Daniel Ehrenberg wrote:
I think I'm a bit unclear about
Wikibooks' goals. Are
we going to eventually send this to a publisher, or
will this always be online?
I think we'll just create the content and leave those kinds of
decisions for the future. However, I think that all textbooks created
should be created with paper distribution firmly in mind. We're a
long way from a world in which schools don't use paper books.
If we do send it to a publisher, how will that all
work? Will we
self-publish? How will distribution work? Will we just let someone
else print Wikibooks?
All of these things can be left open for the future. If there's a
market for it, and we're in a position to do it, we could do it
ourselves, I personally think that would be great. But if not, then
we can let other parties "play RedHat" and put this stuff together for
print.
Sanford wants the State of California to actually publish the books
itself. I oppose that profoundly, but after we argued about it for a
long time, we came to the conclusion that it doesn't matter at all for
what we're doing here.
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Following more deep thinking - and inquiring - about the latter option
(California publishing its own textbooks), I've concluded (for many reasons)
that the most likely way these books will get published and distributed in
print will result from the distribution efforts of a private publishing
group (e.g., per Jimbo's suggestions above). However, there is nothing that
could stop California's educational bureaucracy from subcontracting the
print function themselves (which is something they currently do with many
other materials), if it chose to do so. btw, my current stance on this is
completely neutral.
Finally, Jimbo's right in that who, or how, or in what media format the
materials get distributed really doesn't matter at all for what we're doing
at the moment. The important thing here is to get the project going and
finished in a way that lends credibility to educationally-based open source
content for K-12, and get these materials made in the hands of all at the
K-12 level who want to use it - worldwide - no matter how distribution
realizes itself.
Sanford
Sanford