Re: [Foundation-l] Rethinking brands

When it comes to writing books for a standardized curriculum, it's more 
difficult. Wikibooks just doesnt have the man power to write a new book 
tailor-made for each different jurisdiction. We've been brainstorming ideas 
to find a way to write a single book, and taking information piece-wise to 
create a book for a particular curriculum.  What we do not have are:

1) Specifications of various curriculums, which we could attempt to satisfy
2) people willing and able to write the necessary material
3) A mechanism to really advertise our books, and compete in the marketplace 
with established commercial book vendors

This isn't to say that the situation is hopeless, because we are making 
progress every day. However, there is alot of work left to be done before we 
can market wikibooks as being a viable alternative to traditional commercial 
printed textbooks.

With US teachers going on vacation for the summer, perhaps we would be able 
to attract some of them to help author new material? I don't know how we 
would attract them, however.

--Andrew Whitworth


>From: Sanford Forte <[email protected]>
>Reply-To: Wikimedia textbook discussion <[email protected]>
>To: Wikimedia textbook discussion <[email protected]>
>Subject: Re: [Textbook-l] [Foundation-l] Rethinking brands
>Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 11:06:42 -0700
>
>The essential challenge is to get end product into the K-12 education
>channel, in a way that 1) meshes with the requirements set by state
>education departments to strictly adhere to curriculum frameworks; 2)
>devise effective means to inform the established K-12 education
>community that #1 has been completed (on a subject by subject basis);
>and, 3) establish a means to distribution of materials *in print*
>that is easy to access.
>
>Content is decidedly _not_ the problem. The real problems are
>logistics and effective project management toward a goal of
>completing the above,
>
>Cheers,
>Sanford
>
>***************************************
>Sanford Forte, Director
>California Open Source Texbook Project
>Palo Alto, CA
>[email protected]
>650-321-9152 (Office)
>650-888-0077 (Mobile)
>
>
>
>
>On May 11, 2007, at 10:28 AM, KH wrote:
>
> > I was under the impression that wikibooks would also include
> > textbooks for
> > k-12.  Normally, k-3 don't have traditional texts because many are
> > still
> > learning to read.  Later, they read to learn.  So much of the
> > "textbook" is
> > really worksheets, pictures, and planned lectures and activities.
> > Actually,
> > a better word to use for k-3 is curriculum, not textbooks. But I've
> > read we
> > are not supposed to do curriculum.
> >
> > Soooo, I'm not sure what wikibooks really is.  Here is where I got
> > my info:
> >
> > http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/003069.shtml
> >
> > Although dated 8/05, it seems Mr. Wales had a definite vision:
> >
> > "The second thing that will be free is a complete curriculum (in all
> > languages) from Kindergarten through the University level. There
> > are several
> > projects underway to make this a reality, including our own Wikibooks
> > project, but of course this is a much bigger job than the
> > encyclopedia, and
> > it will take much longer."
> >
> > Curriculum, by definition, is a package.  It can include textbooks but
> > certain goes beyond that to worksheets, teacher planning,
> > activities, etc.
> > I would love to redo the SRA Direct Instruction curriculum in
> > wikibooks so
> > that parents AND teachers have an option for scientificially based
> > curriculum.  But according to new definitions, I'm not sure
> > wikibooks is an
> > appropriate place.  Under the old definition from the website
> > listed above,
> > it is.
> >
> >
> > -Kathy
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > Florence Devouard wrote:
> >> I, for one, think it is great to work on better defining the mission
> >> of Wikibooks. I have one question though, do you know if the
> >> definition worked upon is generally shared with other wikibooks
> >> people
> >> ? Are they other wikibooks that have worked on such a definition, and
> >> where the outcome differs widely from yours ?
> >>
> >> ant
> >
> > At last count 18 people supported it and 7 people objected to it.
> > As others
> > have already said, some disagree on limiting English Wikibooks to just
> > textbooks, how much emphases on textbooks be be given, whether or
> > not it
> > should be a policy or guideline and some have concerns on the
> > clarity of the
> > proposal.
> >
> > There is quite a difference from English Wikibooks' current version
> > and the
> > German version. Google's German to English translation of the German
> > Wikibooks version:
> > http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%
> > 2Fde.wikibooks.org%2Fwiki
> > %2FHilfe%3AWas_Wikibooks_ist&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8
> >
> > There have been previous proposals on English Wikibooks to redefine
> > the
> > current policy as well, before they were merged together:
> > http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?
> > title=Wikibooks:What_is_Wikibooks/Unstab
> > le&oldid=600961
> > http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?
> > title=Wikibooks:What_is_Wikibooks/Unstab
> > le&oldid=665481
> > http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?
> > title=Wikibooks:What_is_Wikibooks/Unstab
> > le&oldid=665488
> >
> > that AFAIK, were abandoned before ever getting to the point of
> > seeking input
> > from the community to accept or reject them.
> >
> > --darklama
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Textbook-l mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/textbook-l
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Textbook-l mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/textbook-l
> >
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Textbook-l mailing list
>[email protected]
>http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/textbook-l

_________________________________________________________________
PC Magazine’s 2007 editors’ choice for best Web mail—award-winning Windows 
Live Hotmail. 
http://imagine-windowslive.com/hotmail/?locale=en-us&ocid=TXT_TAGHM_migration_HM_mini_pcmag_0507

_______________________________________________
Textbook-l mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/textbook-l