On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 00:40, Wayne Mackintosh <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Edward, > > BTW -- congrats on the progress with the open text book project. Well done! > (Have been a little snowed under to get to the posts on the list :-(.) > > From a values perspective that sounds very reasonable.
Thank you. > Personally I don't have the technical knowledge to assess any security > related issued with embedding links to external code. This is way above my > salary level ;-) This is within the context of an education suite with strong security built in. Sugar for the XO laptop gives schools control over who can share sessions with their students, and secures school servers where lessons would reside. Access to the underlying file system and to administrator commands can be largely open, for students of programming and Computer Science, or completely shut down, or anything in between. The idea is to make a fairly standard Linux distribution at least as safe as a Java sandbox. We would only allow lessons to call Sugar activities, including Python, Etoys Smalltalk, UCBLogo, and Turtle Art. We will Sugarize other programming languages as needed. Some years ago I documented security APIs for VeriSign, and the security people at OLPC and Sugar Labs know a great deal more about the matter than I do. > That said -- I know that you will be able to provide us with valuable advise > on the security issues -- have a chat with Jim. Lets see what we can do. Certainly. > Cheers > Wayne > > > > On 26 February 2010 18:22, Edward Cherlin <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> I am interested in embedding links to Python and Smalltalk software of >> considerable generality, including graphics, animations, and video, >> and then capturing videos for posting elsewhere. >> >> On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 19:26, Wayne Mackintosh >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> > Hi Everyone, >> > >> > In the past we've received requests from many community members to >> > implement >> > the functionality to embed links to video hosted on third party sites >> > (eg >> > Youtube, BlipTV Vimeo etc). Now that WikiEducator is hosted >> > independently by >> > the OER Foundation, we have more flexibility and autonomy to take a >> > community decision concerning on third party video. >> > >> > Do WikiEducators want the ability to embed links to video clips? >> > What is the best way for us to take this decision? >> > Should we have a trial period to see how this works? >> > >> > We need and invite your feedback -- so please post your replies to this >> > list. We will consider all feedback posted over the next two weeks, >> > before >> > deciding on the next steps. Apology for the long email -- but I provide >> > some >> > discussion points below. Third party video is not a simple matter when >> > it >> > comes to the values and meaning of freedom as interpreted by our >> > community >> > values. >> > >> > Discussion >> > >> > Embedding video is not a simple question of turning a switch to enable >> > links >> > to third party hosted video. Technically speaking, this is relatively >> > easy >> > to achieve. However, there are many issues associated with digital >> > video >> > and our core values of the WikiEducator project which we need to >> > consider, >> > most notably the essential freedoms. >> > >> > WE subscribe to the free cultural works definition and WE need to find a >> > solution which aligns with what we believe as a community OER project. >> > I've >> > been sound boarding a few ideas with colleagues and friends and would >> > appreciate your input and feedback on a few baseline requirements and >> > suggestions. >> > >> > Licensing. We must be able to identify and search for appropriately >> > licensed video content. This is to ensure that video content we embed >> > adheres to the requirements of the definition of free cultural works. In >> > practice this means we can only use video hosting sites which clearly >> > tag >> > their video content with the relevant copyright license as well as >> > corresponding search functionality to identify resources which are >> > appropriately licensed (eg. CC-0, CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, GFDL and the public >> > domain declaration), Therefore, Youtube (for example) would not meet >> > this >> > requirement as their existing conditions of service would not enable the >> > implementation of license tagging. Currently WIkiEducator users would >> > not be >> > able to differentiate openly licensed videos from all rights reserved >> > content. However, BlipTV allows users to choose from a number of >> > Creative >> > Commons licenses to apply to their work, and videos are searchable by >> > license. This would enable WIkiEducators to use the Creative Commons >> > search >> > (http://search.creativecommons.org/) facility to easily identify >> > appropriately licensed video on BlipTV. >> > Open file formats. This is a requirement to ensure that our content is >> > stored and accessible in formats which can be edited using free/open >> > source >> > software. In addition this means that source files should be available >> > for >> > download. No WikiEducator should be forced to purchase a license for >> > non-free software in order to remix and create a derivative work from >> > our >> > site. Most video sites (with the exception, for instance, of the >> > Wikimedia >> > Commons) encode video for web delivery using the Flash Video Format >> > (flv) >> > which is a proprietary file format. BlipTV provide a service for their >> > registered users who also have an account with the Internet Archive >> > (http://blip.tv/prefs/archiveorg/ ). In short this facility enables >> > archiving of downloadable video files including the open file format >> > (ogg >> > Theora). Therefore, WikiEducator users who upload video files to BlipTV >> > could register for the Internet Archive service making it easier for >> > educators to download video in the formats of their choice for remix >> > purposes. However, this feature would not solve the problem of open file >> > formats for the video uploaded by BlipTV users who do not register for >> > the >> > Internet Archive service. Fortunately BlipTV provides the functionality >> > to >> > download the video files, even though these are generally supplied in >> > the >> > flv (proprietary file format). The open source FFmpeg project >> > (http://www.ffmpeg.org/) provides tools to convert flv files into open >> > file >> > formats. Therefore, all WikiEducator would have access to free software >> > tools for remixing source video, thus meeting the requirements of the >> > free >> > cultural works definition. >> > >> > Therefore the BlipTV hosting site would provide a service which aligns >> > with >> > our values. There are also Mediawiki wiki extensions available for >> > embedding >> > BlipTV video on WikiEducator pages. >> > >> > Pending a positive assessment of the stability and security of the >> > BlipTV >> > extensions for WikiEducator -- Would the community consider moving >> > forward >> > with providing capability for embedding BlipTV video on the WikiEducator >> > site along the lines suggested above? >> > >> > Thoughts? >> > >> > Cheers >> > Wayne >> > >> > >> > >> > -- >> > 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 >> > User Page: http://wikieducator.org/User:Mackiwg >> > Skype: WGMNZ1 >> > Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg >> > >> > -- >> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> > Groups "WikiEducator" group. >> > To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org >> > To visit the discussion forum: >> > http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator >> > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> > [email protected] >> >> >> >> -- >> Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin >> Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. >> The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. >> http://www.earthtreasury.org/ >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> Groups "WikiEducator" group. >> To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org >> To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected] > > > -- > 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 > User Page: http://wikieducator.org/User:Mackiwg > Skype: WGMNZ1 > Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "WikiEducator" group. > To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org > To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] -- Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. http://www.earthtreasury.org/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]
