5.1 Wikieducator: memoirs, myths, misrepresentations and the magic  (Page 7/21)

You may be wondering what this has to do with free content, but it’s an important debate. We have to figure out ways in which we will deliver free content to our learners. I’m not too optimistic that interoperability specifications are going provide the solution. We’ve got to get smarter.

The magic of wikieducator

There is real magic in the WikiEducator community and it’s both addictive and contagious. However, I don’t have the skills to articulate this dynamic. WikiEducator is a living organism as evidenced by a few examples:

• I have observed a free software champion based in Kenya conceptualise the FLOSS4Edu project and capitalise on the space provided by WikiEducator to mobilise educators in East and West Africa to commence development of free content for Africa by African educators.
• I have been involved with two VUSSC boot camps where 25 countries are collaborating online in the development of free content.
• I meet with Country Mike, based in New Zealand on WikiEducator’s Internet Relay Channel and we share thoughts about the strategic directions for WikiEducator.
• After a recent keynote presentation in India, I was taken back by the passionate defense of WikiEducator from the floor by a senior Indian academic.
• I was moved by a reflection from a teacher based in Germany who announced in one of our forums that “After discovering the WikiEducator site I was quite exited, and I told my family at supper: Listen, I have something to celebrate, I just found something very promising!
• I interact with experienced technical gurus like Eloquence from the Wikimedia foundation in identifying sustainable innovation alternatives for open content authoring in the future.

Networked communities have their own energy and they organise themselves without the need for a centralised hierarchy. Community projects take on a life of their own, and WikiEducator’s no exception. The compelling value proposition of free content and the freedom to participate actively in the destiny of WikiEducator is triggering exponential growth in the initiative.

Administrator’s frequently have difficulty understanding this community impetus and attempt to over regulate this energy, leading to projects that are destined to failure in the medium term. Fortunately, WikiEducator has adopted a clean slate approach. The starting point was simply a declaration of community values - the rest followed from that. In hindsight this has been the success of the WikiEducator community. It’s a delicate balance because the Commonwealth of Learning has funded the development of WikiEducator and the agency has a clearly defined strategy to support learning for development. We have refrained from interference in the evolution of the community and this is paying handsome dividends in the realisation of our aims.

In many respects the evolution of open networked communities is like golf (Although, I’m not an authority as I do not play the game). You can spend many hours perfecting your swing, but you have very little control over where the ball will rest. The old adage that your luck in getting it right will increase proportionally with the time you spend practicing, will help us move forward in the right direction.