[Foundation-l] Vote to create Wikiversity Vote

Wed Nov 9 16:36:36 UTC 2005

On 11/9/05, Robert Scott Horning <robert_horning at netzero.net> wrote:
>
> The advantage of working with the Wikimedia Foundation is that the
> fundraising activities for simply paying for the server and the physical
> equipment that runs the internet services has already been organized.
> This is also precisely the reason why so many people want to have their
> "pet project" idea become a sister project to the Wikimedia
> Foundation... because this support system is already in place. The
> legal tax status for doing the fundraising in many countries has already
> been thought through, and if Wikiversity were to go off on its own it
> would have to do all of that all over again, including establishing
> "chapters" in other countries. This legwork has already been
> accomplished, and the real question is why should this work be
> duplicated by a seperate organization?
>
> --
> Robert Scott Horning

 That's simple, really - time and money. The people who donated to Wikimedia
donated the money thinking it would be used to create books, encyclopedias,
etc., not to run a school. That's the money story, but the more important
one is time. The board of Wikimedia is stretched too thinly as it is.
Wikipedia editors can't even participate in Wikibooks or Wikinews without
creating separate logins. Admins on one project often have to go through a
long process just to be able to effectively fight vandalism on another
project. There is very little communication between the different projects.
Starting up yet another half-baked project with no clear leadership is only
going to make matters worse.
 You've gotta get users before you can get donations. By the time the number
of people dedicated to the project reaches the level where tax deductibility
of donations really matters I don't see what the big deal is with getting
that status then. I can only speak for the United States, but here it's
really not that big of a deal at all. An unincorporated association can be
started for almost no cost, and you don't even have to file taxes unless you
make more than $5000 in gross revenues. Maybe other countries are more
difficult in this respect, but I still don't think that would become a
problem until you've got plenty of money to solve it.
 If Wikimedia wants to donate web space to the project while it's getting
started that's always a possibility too. But Wikimedia's legal
organizational structure should focus on its core purpose - creating and
distributing media, not running a university.
 If the project is limited to creating teaching resources, I think that fits
within the goal. If instead the project wants to start running online
courses, I'd say it doesn't.