Hi Anil, Good ideas -- I can see that were OERF to appoint a full-time "Research Associate" for WikiEducator, this would add considerable value to our project. This would also be a catalyst for speeding up the attainment of our strategic and operational objectives. I also agree with you that WikiEducator's core strength lies in the gifting culture of hundreds of educators around the world who work tirelessly in contributing to the ongoing success of what we're doing. This is the heartbeat of WikiEducator. I wasn't planning a long response -- but you raise important questions and thoughts in your post which deserve a substantive response.
My personal wish is to see OERF and WikiEducator evolve and mature into a truly virtual organisation with "staff" working from all over the world. I'm not supportive of a large, top-heavy central team and/or bureaucracy. OERF is not planning to have more than 3 full-time staff as part of the central administration for the next three years. Rather, I see OERF as an organisation which will subcontract the best skills around the world for our priority tasks as our income streams grow and mature. In this way we remain agile and make sure that we retain our flexibility to respond to local needs. Not too mention having the privilege of a diverse and skilled international team of consultants. Notwithstanding the fact that we are an open education and open source project reliant on the gifting culture of many, we also believe and support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including Article 23 which states that: "*Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.*" In short, OERF has no objections to contracting and remunerating consultants for the development and support services associated with the development of open content. We are also committed to maintaining a sustainable balance between the time educators gift to the project and the paid services we commission in support of the project. For example, we pay our lead facilitators who help out with our training workshops. At the same time, each workshop has a number of co-facilitators who donate their time free of charge. Keeping this balance requires transparency -- which is why OERF practices open philanthropy. Our strategy documents, operational plans and funding proposals are all developed openly and transparently in WikiEducator. In this way everyone can see what we're doing and every member of our community is free to contribute and help us refine these planning documents. Together we achieve more than working alone :-). We are moving into a phase focuse on expanding financial contributions from various sources. This includes government funding, international donors, membership contributions from participating organisations, public donations etc. (For the record - we will not succumb to the temptation of advertising revenue generated from our main WikiEducator sites). At the same time, I do not want to see organisations who may not have the funds to become contributing members of OERF, particularly in the developing world to be excluded from active participation with equal benefits aligned with "Gold" membership status. We're developing an innovative FTE4WikiEducator category of membership, where an organisation can donate staff time, for example 2 working days per week and OERF will actively seek sponsorship from the corporate sector to help defray the costs associated with OERF providing the services associated with the Gold tier membership. OERF is committed to providing free wiki hosting services for OER development and reuse as well as free training for every educator in the world who want's to learn how to collaborate on OERs. This costs money, we have servers to run, training costs to cover etc. However we have a solid foundation and track record on which to build and am confident that, with everyone's help --- we can take WikiEducator to new levels of achievement. Watch this space -- and as always --- all suggestions, advice and support in helping WikiEducator make the future happen are well received! Let's do this. Cheers Wayne 2009/10/28 aprasad <[email protected]> > Dear Dr. Wayne, > > > If OERF has funds, you may also think about posting a full-time Research > Associate for WikiEducator. Such a person can help you and our community by > attending the following regularly: > > 1. Promote discussions on various vital issues and consolidate/ > facilitate the consolidation of valid points from such discussions (both > from WE and Google list) and use it for WE strengthening. > 2. Manage the communications. > 3. Regularly monitor the content development process. > 4. Regularly search for innovations in the OER world > 5. Supplement the vital system maintenance requirements (chiefly > content part) when and where there is lack of attention from Volunteer > WEs. > 6. And many other things you may able to identify > > Though our faith is in voluntary assistance of our community, a core > organization can help us in many ways. > > -- > Warm regards > > Anil > http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Anil_Prasad > http://www.apletters.blogspot.com > > > > > -- Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. Director, International Centre for Open Education, Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. Board of Directors, OER Foundation. Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator, www.wikieducator.org Mobile +64 21 2436 380 Skype: WGMNZ1 Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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