Group Hiatus

I sent a PM to Kasinja about taking ownership of this group and he declined. It is apparent there is an interruption of continuity in the group discussions here now.

Internet collaboration makes what Clay Shirky calls a “cognitive surplus” visible. Shirky gave a short talk at the Web 2.0 Expo which can be viewed at Eric Hersman's site and Eric has a link to a transcript there as well. Shirky points out that a "surplus" is something we don't know what to do with. So right now people are wildly experimenting with what to do with the the cognitive surplus made visible by the Internet. Wikipedia is generally pointed to as an example of great things that can be created.

I learned so much in the short time I participates at "that other site," Omidyar.net about online collaboration. I am also an active participant on blogs and other online sites where people create and post content. I find so much of value, but also regularly see the sorts of pitfalls and snares that come up with the new social media. We are inventing what to do, so it's not surprising there are bumps along the road. Such interruptions do not negate the optimism that peer to peer collaborations can create great things, just remind that creating any good thing is hard.

When people talk about the Internet in developing countries they always emphasize all the information that people in those countries could consume. That's true, of course, but the other side of the coin: all the information people in those countries could produce is just as important, if not more so.

One of the aspects of this project which has so excited me is the Book Project members in Uganda have hit on a very important part of making the cognitive surplus that the Internet makes visible available to students in Uganda. It will be a while before computers are commonly available there, so there is a need to provide other was to interact with the Web and paper is one obvious way.

Online there are many efforts to make educational materials available. Open Educational Resources OER is but one example. There are several initiatives to make fully vetted and edited textbooks available online. And there are many, many examples of individual authors who make their textbooks freely available online. Make Textbooks Affordable is an initiative in the USA, and the Web site has a wealth of links which are more generally applicable to other parts of the world.

One of the key needs is for a group in countries to make what's already available online accessible for use in their own countries. Clearly one of the ways to do that is to be a source for printed materials. The other key need that this book project has emphasized is producing locally relevant texts in country.

Online collaboration is something new and none of us has really figured out how it should work. Those of us who've been at it a while know there are some predictable pitfalls. People new to online collaboration often have to discover the pitfalls themselves. Surely there will also be many new and undiscovered pitfalls along the way all of us will discover. We are all learners and sometimes we learn the hard way. Having fallen into some traps unawares, I think creates a sense of humility and even humor about it.

I wish the members of Uganda SPACE well! I hope they create great things. I do see some traps that lay in their way. I also understand the frustration felt about people pointing out possible pitfalls when the need is so great. There's a great ballad called All My Children of the Sun which speaks to this very human dilemma whose lyrics might be interesting to some.

Since Kasinja isn't interested in the ownership of the group, he suggested deleting it. But it's hard to predict what information will be useful to others in the future. I think it's very valuable that the progress here be saved because it might be useful.

I also know that the need to make good educational resources more available is a need that's on going. Many of us here at Ned care deeply about education and want to use some of our resources to contribute. Many of us here care deeply about the people of Uganda and have connections to people there. So this group could easily change directions slightly to discuss ways to make materials and make educational materials more available in Uganda, not excluding Uganda SPACE but including other efforts. I will change the group description to reflect that as soon as I can.

Last comment added: Tue, 06 May 2008 03:25:34 PDT

Comment 1 on Group Hiatus

John,

I can't believe it was suggested that all of this effort be simply deleted but I'm very glad you are not prepared to lose the threads - they were started with a truck load of goodwill, genuine interest and preparedness (by many) to get in and work collaboratively.

So just "parking" them for now seems really wise; who knows how they might be used in the future.

And from me personally, I cannot begin to describe how disappointed I am over how you have been treated.

It is simply not good enough. Period!!!

End of mini-rant.

Comment 2 on Group Hiatus

We are sorry, lets come back and work