Hi Everyone, Apology for the long post -- but this is potentially an important policy decision for the WikiEducator community. Since our inception, both WikiEducator and the OER Foundation have subscribed to open philanthropy -- where we discuss and take decisions transparently and collaboratively :-).
We are thinking about improving our search capability by enabling the Google Custom Search box on the WikiEducator site. At that same time we need to think carefully about the conditions and possible policy implications for WikiEducator. Today we've had a few discussions on our techie list on with reference to improving our search features in WIkiEducator (See: http://groups.google.co.nz/group/wikieducator-tech/browse_frm/thread/e33d2567a6cda18b). Clearly the ability to search and find open content resources in WIkiEducator is a priority for educators, and will increasingly become more important as our project evolves. The current Mediawiki search capability is not the best search technology in the world. (To be fair to -- "searching" is not the core business of wiki developers.) IMHO, there is still no other open source wiki software which remotely compares to the scalability and power of the Mediawiki software engine and WE are proud to be a Mediawiki site :-). Technically it is relatively easy for us to implement the Google Custom Search Service on WikiEducator. In short, this will mean we can utilise Google search technology for the WIkiEducator site by inserting a Google search box for using Google technology for searching the WikiEducator website. This provides superior web search results when compared to our current Mediawiki search capability. However, enabling the Google Custom Search on WikiEducator may require a policy decision with reference to using these kinds of ancillary webservices. WE need your advice and guidance. The substantive issue here is using a web service on the WIkiEducator site which does not meet the requirements of the free cultural works definition for an ancillary activity of the WikiEducator project, Our core business is the creation, remix and reuse of OER which must always meet the requirements of the free cultural works definition. This is non-negotiable and a core value of our community. A few reflections: Speaking personally, I'm keen for us to seriously consider using the Google Custom Search under clearly defined paramaters - I think this will add value to WikIEducator without compromising our core values. So here are the questions to think about: 1. Should we provide a Google Custom Search box on the WikiEducator site for using Google search technology on the WIkiEducator site? Yes/No? 2. Is the community comfortable with Google's terms of service most notably the closed ownership of the search results and the use of closed software to produce the search results? (Personally, I'm OK with this on the grounds that search results are not core content of the WE project --- our OERs must always comply with the free cultural works definition). See Google's terms of service: http://www.google.com/cse/docs/tos.html . 3. Regarding advertising -- our practice is not to permit advertising on the WikiEducator site. So I'm pleased to see that Google will allow registered non-profits advert free results. In the event that Google's policy changes in this regard, we would need to reconsider the use of Google Custom search and discontinue the service if we are forced to display text adverts with the search results. 4. With reference to our thoughts on advertising - -we are required to use the Google branded search box. I think this is justifiable and not necessarily an "advert" for Google. For example, the Mozilla Foundation allow the brand identities of the searchproviders to be displayed in their software. Please let us know your thoughts on these issues. In the event that we decide to go with the Google Custom Search facility -- I propose that we table a policy decision for the WIkiEducator Council with regards to non-core services which may not meet all the requirements of the free cultural works definition. 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]
