[Foundation-l] Wikiversity=>Wikisophia

Tue May 10 09:33:35 UTC 2005

On 5/10/05, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
> Erik Moeller wrote:
> 
> > During and after our visit to the free software conference in South
> > Africa, Angela and I talked a lot about the Wikiversity project, and
> > the potential Wikimedia has to develop a truly global, free
> > institution of learning as a new project.
> >
> > As you probably know, these discussions are currently focused on
> >     http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikiversity
> > and the talk page.
> >
> > Don't panic: We're still a long way from launching anything. I'm not
> > going to push this until we have the server situation under control
> > and the existing projects have stabilized a bit. Nevertheless, there's
> > one issue that I'd like to resolve now, which is the naming of the
> > project.
> 
> Good, I think that a lot of groundwork needs to be laid before we get there.
> 
> > Angela, Jimbo, Daniel Mayer and I agree that the name Wikiversity is
> > problematic in that it ties the project very strongly to the idea of
> > traditional universities. This may lead to certain expectations as to
> > its structure and the services it will provide (e.g. faculties,
> > degrees), but also limit the project in other ways, e.g., by being
> > perceived primarily or only as an institution of teritary learning.
> 
> I still prefer the term wikiversity.  I don't feel the strong
> association with traditional universities, nor any of the other
> perceptions that you have of it.  There was a time when university was
> another name for a corporation.   What I find attractive about
> "wikiversity" of turning toward a totality in a more classical approach
> to learning.
> 
> > I'd like us to look at ideas for primary and secondary education as
> > well, and I don't want to run into a wall because the established
> > people of the Wikiversity community will say "It's an electronic
> > university, this doesn't belong here."
> 
> Absolutely.  I believe that education is a seemless lifelong process.
> Separate buildings for different levels of education makes sense in the
> brick and mortar world.  Just as much as Wikipedia is not paper,
> Wikiversity is not bricks and mortar.  Certainly there will be people to
> raise the kind of objection that you mention, but I don't expect them to
> be very influential.
> 
> > Angela suggested the name Wikisophia.org/.com, which is currently
> > owned by Peter Danenberg (WikiTeX). I loved the idea immediately: the
> > Greek sophia means "wisdom", but also has many other meanings in the
> > area of
> > learning. It is specific enough to be useful and vague enough to not
> > limit the project very early in its nature or scope.
> 
> I find "sophia" to be a little pompous, and I also link it with the
> concept of sophistry.  Teaching wisdom is a bit akin to teaching common
> sense.  There is also the possibility of confusion with "Sophia
> University", the Jesuit university in Japan.
> 
> > So, after discussing this in a small circle, I'd like to announce my
> > intention to move the relevant pages on Meta and edit the summary to
> > reflect the name change.
> 
> This action seems premature.
> 
> Ec
> 

How about Wikilearning? Or Wikiducation? Another idea could be to have
a parallel project to Wikiversity and call it Wikischools.

I'd like to get involved - have long had it in mind - and will try to
give some practical input when I'm not so busy with my own studies. I
have some experience and knowledge that might be useful.

Cormac