[LINK] Wikibooks

[rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au]

I tried to take this with my usual air of calm reason, but I just can't. 
Wikipedia isn't quite rubbish, but it's got more than its fair share of 
apocrypha. And in spite of its pretentions to a global world view, all I 
need to demonstrate its parochialism is this:

Jane Fonda: 3,500 words.
Gallipoli: 358 words.

This is hare-brained hubris.

RC

Stephen Loosley wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>Perhaps Wikibooks may well yet resource the
>exciting promise the Internet offers education:
>
>--
>Wikibooks Offer Free eTexts for Education
>By Robert Brumfield, Assistant Editor,
>eSchool News November 2, 2005 
>
>Wikibooks project  http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page
>
>The Wikimedia Foundation (the group known best for the open-source, freely
>licensed encyclopedia project Wikipedia, which invites users to write,
>edit, and expand upon encyclopedia entries to create a collaborative,
>free-to-use online information resource) has a similar initiative for
>textbooks. 
>
>If the effort catches on, it could have a profound impact on the for-profit
>textbook and online content markets for schools. 
>
>Wikibooks invites users to collaboratively write and edit freely licensed,
>online K-20 textbooks and related nonfiction, such as literary criticism,
>for all subjects. The project uses wiki web-publishing software, which
>permits users to read, edit, and write the eTextbooks themselves. 
>
>Wikimedia describes the software as "a vast simplification of the process
>of creating HTML pages, and thus a ... very effective way to exchange
>information through a collaborative effort." The intent is that online
>communities of experts and novices will police the eTextbook content for
>readability, accuracy, and the latest advances in the field. 
>
>Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikimedia, said he believes the Wikibooks project
>is representative of the changing landscape of information and services in
>the digital age. 
>
>"I think that Wikibooks and projects like it will challenge licensed
>textbooks in the same way that Linux [the open-source computer operating
>system] and other free software and licensing models are challenging the
>software world," said Wales. "I don't know where it's going, but things are
>definitely changing." ..
>Wikibooks is still in its early stages. Since 2003, volunteers have written
>nearly 12,000 book modules for expansion by other users. 
>
>The featured Wikibook for the month of October (featured books are
>established by user votes) is meant to teach an introductory course on the
>Mandarin dialect of the Chinese language. According to its summary, the
>textbook contains "several weeks' worth of material, including detailed
>grammar explanations with example sentences, audio samples, and instruction
>on writing characters." 
>
>Newly added Wikibooks include subjects such as "signals and systems,"
>"colonising Mars," "folkstyle wrestling," "systems of logic," and "Linux
>commands." 
>
>Because the content is freely licensed, "it can be freely adapted by
>teachers to their local conditions, without having to get permission," said
>Wikimedia's Wales, speaking about the local adoption of Wikibooks. 
>
>"When you get feedback from teachers on the local level, the cycle can be
>much faster than it could ever be in a traditional publishing environment,"
>Wales said. 
>
>"The main thing is, the availability [of Wikibooks] for open peer review
>means that whatever ends up going in ends up being part of a peer
>production process," he added. "The content is mediated by the work of the
>entire community. The real answer is that the proof is in the pudding." 
>
>
>Given the predictable, though reasonable, concerns of those in the
>traditional textbook market, vested parties appear to be proceeding with
>cautious optimism--if not about the Wikibooks themselves, at least about
>the value of Wikimedia in general. 
>
>"Wikipedia is democratic at the user level. The Wikipedia is a snapshot of
>the collective consciousness of a society at any point in time," said
>Updegrove. "It's as if you could preserve the brain of that society. It
>evolves as that reality evolves. Not only that, but it maps the
>consciousness in societies around the world, because they don't
>translate--rather, they write new [entries]." 
>
>"Wikibooks offers the opportunity to collaborate in the process," Beesley
>said. "Learners can become teachers, as everyone is enabled thorough the
>wiki model to actively participate in the learning process. Learners will
>gain a lot from being participants rather than simple consumers of
>knowledge." 
>
>Wikibooks project  http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page 
>
>
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