Michael Peel wrote: > http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/ireland/schools-to-get-free-access-to- > online-encylopedias-440794.html > > "The country’s 4,000 schools are to get free access to online > versions of the popular Encyclopedia Britannica and World Book as > part of an e-Learning initiative announced today." > > ... do you think we should offer to generously let them access > Wikipedia for free as well? We can even throw in the native language > version. ;-) > Not CCed since I have a UK point to make. Which is that government these days have budgets to spend on website mass subscriptions for schools (as here) or libraries. This doesn't get much scrutiny.
This is something to research. I benefit through my library card in Cambridge by having about 20 online subscriptions. I'm not ungrateful, but this is taxpayers' money, and there is politics attached. Can we find out, in the UK, which ministry is paying? Out of what budget? How much do they spend? What arguments do we have of the type "this money is propping up an older model, could be spent better"? There will be an election by May, and we know public spending is under pressure. A position paper for WMUK would be good. Charles _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list [email protected] http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
