[Oer-community] Mapping projects

Sun Nov 25 18:18:31 MST 2012

The first reason for a geographic database is that OERs are in
particular languages and are often developed according to national or
state standards on local topics with local dependencies. (Think of
literature, history, agriculture, health, civics...) I work with
projects supporting about 4 million schoolchildren so far in more than
40 countries and more than 100 languages.

The second reason is to cross-link to other initiatives, for example
in educational research, educational software, curriculum development,
teacher training, international funding, and so on, which also have
geographic dependencies.

Bangladesh has taken the lead in digitizing textbooks,with UNDP
funding. There are similar initiatives in Uruguay (Inter-American
Development Bank) and South Korea (self-funded), and I have been told
of such an initiative in the Phillippines, but have not seen it.
Canonical, the funder of Ubuntu Linux in South Africa has also funded
creation of OERs for translation to all 11 official languages of the
country. There is much more of this.

There are more reasons than those two. I will not go into the question
of preparing materials in Spanish, French, or Arabic for international
distribution and further translation to local languages.

On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 7:22 PM, Kimberly Wescott <kjw0622 at aol.com> wrote:
> Yes, collaborative strategies would be great.  However, I'm not seeing how
> the geography of these projects would be all that helpful.  Surely, what we
> want is to find ways to create collaborations based on what is being done
> and by whom.  I think that one of the most promising things about this
> initiative is that it creates a community based on what we do, not where we
> are.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Susan D'Antoni <susandantoni at gmail.com>
> To: oer-community <oer-community at athabascau.ca>
> Sent: Tue, Nov 20, 2012 3:58 pm
> Subject: Re: [Oer-community] Mapping projects
>
> Dear Paul,
>
> Thank you for your thoughtful message about the importance of an OER map to
> enable collaboration and networking.  This is an excellent point, and it
> also picks up the desire for finding contacts that has been expressed
> several times in the discussion.
>
> Best,
>
> Susan
>
> On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 12:26 PM, Paul Stacey <pstacey at creativecommons.org>
> wrote:
>>
>> Susan:
>>
>> I sense within this discussion that there is a need to clarify the purpose
>> of an OER World Map.
>>
>> Much of the discussion so far has focused on a map that depicts OER
>> initiatives around the world and provides progressively deeper levels of
>> data and information about each initiative. I thought Sara Frank Bistrow's
>> Week 1 summary log did a good job of defining the data and information on
>> each OER initiative that such a map would present.
>>
>> A map that depicts OER initiatives around the world will improve the
>> findability of OER. There definitely is a need to make OER more
>> discoverable. The purpose of such a map is to connect students and teachers
>> to resources.
>>
>> However, I sense that for some participants the value proposition this
>> provides is limited. There are already many efforts to catalog and expedite
>> searching for OER. The OER World Map, as conceived of so far, will be yet
>> another one - albeit perhaps a better and more comprehensive one.
>>
>> I wonder if it might not be worth thinking of a different purpose for an
>> OER World Map. Rather than a map that emphasizes connecting people to OER
>> content I think there is a real need to generate an OER World Map that is
>> more of a social network rather than a content network. As Mary Lou Forward
>> says "a map can help foster new collaborations between projects around the
>> world". Building off Mary Lou's comment I see a stronger value proposition
>> for an OER World Map that focuses on connecting what currently are isolated
>> OER initiatives into collaborative networks. It would pool the requirements
>> and needs OER are intended to fulfill and distribute the development/reuse
>> effort more effectively across those engaged in OER development and use. An
>> OER World Map of this type shifts the focus from connecting people to OER
>> content to connecting OER users and developers into networks of
>> collaborative effort.
>>
>> Given the limited time and resources you hint at it may be more fruitful
>> to focus on an OER World Map that enables OER collaborative networks.
>>
>> --
>> Paul Stacey
>> Creative Commons
>> (e) pstacey at creativecommons.org
>> (w) http://creativecommons.org
>> (me) http://creativecommons.org/staff#paulstacey
>> (blog) http://edtechfrontier.com
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 8:21 AM, Susan D'Antoni <susandantoni at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Colleagues,
>>>
>>> As our reflection has progressed, there appears to be discussion about
>>> both OER initiatives - and OER (the resources themselves).
>>>
>>> We started out with reference to a world map of OER initiatives/projects.
>>> Mary Lou Forward articulated the focus in her early message:
>>>
>>> ********************
>>> "As the movement is maturing, more and more people are interested in what
>>> OER is, what projects are underway, who is participating and how the
>>> movement is growing and changing. A global OER map will provide a snapshot
>>> to this information - a gateway to understanding the worldwide dimensions of
>>> OER. ...
>>>
>>> In service to the OER community, a map can help foster new collaborations
>>> between projects around the world by allowing us to quickly identify
>>> projects we may not otherwise know about that could complement and
>>> strengthen our own work. As a living example of OER, this map may spur new
>>> cooperative efforts between those already engaged in OER and those
>>> interested in it."
>>> ********************
>>>
>>> There are numerous OER repositories to help people find specific
>>> resources, as well as projects working on how to improve finding resources.
>>> A number of you have been talking about some of this work.  Information
>>> about how to find could eventually be linked to a world map as a separate
>>> layer of information.  With time and energy and perhaps some resources, it
>>> could be possible to add more layers to a world map of initiatives later.
>>>
>>> But we might have a better chance of success in building a comprehensive
>>> world map of initiatives or projects if we started with a relatively limited
>>> amount of information on each initiative.
>>>
>>> Start big - the world, but small - the amount of information on each
>>> project ...
>>>
>>> Thoughts?
>>>
>>> Best,
>>>
>>> Susan
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Oer-community mailing list
>>> Oer-community at athabascau.ca
>>> https://deimos.cs.athabascau.ca/mailman/listinfo/oer-community
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Paul Stacey
>> Creative Commons
>> (e) pstacey at creativecommons.org
>> (w) http://creativecommons.org
>> (me) http://creativecommons.org/staff#paulstacey
>> (blog) http://edtechfrontier.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Oer-community mailing list
>> Oer-community at athabascau.ca
>> https://deimos.cs.athabascau.ca/mailman/listinfo/oer-community
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Susan D'Antoni
>
> Advisor to the President
> International OER Initiatives
> Athabasca University
> Canada
> tel 613 232 6496
> skype iiepsusan
>
> _______________________________________________
> Oer-community mailing list
> Oer-community at athabascau.ca
> https://deimos.cs.athabascau.ca/mailman/listinfo/oer-community
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Oer-community mailing list
> Oer-community at athabascau.ca
> https://deimos.cs.athabascau.ca/mailman/listinfo/oer-community
>

-- 
Edward Mokurai (默雷/निशब्दगर्ज/نشبدگرج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks