[FM Discuss] Shuttleworth Foundation: Free textbook help needed

Thu Aug 26 09:44:26 PDT 2010

Waiting to hear. I'm going to make some phone calls.

On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 06:48, adam <adam at xs4all.nl> wrote:
> looks very interesting...any replies ed?
>
> adam
>
>
> On Wed, 2010-08-25 at 10:41 -0400, Edward Cherlin wrote:
>> I left a message:
>>
>> I have been gathering resources for projects such as yours. I am
>> delighted to see you making progress, even under these trying
>> circumstances. What we have is at your disposal.
>>
>> This includes the occasional Ph. D. mathematician and other subject
>> matter experts, numerous experts in education generally and in
>> one-to-one computing in schools in particular (including Alan Kay and
>> students of Seymour Papert), and an online site for rapid development
>> and publishing. I have contacted several individuals and groups in our
>> network to ask them to help you with this editing sprint.
>>
>> When you get the chance, let us get together, your people and mine,
>> over the Internet, and see what more we can do to help.
>>
>> I am also delighted to see that you have a site for online
>> collaboration at a.nnotate.com. Let me offer you another, at
>> flossmanuals.net. You would be welcome to use their tools, which would
>> among other things allow you to set up projects where you could
>> approve people to be subject matter editors, copy editors, graphics
>> editors, whatever you need, and get this done. We have experience over
>> the last two years in creating books using the FLOSS Manuals book
>> sprint methodology, in one week start to finish. See
>>
>> http://www.flossmanuals.net/
>>
>> particularly the manuals for the Sugar education software, and
>>
>> http://en.flossmanuals.net/booksprints
>>
>> on the methodology.
>>
>> See also
>>
>> http://www.earthtreasury.org/replacing-textbooks.html
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 10:15, Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > These people _need_ us. They have no idea that they could invite
>> > collaboration over the Internet.
>> >
>> > http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/497
>> > Mark Horner is a Fellow at the Shuttleworth Foundation. The model of
>> > the Foundation is unusual: we identify interesting change agents, like
>> > Mark, who are articulating powerful ideas that seem like the offer a
>> > hint of the future, and we fund them to work on those for a year. We
>> > also offer them an investment multiplier: if they put their personal
>> > money into a project, we multiply that by 10x or more, up to a maximum
>> > amount. In short, find good people, back them when they put skin in
>> > the game.
>> >
>> > Mark’s specialty is open content for education: figuring out how to
>> > produce textbooks collaboratively. He’s done amazing work in the past,
>> > independently, leading an initiative to produce free high school
>> > science textbooks, and has lead the acquisition of a full set of
>> > textbooks in SA and their publication under an open content licence by
>> > the Foundation. Today, he’s been presented with a really awesome
>> > opportunity: provide open content to all of SA, with full backing from
>> > the department of education.
>> >
>> > That’s a huge step forward, putting open content much more at the
>> > center of mainstream thinking. In part, this is precipitated by a
>> > crisis, the strike action that is affecting many public services like
>> > education in South Africa. But it’s nevertheless a valuable
>> > opportunity to show how open content can change the dynamic of the
>> > rigid world of education.
>> >
>> > He needs help, though, to make sure the current drafts of the Maths
>> > and Science textbooks are free of typos:
>> >
>> >    I really need some extremely urgent help, I’ve been approached by
>> > national government to try to help make free educational resources
>> > available to support education during the current crisis! We have an
>> > opportunity to distribute free educational resources to all schools
>> > that cover:
>> >
>> >        * Grade R – 9 for ALL learning areas in English and Afrikaans
>> >        * Grade 10 – 12 Mathematics
>> >        * Grade 10 – 12 Physical Science
>> >
>> >    All that is required is another edit of the Free High School
>> > Science Texts before they will release them to all the schools in
>> > South Africa. We have ONE WEEK to complete this process and
>> > desperately need volunteers who have post-graduate degrees in Maths,
>> > Physics, Chemistry or related fields that can help out.
>> >
>> > http://www.markhorner.net/2010/08/24/calling-scientists-and-mathematicians/
>> >
>> > The subject matter is Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry at high
>> > school level. We need volunteers who have post-graduate degrees in
>> > Maths, Physics, Chemistry or related fields and are willing to serve
>> > their country.
>> > What do we have to do?
>> >
>> > It is quite simple, we need to proof-read the books and correct any
>> > errors. The curriculum is covered, there are enough worked examples
>> > but there are a few errors which we need to find and fix. If time
>> > permits we can also simplify language and add more worked examples but
>> > this is secondary.
>> >
>> >
>> > 3090808-original
>> > How we plan on doing it.
>> >
>> > Volunteers can join us for one or many of the following slots at the
>> > Open Innovation Studio (27 Buitenkant Street in Cape Town) where we
>> > will be working through the books. Alternatively volunteers can
>> > receive material and provide feedback by e-mail. Volunteers will read
>> > a section, correct it and submit it for capturing. We want every
>> > section read by two independent people to reduce the possibility of
>> > errors slipping through.
>> >
>> > We will provide copies of the material to be edited, food (lunch or
>> > dinner), drinks and a superb atmosphere.
>> >
>> > We have 1800 pages to read and we estimate that we need at least 6
>> > people for each of Maths, Chemistry and Physics to complete the
>> > process. A final editor will be used for each of the books as a third
>> > and final check.
>> >
>> > --
>> > Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
>> > Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
>> > The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
>> > http://www.earthtreasury.org/
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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-- 
Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://www.earthtreasury.org/