Hi Joyce, Helping and sharing is definitely one of our core values :-) We also have the expressed belief in a forward-looking disposition working together to find appropriate and sustainable technical solutions for the future.
You've come to the right place :-) Cheers Wayne On 6 March 2010 13:40, <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks Wayne. Whatever you all decide please make it easy for technophobs > like me who have little time to find stuff and learn stuff to share > stuff...I don't know if that is one of our core values but IMHO it is > implied in some of them. Cheers. J. > > > *Wayne Mackintosh <[email protected]>* > Sent by: [email protected] > 03/05/2010 02:57 PM PSTPlease respond [email protected] > > > To WikiEducator <[email protected]> > cc > bcc Joyce McKnight/SUNY > Subject [WikiEducator] Re: Improving our our search capability -- WE > need your advice > > > Hi Joyce, > > Appreciate your feedback. I concur -- I think Google is a responsible > company and they are one of the few large corporates with an "open > source" friendly track record. For example, Google docs provides users > with the freedom to save documents in open file formats and the Google > Summer of Code initiative has sponsored numerous free software > development projects. So I think they rank pretty high on the > corporate citizenship stakes insofar as free software is concerned. > > Joyce -- we practice open philanthropy at the OER Foundation and > WIkiEducator -- and will always engage our community with important > decisions. From our experience we end up with better decisions :-). > All of this possible because of the time members like yourself take in > giving feedback and suggestions. > > Thanks > > Wayne > > > > On Mar 6, 10:04 am, [email protected] wrote: > > I have felt that wikieducator is hard to search, but I admit that I have > not really spent the time that is probably needed to learn how to do it. > That said, I think that it sounds as if Google would be a good alternative. > I personally am Google friendly, nothing labelled Google scares me (and > even after years as an online educator a lot of technology does scare me). > I am in agreement that we could use it since it does not really impact our > core mission and that if they change their policy about advertising we could > always revisit the decision. I started this thread with Waynes original > post and am working onward so I may have other additions to this threat. > Thanks Wayne for giving us all the opportunity to have a voice in such an > important decision. Joyce McKnight, SUNY/Empire State CollegeWayne > Mackintosh <[email protected]>Sent by: > [email protected]/04/2010 10:20 PM ZE12Please respond > [email protected] > > To WikiEducator <[email protected]>, > [email protected] > > cc > > bcc Joyce McKnight/SUNY > > Subject [WikiEducator] Improving our our search capability -- WE need > your advice > > > > > > 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:Should we provide a Google Custom Search box on the WikiEducator site > for using Google search technology on the WIkiEducator site? Yes/No?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.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.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.CheersWayne--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.orgMobile +64 21 2436 380User Page: > http://wikieducator.org/User:MackiwgSkype: WGMNZ1Twitter: OERFoundation, > Mackiwg--You received this message because you are subscribed to the > GoogleGroups "WikiEducator" group.To visit wikieducator: > http://www.wikieducator.orgTo visit the discussion forum: > http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducatorTo post to this group, send > email to [email protected] unsubscribe from this group, send > email [email protected] > > -- > 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] > > -- > 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]
