User talk:Alexanderhayes

A little feedback
'''Ok....I'm lost.

Is this like the discussion page ?

I am so not wikieducated. Is there some plugin that gives me a set of tools much like a common page editor ? Really looking to progress this idea.'''

Hi Alexander -

In Mediawiki - each page in the wiki (called an article) has an associate discussion page - This feature is typically used by the community to discuss changes and ideas related to the main article page. In the case of a User Page (the one where we are talking now) the discussion page (sometimes called the User talk page) is used for leaving personal messages for the User concerned. So basically:


 * 1) if you want to leave a "message" that relates to a content page - this is done using the discussion tab for the relevant page
 * 2) if you want to leave a message for a User - you do this by clicking on the discussion tab for the user concerned.

For more conventional threaded discussion - we're using Google groups - http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator There is also an Internet Relay Chat facility where you can talk with users that are online at the same time - see the Web Chat link under the navigation toolbar on the left.

Once logged in - you can set your preferences to automatically alert you via email if there have been any messages left for you. There are a set of tutorials on the basics of using Mediawiki here : Wikieducator_tutorial.

Initially the Mediawiki syntax may not be as user friendly when compared to the rich text editing environment of wikispaces. However the payback is using a wiki which has far more features, infinitely scalable using free software. After all the world's largest online encyclopedia uses the same software :-).

Cheers --Mackiwg 20:19, 14 March 2007 (CET)

Alex: MediaWiki is not as WYSIWYG as wikispaces, but it does have some cool hacks and no ads (yea, yea, yea... turn the ads into deep links for learning about resources, etc.. ;-) ). But, in lot's of ways it's easier than Wikispaces as well. I had a hell of a time trying to get a table into wikispaces using the gui, in the end i reverted to the text version (after i located it .. they actually try to hide it) but.. the other advantage is that we can hack on this. We can do things in here potentially that we want, not that the "company" wants. While there is a limited 'toolbar' available that will do a lot for you, I reckon that it's actually easier to learn a bit about how to do the wiki text first. See the tutorials Wayne mentioned, or just put pages into edit mode and take a look at the syntax. We'll be reworking a lot of the outlay of WikiEducator in the near future and i think it will make it a lot easier to find things as well. Also, see the http://www.wikieducator.org/Talk:TALO page for my note on the TALO node, oh and add that page to your watchlist by clicking on the watch tab, this will alert you via email (perhaps we should hack SMS messages in there for you?) when things have changed on the page. brent 23:03, 14 March 2007 (CET)

Wendy Zammit : Welcome
Intro. - Yes !!!

Truly Awesome
Me : Back :-)

It's a sure way to grow community and leaves Goodle groups for dead...erk. Yoo hoo.

I have my own talk page and if I can only grab a few more minutes before I collapse of exhaustion the I'll be all yours. Your might be interested to note that I'm trying my best in my organisation to grow our wiki at NSW LearnScope Wiki.

It's the usual we have to have our IP protected sort of stuff but it will be filled with some pretty amazing content this year and resources much like we filled NSW LearnScope Wikispaceslast year. Wouldnt it be great if in some way we joined and NSW learnScope could be a cousin node of WikiEducator. I reckon I could persuade a few hard-nosed politicians to better aunderstand what opportunities exist for the relatedness across the continent divides we could grow and the ensuing business of learning that would be fostered.

Please say that we can bring NSW LearnScope and TALO in as nodes...


 * Alex, i've seen the NSWLearnScope wiki, even before Chris was on his way down to talk about it. First thought was similar to Wayne's -- you guys need the Wikieducator tutorial, but also there's heaps that we could be collaborating on, cross-pollinating, linking to, etc... Regarding becoming more like a Superuser enviro, see this page: User:BrentSimpson/Feeds, and this note to Leigh: User_talk:Leighblackall regarding feeds in/feeds out, etc. Sure you've also tracked Leighs latest blog post on his vision for the wiki space -- we'll make it happen (well some of it at least.) Your tip for the day, do this: ~ at the end of the page, it automatically does this --> brent 21:43, 15 March 2007 (CET) (except it will be you. oh, and you have got this page on your watchlist don't you?)

Tips for TALO node and NSW Learnscope
Alexander,

I queried User:Eloquence about tools to help with converting TALO materials into wiki format. There is an HTML to wiki converter at http://diberri.dyndns.org/wikipedia/html2wiki/ - which will help with some of the syntax. I've not tried this myself, but expect that the output will still require some tweaking. Have a look to see if this will be of any help.

I visited the NSW Learnscope wiki. This is a great project and their are strong synergies between the objectives of WikiEducator and NSW Learnscope - particularly in the area of professional development and capacity building. NSW Learnscope has had the foresight in choosing the "right" license - i.e. CC-BY-SA. This is the same license we use on WikiEducator - so there is no problem regarding IP. Consequently the content between the wiki's will be inter changeable. This is good news. Therefore we should do our best not to replicate or duplicate work. We have a number of projects which will be of interest to NSW Learnscope in building your community.


 * 1) The WikiEducator  Newbie Tutorials - which you can use for capacity development among educators in NSW
 * 2) The FLOSS4Edu project - perhaps you want to set up an Australian (or NSW) Chapter
 * 3) The Learning4Content project which is designed to provide free training in return for lesson content. WikiEducator will be developing the resources for this project - and it would be possible for NSW to replicate this model with a bit of funding support from the NSW Learnscope project. Of course your community is most welcome to join us in refining these resources.

Australia is part of the Commonwealth - so it makes sense to collaborate with the global Wikieducator community. Sadly. Australia has withdrawn its funding support to COL - so it's difficult for us to provide financial support for in country initiatives. However, with free content - it will be possible for you to fund in country projects using WikiEducator resources.

Their are tangible benefits to collaborating with an international community like WikiEducator - particularly in the refinement of Mediawiki software for educational purposes. Together we are able to achieve so much more. All technical improvements initiated by WikiEducator will be released under the GPL - so the NSW Learnspace wiki will benefit from these software improvements.

Cheers --Mackiwg 18:27, 15 March 2007 (CET)

FLNW 2
Have dropped a FLNW 2 link in upcoming events page.

The tangible benefits of COL will be realised despite the agenda's as we are free content developers with a social mandate. Conversation growing here - http://groups.google.com/group/teachAndLearnOnline/browse_thread/thread/39fac14661790a41

Would love for your Wikieducator Google group to bridge the idea and canvas a collaboration protocol.

Alex, do we have a tag for FLNW2 yet, i mean it's not that hard to figure out I suppose but would like to just make sure we're all on the same page w/ this. I've been usign flnw2. brent 11:00, 29 March 2007 (CEST)

Yes - flnw2 or FLNW2 - :-)


 * yea, was pretty much a no-brainer i guess. But i see you've started signing your edits at last so something inadvertant but good has come out of the question ;-) viva la quatro tildes! brent 06:18, 30 March 2007 (CEST)

Alex, will definately add my .10 cents worth. Will be working feverishly over the coming days to get this wiki into some respectable shape, as is now is not much more than an emergent heap of undifferentiated cells wondering what form it might take .. but hoping to guide it into something it may want to grow up into. Will see...could use any help/guidance you may have. I'll be in Vancouver in April trying to talk geek with MediaWiki hackers and other open education types. watch recent changes. September beers? naturlich! brent 10:01, 30 March 2007 (CEST)

Hi ya Brent. September beers are definetly on. Check the hacks I've been mucking around with Chris Harvey on my own wiki. Making it smooth does th trick for me even though the hardcore few would have us live in default --alexanderhayes 16:52, 2 April 2007 (CEST)

Are you there ?--alexanderhayes 07:30, 3 April 2007 (CEST)


 * No, but I have been here, User:BrentSimpson/Why_FLNW2 brent 01:02, 5 April 2007 (CEST)

Any ideas on how to bridge conversation
Hi Alex -

I've read through the FLNW postings and am most supportive of promoting COL engagement with a community committed to education as a common good through the development of free cultural works.

Do you have any thoughts on how we might bridge the conversation in a practical way?

I see that you're planning the next FLNW event in the Philippines - sounds exciting. I'm keen to put forward budgeting proposals for some form of support - however, we are funded by Commonwealth Governments and have a responsibility to work within the Commonwealth. Through free content participation is certainly wider than the Commonwealth and we are working together to achieve these aims. My difficulty is that the Philippines is not part of the Commonwealth I will have difficulty in motivating support for an event outside of the CW. In situations like this it's best to approach other international agencies. Regarding Asia, COL could work for example with India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore or Brunei Darussalam. The Pacific region would also be a viable alternative as well, for example Kiribati, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu or Vanuatu. It would be good to consider one of the developing countries as a host for one of the future events - because we must think creatively about how to overcome the digital divide through learning networks.

Look forward to ideas and interactions. Cheers --Mackiwg 00:08, 17 March 2007 (CET)

I dropped this into Google today.....

Janet,

It is great to have you on board.

I spoke with Diokno ( pronounced jock-noh ) Pasilan this morning who has experessed his interest to join the TALO members as a cultural guide and key contact for Palawan and key contact for Manila. It is envisaged that TALO's official presence in Thailand will neccesitate assistance so as a team member Diokno's knowledge and contacts in Manila such as the Australian Centre ( Education ) and the Embassies will be highly valued.

The oppourtunity to meet Diokno's family,community and local government in Palawan will be awesome.

Diokno will be "appearing" soon in TALO Skypecasts and so on so we can get a better feel for what we are up for.

As mooted by John Eyles last year and with reference to Rose and Leigh's feedback, I'd like to take John's offer up as our Thailand cultural guide tying together EON Foundation, English-To-Go and the Living Classroom Network with a thousand other initiatives on the go in Palawan.

Trish Everett is our TALO memeber for the AIC's group of the Great Sandy Desert of Australia.

This TALO managed event is very very important to me.It makes real the things I'm passionate about as it it follows the celebration of the arrival of my third child into this world and  it is about affecting, effecting and nurturing positive accord with our greater world. Actioning e-learning, making it a living-breating problem solving creative venture speaks more highly than a million cool tool conversations and FLNW2 will bring together hotly debated topics and many, many groups and networks globally.

An example of how important this is becomes evidenced in dialogue that has been received from Macckiwg - http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Mackiwg - who asks ;

".....Hi Alex - I've read through the FLNW postings and am most supportive of promoting COL engagement with a community committed to education as a common good through the development of free cultural works.

Do you have any thoughts on how we might bridge the conversation in a practical way?

......I see that you're planning the next FLNW event in the Philippines - sounds exciting. I'm keen to put forward budgeting proposals for some form of support - however, we are funded by Commonwealth Governments and have a responsibility to work within the Commonwealth. Through free content participation is certainly wider than the Commonwealth and we are working together to achieve these aims. My difficulty is that the Philippines is not part of the Commonwealth I will have difficulty in motivating support for an event outside of the CW. In situations like this it's best to approach other international agencies. Regarding Asia, COL could work for example with India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore or Brunei Darussalam. The Pacific region would also be a viable alternative as well, for example Kiribati, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu or Vanuatu. It would be good to consider one of the developing countries as a host for one of the future events - because we must think creatively about how to overcome the digital divide through learning networks. "

My answer is ......This is how e bridge conversations. It's NOT called ambush marketing. It's called progressive seeding. We join our conversations with yours gradually Wayne and the TALO group will welcome the Wikieducator group and the COL mindful that we are a bunch of nerds, rogues and web heads.......I know ....speak for myself.

The most conclusive evidence of our intent is to make it known in a space that is progressing, in principle at least one of our TALO accords.

If you are serious about a physical presence at FLNW2, are a TALO member , and are prepared for departing from where ever you are located and joining the TALO team in Jan 2008 on a proactive and creative engagement with communities irrespective of their COL status the I invite you to follow my example - http://www.wikieducator.org/FLNW2

We invite your active input in progressing this conversation.

How we can help
Hi Alex - I'm not sure that I will be able to make a physical appearance at FLNW2 and still have a long way to go to meet the prerequisite requirements of the TALO community. I have a hectic travel schedule which makes this difficult for me ..;-(. In the google groups conversation you suggested that it was "Time to talk turkey with Commonwealth of Learning." As an international agency we are very supportive in building community networks committed to the development of free content for networked learning. I was looking to see how we could support an event like this in a tangible way. My financial regulations require me to work within Commonwealth countries - the reason for this is that we are funded by Commonwealth Governments . I think the most productive way forward is to look at the planning of FLNW3 - assuming that TALO is looking to holding a follow up on FLNW2. Assuming that the group would like to hold the FLNW3 event in a CW country - even better if its in the developing world. If FLNW3 is on the cards - then we should start speaking about how COL could potentially co-support such an event. I would need a reasonable heads-up in advance to facilitate budget planning. When would FLNW3 take place - Jan 2009?

Also - Perhaps there are ways of Networking TALO with the FLOSS4Edu initiative who have related objectives around free content development using free software tools. What do you think?

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback. I'm in discussions with John Eyles, Leigh Blackall, Chris Harvey and Nancy White to name but a few with respect to planning.

The Jan 2008 deadline is assured. The trip is planned to take 16 days.

We have virtual hosts adding their profile to the contributors page.

Ps. Dont take offence at the Commonwealth pun. It was an oversight and apologies are offered if in any way it's ruffled the books.

We have particpants adding their profile to the contributors page.

We have hosting confirmed and approved in Palawan and Manila. I'm awaiting feedback from John about the Thailand contacts. Personally I'd like to see that a number of COL countries are visited as part of the trip. In fact this is a critical part of this project event.

I'd also appreciate COL's assistance to co-sponsor the event as a supporter of our intitaive. It would be great to see your / wikieducator logo appear in the FLNW2 page under sponsors.......blurb of support. It would also be great for COL to consider it's inclusion also after we have had discussions regarding timing, contacts, needs and focus of the project. Those who appear in the FLNW2 page as Particpants are your primary contacts. I'm happy to be the conduit in the interim.

I'll flick this brief discussion to Leigh and Brent as they are my primary TALA contacts regarding this intitiative .Could you alert FLOSS4Edu of this event as I'm a newbie here and just teaching myself via others how this all works - wikimarkup. I welcome FLOSS4Edu to become a project sponsor. Our content will become their content.

I look forward to seeing who else from your team will add themselves as a virtual host or as a participant.

Learnscope node has come along nicely
Hey Alex,

I've just been spending a little time working through the Learnscope page node on WikiEducator as well as visiting the actual Learnscope wiki.

I really like the skin you're using for Learnscope. Also your choice of the CC-BY-SA license will facilitate easy collaboration on resources between our projects. It seems to me that a good place to start thinking about collaboration would be the development of resources to support professional development in using the wiki.

We're busy with a bunch of interesting stuff - which could be of benefit to your community. Similarly let me know what your professional development priorities are - and lets see if we can get a collaborative project going.

Chat to you soon. --Mackiwg 01:42, 29 May 2007 (CEST)

Thanks Wayne for the encouragement. Our teams are just getting revved up to begin for the year and as always it's a steep learning curve as to what's of use and what's not. I'm currently building resources ( via the wiki ) for team members to use at will and to share with others - things like how to use Adobe Connect and a web office page and general stuff that we can point to when we are on the road doing visits. I'm keen to also find ways to collaborate with other projects via this node. What comes to mind is articles that can be used to showcase a topic or thinking point....I'd like to be able to find ways to join our intiatives with others and having a common 3.0 helps hey ! Please encourage others to come by our way to check out what we are up to. Our members, resources, exemplars and project teams pages will be most popular.

Looking forward to our ongoing dialogue. ps. Have you had a chance to consider your inclusion in FLNW2 either virtually or physically ? We are keen to have a first sponsor and WikiEducator houses the main network page so could WikiEducator be considered as our first official sponsor ? We have lots of good feedback coming in about networking with Thai schools via John Eyles.--alexanderhayes 02:22, 29 May 2007 (CEST)