Early discussion for a new candidate
This candidate would be an attempt to utilise a single universal symbol for education.
The symbol[edit]
The universal symbol could be a green slate chalkboard with wooden frame. The chalkboard has been used centuries into the world's history for the purpose of education, even up to the last decade and maybe even still today.
The chalkboard could be placed in front of a depiction of the world, and held onto or passed between different coloured hands.
The name[edit]
WikiEducator would be written in chalk on the slate.
The motto[edit]
Wayne said that "free eLearning content" doesn't even begin to really cover what WE is all about. So I'm wondering if we should experiment with other ideas:
- Open source education
- Something with the made-up word "shareducation", a play on the term share-ware
- similar to above, but the term is "share-learn"
- A browser might ask, "what on earth is a share-learn resource?" and get into the site just to learn the term.
- Anything that plays on the culture of open source information and tools.
The colours[edit]
This is a collection of colours I have been long fond of for an education based site. Using Dutchboy's meaning of colours, the primary colour, yellow or gold, is at the same time cheerful and optomistic as it is an intelligent and wise colour. The secondary colours, slate green and plum, along with the muting of the three, help to bring a sense of serenity, calm, and confidence. And then my favourite colour, the red accent, would slash through the site, evoking just that edge of excitement and daring.
I think this selection of colours not only exude what WE is about, but also helps to put readers and members into a state of mind that is optimal for the purpose of the site.
This colour scheme applies to my logo idea because I see the logo drawing in the green as the colour of the slate, the yellow as a base for the wood. The globe could be a line drawing in a mix of the colours, and the motto could be written in the purple.
Hi Jesse,
I also like these colours and the reasons you associate with each colour. This also maps pretty well with Nadia's suggestion for the Olympic colours on the basis of representing at least one colour of the national flag of each country. So we're missing blue and black if we go with the Olympic colour suggestion.
Thoughts?
mmmm Speaking personally, I'm sure that I'm too comfortable with the Chalk board as a universal symbol for education. A couple of concerns:
- I worry about trying to find a universal symbol because these can mean different things to different people depending on culture. A good example is the owl -- in some Western cultures the owl is a symbol of wisdom, where in other cultures the owl is a symbol of death. So in the absence of a truly universal symbol -- like the globe, I'm always weary of trying to find a representative symbol and prefer abstract representations.
- I;m also concerned about the possible connotations of the "chalk board" with dated conventions and thoughts about teaching. Eg content centric or teacher centric education, discounting the potential of emerging forms of education which may be different from the conventional notion of the school etc.
I really like the term "share-learn" --- wow -- this will be a great spring board for discussion and thinking about education, OER, Libre knowledge etc.
