[Open-education] Wikimania 2014: Wikipedia belongs in Education

[Marieke Guy]

Hi Lorna,

Thanks for reading!

The argument Luis Villa from the Wikimedia Foundation Counsel was making 
was that despite lawyers and economists telling us to be weary people 
still want to share. It is almost an internal need - reciprocity. Or 
'give and take'.

I think this is an incredibly important point. At the heart of Open 
Movements there is fundamental belief that openness and sharing are good 
things. I'm sure most of us on this list will share this belief. And for 
many education sits at the core of openness and sharing. Education 
(possibly not traditional education systems but new open education 
systems) will get us out of the mess that selfishness and closed 
attitudes have got us in to. As Nelson Mandela said "Education is the 
most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

However for many of us there is a problem here. We still need to pay the 
bills...openness needs funding. And when there is money available 
sometimes this leads to competition between organisations (which is why 
I was pleased to be involved in the Open Coallition workshop). And when 
there isn't money available it means many people who believe in open 
have to pay their bills in another way.

So what is the answer?

I'm not sure, maybe a significant rethinking of our economy. Wikipedia 
have made it work and it's not a easy task. However I do believe that an 
open movement - a body of people who believe that sharing is a good 
thing, and equity and equality are good things - this is a step in the 
right direction.

Hope I haven't gone off in a complete tangent here...!

Marieke



On 12/08/2014 12:04, Lorna M Campbell wrote:
> Hi Marieke,
>
> Thanks for sharing this really great write up of Wikimania.  I was 
> really disappointed not to be able to get there myself, so this is the 
> next best thing!
>
> It sounds like education is very firmly at the heart of Wikimedia's 
> mission, which I certainly see as a good thing.
>
> I'm also really interested to see the issue of reciprocity being 
> discussed in relation to "free" and "open".  This comes up from time 
> to time, but I think it warrants  greater exploration, particularly at 
> a time when it's increasingly difficult for some colleagues to engage 
> with voluntary and un-funded open education initiatives.
>
> Cheers
> Lorna
>
>
> On 12 Aug 2014, at 11:13, Marieke Guy wrote:
>
>> Hi Everyone,
>>
>> We had a great time at Wikimania last week. It was lovely to meet so 
>> many of you at our community stand and hopefully get some new 
>> recruits for the working group too! There were lots of great sessions 
>> on education and open learning and teaching practice. We've written 
>> two posts about the event:
>>
>>   * Wikimania 2014: Wikipedia belongs in Education
>>     <http://education.okfn.org/wikimania-2014-wikipedia-belongs-in-education/>
>>   * Wikimania 2014: Wikidata all the way
>>     <wikimania2014:%20Wikidata%20all%20the%20way>
>>
>> If you attended how about sharing your thoughts and take homes!
>>
>> Marieke
>>
>> -- 
>>
>> Marieke Guy
>> LinkedUp <http://linkedup-project.eu/> Project Community Coordinator 
>> | skype: mariekeguy | tel: 44 (0) 1285 885681 | @mariekeguy 
>> <http://twitter.com/mariekeguy>
>> Open Knowledge <http://okfn.org/>
>> /Empowering through Open Knowledge/
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>
> -- Lorna M Campbell --
> Assistant Director, Cetis
> Web: www.cetis.ac.uk <http://www.cetis.ac.uk>
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>
>
>
>
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-- 

Marieke Guy
LinkedUp <http://linkedup-project.eu/> Project Community Coordinator | 
skype: mariekeguy | tel: 44 (0) 1285 885681 | @mariekeguy 
<http://twitter.com/mariekeguy>
Open Knowledge <http://okfn.org/>
/Empowering through Open Knowledge/
http://okfn.org/ | @okfn <http://twitter.com/okfn>| OKF on Facebook 
<%3Fhttps://www.facebook.com/OKFNetwork%3F> | Blog 
<%3Fhttp://blog.okfn.org%3F> | Newsletter 
<%3Fhttp://okfn.org/about/newsletter/%3F>
http://remoteworker.wordpress.com

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