User talk:Mackiwg/old stuff/19 May 2007

Submission
Dear Mr.Wayne, It's great to be an Educator,you are doing a good job,keep it up. How do you feel about having this below as an objective of FLOSS4EDU? -Enriching the knowledge of the Participant in the use of Software Application. Cheers! Bode.

New stuff

 * Moodle cron job should now be run every 5 minutes. Let me know if there are still e-mail issues.
 * Web chat is in the sidebar. Please report any issues with it. BTW, you can remove links from there by editing MediaWiki:Sidebar. If you don't use pages like current events or Donations, this may help avoid clutter.

More to come ;-) --Eloquence 06:52, 15 February 2007 (CET)


 * Re LQT: here's my original draft and here's the current incomplete impl (the backend is mostly done, as far as I understand it, and the frontend still needs quite a bit of work). Would be lovely if we could revive it somehow (this torn apart discussion spread over two pages illustrates the need nicely). --Eloquence 07:15, 15 February 2007 (CET)

looks like LiquidThreads would combine the best of both worlds of forums and wikis! now combine that with IM and Email and that would be something else! on the negative side is the possibility of the kitchen sink syndrome. We would not want Wikimedia to become a web based vesion of emacs :-p Anway have you seen how [stet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stet_(software)] the software used for reviewing GPL3 work? is rather remarkable as well.

I'm thinking of a new educational exersice: the teacher posts an essay and the students have to correct it and mark it ... using somthing like stet. Besides the tool might be more useful then wiki for certain documents that need moderation, like institutional position statements.

--Phsi 20:21, 17 February 2007 (CET)

Dear Wayne I am hoping this will reach you. I am Olabisi Kuboni from UWIDEC. I am not now at home and cannot remember which Module we in UWIDEC are supposed to be reviewing in the ICDL materials. Can you please remind me? Thanks Olabisi

Reminder of module for UWIDEC review
Thank you. Olabisi

Olabisi - I posted my response on your user page here on 16 Feb, User_talk:Okuboni did you see it? --Mackiwg 06:42, 20 February 2007 (CET)

Yes, I saw it and will start looking at the module (#4). I am still slow in navigating in the environment but hopefully will get more confident as I use it more. Olabisi

No worries Olabisi - you'll pick up the navigation in no-time!

One Lap-top per Child
Looks like a good projet (sorry this key board not working very well @ i-caf) but from my life experiences they are missing a few things.
 * No Simplified keyboard layout's ABCDEFG vs QWERTY or even a Davorak for kids learning the alphabet.
 * Some downloadable User's / Teacher's / repair tech manuals/documentation.
 * The weather in tropical climates (kids walking to school in very bad weather (model not water proof esp USB, smart card, key board ect.
 * Not investigating past similar projects ie. E-Slate UN & Greek Inst of Tech. Project in Kenya Africa for lessons learned, any advice.
 * A pilot project (Child-hard-testing) before multi-million device roll=out.
 * Poor marketing/communicating to governments and other?
 * Philippine project's chief supporter from Cebu was thinking it should be given to high school/college students (this is a very limited memory machine for younger children & not some thing that runs spreadsheets, word, data intensive aps).
 * Some countries have backed-out.
 * Some bad press from Micro's "BILL G."

My contrib so far was
 * a stub w/link to http://eduvision.ke
 * Template (still in sandbox) for tech doc layouts.
 * Also talking with local school district officials
 * Some posting to a couple of blogs / talk pages

Sorry if i'm sounding down on this, I'm not.

I truely believe in the idea but, not in how it is being realized out at this stage.

--Chief Mike 14:46, 20 February 2007 (CET)

eduvision
this used to be the English-Lang-page link but they might not have renewed it? Google last cached a subpage from this site on 4feb07 so probably it's just server down?

http://www.eduvision.or.ke/home/home.html

Internet Archives has some caches with-out pictures or flash here;

http://web.archive.org/*/http://www.eduvision.or.ke/home/home.html

--Chief Mike 10:27, 21 February 2007 (CET)

Challenge Response
Remember your photo challenge?

Have a look at http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Phsi#Photos_for_Copyleft

btw their CC-BY-SA of course :-p

--Phsi 14:56, 25 February 2007 (CET)

Advantage of moving through time zones
One of them is that sometimes we are not completely out of sync, and I can reply to you calmly, while not rushing out of the office.

--Phsi 16:24, 27 February 2007 (CET)
 * 1) I don't know if you notices a slight bit of detail. the page is the wikipedia artice on copleft, and the pen is a CoL pen ... i'm sure Paul would enjoy that. I'm pretty proud of those shots, even if there is a story to tell on how they where made :-)
 * 2) the link to stet is http://gplv3.fsf.org/comments/gplv3-draft-2.html you need full javascript capabilities with that.
 * 3) Just in case you missed it on /. check this out http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/5060 and vote here: http://www.dellideastorm.com/

Sysop
You are now a sysop and bureaucrat (bureaucrats can make sysops). You should be able to give other users sysop or bureaucrat status through Special:Userrights.--Eloquence 02:58, 12 March 2007 (CET)

Question about templates
Hi Wayne,

I'm working on the templates as you can see. I was trying to create a 'menu header' for the CNCC sub-sections but I see that on the tutorial pages, these are linked to templates created somewhere else for example <>. Where are these please? I can't seem to find any links to these on the pedagogical templates / iDevices pages. I'd like to create one with links appropriate for the CNCC.

Regards, Sue (Sue 23:37, 12 March 2007 (CET))

Presentation Files
Wayne, Can you please post your presentation on "pen Source and Open Content" that you gave March 14 via Video Conferencing at VUSSC Singapore Bootcamp. --Adesuwa 07:06, 15 March 2007 (CET)

Wayne, We cannot upload .ppt files on the wiki. We cannot even upload Open Office Impress files. Is there any suitable alternative? or we need to convert to pdf and upload?

--Mohammad 05:25, 16 March 2007 (CET)

The reason is that we have not enabled .ppt and .odt formats on the wiki. When we set up the wiki - we did not anticipate the demand for uploading slide show presentations!

It will take a few days for me to get .odt formats enabled. I'm reluctant to enable .ppt formats as this is not an open standard. In the meantime, you can use open office to convert to pdf for presentation files, or .swf. Sorry about that - but the best I can do at this time. --Mackiwg 05:38, 16 March 2007 (CET). Hope this helps.

MCQ Template
Hi Wayne,

Spec'ing a MCQ template sounds like a good idea. I should be able to do that before the 20th. I really think we need the functionality of the wikiquiz (french extension). However, I want to get a functional MCQ template up before the 20th so that I can use it in the extra lesson. Even if it is not used long term, it will at least give users an idea of what we can do. I think I just got a decorated 4 answer MCQ template to work Template:MultiChoice_Question. Is there a MCQ icon on wikied? -- Kruhly 01:30, 18 March 2007 (CET)

Uploading ppt
Dear Wayne,

Thanks very much for the advice. This is exactly wat we doin at d moment (i.e using pdf). I have another question for u.

Suppose I am a researcher in e-learning and i write things that are published in e-learning journals which may have copyright on that published content. I understand it is still my 'intellectual property'.

So now if I want to contribute materials on the wikieducator (i mean 'quality' materials), I would logically want to use things I already wrote and published. And the intriguing thing is that those bits and parts that I want to use may have been published in a journal with copyright. So how do i cope with this? Is there any problem in dis case?

n.b : im not talking about the whole article but bits and pieces here and there which are my intellectual property.

regards

--Mohammad 04:20, 21 March 2007 (CET)

Mohammad - that's a very good question. I should point out that I am not a lawyer and its best to get legal advise on questions of intellectual property and Copyright. Intellectual property law and its enforcement varies widely between jurisdictions - so its difficult to give reliable advice - not to mention my own limitations in the interpretation of the law as a layperson. The general idea of IP is that subject matter is a product of your intellect or mind. In other words that faculties and intellect you applied to generate a publication would belong to you. However - copyright regulates the rights of usage pertaining to duplication, modification of the outputs of your IP. So you would need to look very carefully at the contract you signed with the publisher.

If for example you granted full copyright to the publisher of the journal article you authored (i.e. without any exclusions) - I'm afraid you don't have any rights to duplicate the text verbatim. You signed off these rights even though you used your IP to create these works. That said, you need to read the copyright agreement very carefully in terms of which media is covered - but usually this covers the lot. Therefore if you want to use a text you authored with your IP and signed off to the publisher, there are only two things you can do to incorporate this text, for example, in WikiEducator:

1. Request permission from the legal copyright holder - ie the publisher to release the text under a CC-BY-SA license in the case of Wikieducator. Always worth a try - but usually not a positive response. 2. Cite limited sections of the text you authored under the principles of fair usage - as you would normally do when citing another author's text.

The next best thing you can do - is to apply your IP by generating an entirely new version of the ideas - but this cannot be a verbatim version of the original text.

Personally I think that this is grossly unfair and is why I no longer publish under all rights reserved publications. If I'm invited to publish something in a journal these days - I ask that it is published under a CC-BY-SA license - otherwise I refuse to publish in the journals concerned. Sure this is tough call to make for young academics that are trying to earn a scientific reputation and particularly when performance is frequently measured by publications in peer reviewed journals - usually with full copyright ...;-(.

We have an important education role to play in helping institutions modify their reward and incentive systems. Moreover we need to rethink the purpose of publication - that is to widen access to new knowledge. Hope this helps. --Mackiwg 04:53, 21 March 2007 (CET)

Tectonic shift think tank
Hi Wayne, thanks for the link to Tectonic shift think tank - sounds great! I'm meeting with Erik over the coming week, so we'll surely be talking about that. I'm travelling constantly before those dates, but I'll try to put something together - or at least add a few comments. I'll also mention it to Wikiversity user Historybuff, who lives in Toronto. Cheers! Cormaggio 12:29, 22 March 2007 (CET)

Navigation Templates
Hi Wayne, I did not use the import/export feature to bring the lesson over. Is there a tutorial/article that describes some of the bureaucrat/sysop privileges?

Subpages is a great idea! I will try it out in my Test Lesson. Do you have any thoughts on a Category (or Categories) for my lessons. Any thoughts on the navigation from a general "Science Activities" page? Kruhly 23:18, 25 March 2007 (CEST)


 * Alpha version of subpages now available Test Lesson. You mentioned that you were interested in Templates for the Overview, What do I need?, and How long will it take? sections. Do you have any icons in mind for those templates? Cheers  -- Kruhly 23:54, 25 March 2007 (CEST)

New science lesson
Hi Wayne, I have a draft version of the new science lesson up. Let me know what you think. Cheers Rob Kruhly 07:17, 10 April 2007 (CEST)

Reorienting Agricultural Education
I'm wondering how a group would go about Reorienting Agricultural Education and why. Is the intended focus on Sustainability aspects and less-industrial farming methods? That seems to be a trend and is certainly a passionate focus of mine.

I've recently joined the outreach project, ASAP, The Agroecology/Sustainable Agriculure Program at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and am currently in the process of setting up a demonstration farm in Southern Illinois, USA. I am interested in how WikiEducator and other free learning projects might interface with a prototype farm and learning center set up specifically to explore new vistas in agriculture and sustainability. The facility is still in the early planning stages and of course will require some major funding. The "EcoFarm" project could certainly benefit from new realms of thought about Agriculture including alternative economic and financial structures. yeoman 02:00, 16 April 2007 (CEST)