3 years, that > > is servers and technical support staff. COL's future support for > > WikiEducator is conditional and requires that WikiEducator is > > established within a new legal framework that COL considers > > appropriate for such support. Our discussions have been around > > setting up an independent and appropriate non-profit entity. >> > > > I agree that this is critically important. In order to set up a non- > > profit organisation, it must have by-laws, yes? And these would > > presumably refer to a governance structure, e.g., Board of Directors > > or Trustees or what have you? I ask because if that's the case then > > this would effectively replace our Draft Policy on Governance, and if > > that's so we must be the ones to write it. > > > Steve, replacing our Draft Policy on Governance -- not necessarily. > > > My personal view is that we should do everything we can to respect and > > support the autonomy of the WE community taking into account our history and > > what's been achieved to date and the legal requirements. It is conceivable > > to have an independent non profit that is responsible for maintaining the > > technical and operational infrastructure of the WikiEducator community in > > accordance with the policies approved by the WikiEducator Community Council > > without interfering with the governance of the community. I'm not a lawyer > > and we'll need to get legal advice on this question. So let's wait till we > > have feedback from the experts. > > > << Steve the Open Education Centre comes under an employer - employee > > relationship. This is subject to the normal confidences afforded to > > employment agreements. >> > > > I hope that doesn't mean that you foresee your relationship with Otago > > would require confidences that would preclude you from sharing > > relevant information with the WE community. > > > Nope -- I don't see it that way at all. We all have multiple roles and > > identities. My participation in WE is as an equal member of the WE family. > > For example, you work at a University -- but participate in WE as a member > > of the community. What I anticipate is a job description which gives me the > > time to work for the WikiEducator project as an organisational allocation of > > staff time. Increasingly, I hope to see more institutions officially > > donating FTE (Full time equivalent) staff time to the project. I've been > > thinking about launching an FTE for WikiEducator initiative where > > institutions commit real staff time to the project. > > > << The moment I have definitive detail on the relationship between the > > operations of the International Centre for Open Education and the > > WikiEducator project -- I will be the first to let our community know. > > > Fair enough. > > > << Suffice it to say, the establishment of an independent legal entity > > for administering the funding for the WE project is a critical path > > decision for moving forward. Currently -- WE has no legal status. WE > > is a community of association whereby individual members are > > personally responsible (and liable) for their activities in the > > community. >> > > > Very good, on this I think everyone agrees. Can we assume the non- > > profit group would be chartered in NZ? (Fine with me if it is, so > > long as NZ recognises public domain dedications.) > > > Yes -- the non-profit would be chartered in NZ. To the best of my > > knowledge, NZ recognises public domain dedications. > > > The final form of the non-profit is not my decision, nor should it be. This > > has to do with taxation status of different kinds of entities, for example > > an Educational Charitable Trust versus a non-profit company with charitable > > purposes. In the case of NZ Educational Trust, to retain "tax free" status > > has implications regarding disbursements -- this has nothing to do with the > > form of the entity but local taxation law. As an international project we > > must ensure that WE can continue its work at an international level. This > > international stuff gets pretty complicated -- our server sits in Germany > > and we will more than likely have our Phase 2 hosting located in Canada. > > Each country has its laws around these things as well. I'm not a lawyer and > > we will rely on the advice of legal professionals working in the field. > > There is also the question of legal liability of the organisation that funds > > operations etc. So lots of detail that needs to be worked out. > > > << I have always acted in the best interests of the WIkiEducator > > project. I hold the highest number of edits in the community and the > > accolade of being the first member of WikiEducator :-). Since the > > inception of the project I have always put community first and will > > continue to do so. >> > > > I know. I really hope you don't think that I'm asking you these > > questions because of any doubt of that, as for the record I have none > > at all. And hopefully everyone understands that you can't know > > everything yet. I'm only bugging you this way because I want to > > ensure that the community is as involved as possible in what happens > > to us, and you can't reasonably facilitate that if we don't do our > > part by asking what we need to know. > > > I respect and admire your approach and ongoing commitment to our project > > since the early days :-) --- keep bugging! > > > Cheers > > Wayne > > > -=Steve=- > > -- > -- > Leigh Blackall+64(0)21736539 > skype - leigh_blackall > SL - Leroy > Goalposthttp://learnonline.wordpress.comhttp://www.wikieducator.org/User:Leighblackall --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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