I've been chatting with Andrew Magliozzi, who's working on FinalsClub.org (awful name, I know). It's a non-profit note-sharing site, and he just got a bunch of money from the Hewlett Foundation (I think) to move forward with this. I'm preeettty sure the licensing scheme for the site is choose-your-own-CC, though I'm not entirely sure.
The point is, he's just underwent going through a pretty big survey of students regarding whether or not they would use something like this, what they would want from this, chief concerns, etc. He's always looking for feedback/input, and it might be useful to reach out to him. -Adi On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 9:28 PM, Rich Jones <[email protected]> wrote: > I've haven't seen those two services before, but I have seen others just > like them, and I think they're _crap_. > There's no need to make this any more complicated than it needs to be, and > I think the mandatory login is a bunch of bullshit. Very pyramid-schemey. > > Integrating directly into the note taking application is a nifty idea - a > piratepad/unnamedSFCnotesapp mashup would be pretty neat - let people in the > same class take notes together, then publish them directly for everybody > else. Maybe a feature we can work on after then initial push. > > R > > >> Love the idea of making things that students can use! >> >> >> There seem to be two parts of the note-sharing idea: >> * Taking the notes >> * Sharing the notes >> >> -- >> >> Two existing note-sharing services to take a look at: >> >> http://www.notetopia.com/ >> * (for some reason @usc.edu won't get me in...) >> >> http://www.noteutopia.com/ >> * (this caused a bunch of controversy because they buy/sell the notes) >> >> I'm certain that there are others ... >> >> -- >> >> The note TAKING step seems just as compelling, though. >> >> On one extreme, I see many many students taking notes in the Microsoft >> Office notetaking program (OneNote)? >> >> On the other, my personal note-taking workflow involves vim + mediawiki. >> >> What's a good half-way point between these approaches that encourages >> sharing? >> >> Some of my classmates swear by a non-free Mac program called Scrivener: >> http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php >> >> And I know some others who have a similar relationship to Zim: >> http://zim-wiki.org/ >> >> Maybe a specially modified version of Piratepad for students? >> >> A project like this could start a bigger conversation about the best >> tools/practices for students who care about their computing freedom. >> >> Exciting stuff! >> Kevin >> > > > On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 9:15 PM, Parker <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Just wanted to chime in on the idea of making it about student papers >> and not notes: >> I have this feeling that making it about student papers is more of a >> positive statement and less subversive. I'm kind of having trouble >> justifying that feeling, though--maybe I'm crazy, or maybe someone can >> back me up. >> >> But it seems to me that we can make a really nice positive statement >> like "we students are proud of this stuff that we've done--and like, >> sometimes we ask profs to share stuff, ala OCW, but this should go 2 >> ways. besides, this paper is interesting outside the scope of this >> class, and putting it on the web makes me feel like a real academic! >> eeeee!" >> >> I guess the real issue is that with lecture notes, professors might >> feel like we're taking something from them in a way that they're >> probably less likely to feel if we just publish papers. I don't know. >> >> In general I'm recently more interested in making positive statements >> than being subversive. Relatedly, I think that if we re-frame the Open >> University campaign as something where we students are helping our >> universities become more open instead of trying to embarass/celebrate >> them with report cards, we might have more success. That's been the >> thinking about my last couple threads about simple ways to show your >> support for CC licensing and help out parts of your school that might >> be interested. I think that we could do some great work at the >> conference this feb by working through some "just add water" >> kits/recipes that chapters can use to increase sharing and openness at >> their schools. >> >> On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 8:40 PM, Rich Jones <[email protected]> wrote: >> > (I'm submitting this as an idea to FC-discuss to see what everybody >> thinks >> > about it, if we decide to move forward, we can discuss the >> implementation >> > details on FC-Hackers). >> > >> > With the conference in New York rapidly approaching, I think it would be >> > really cool if we made something that we could show off to everybody by >> the >> > end of the conference. If we get the ball rolling now, I'm sure we can >> have >> > something cool by the end if we have a hackathon during the conf. >> > >> > So while I was in school I remember noticing that damn near everybody in >> > most of my classes had a laptop to take notes on. I think it'd be really >> > sweet and super handy if we set up a website where we could all easily >> share >> > our notes and the other course materials we make. There are some >> companies >> > doing something similar, but none that are free and use creative commons >> > licensing. I think this a cool opportunity to experiment with the free >> > culture philosophy in education, and we could actually end up making a >> > difference in the way people learn. I found that in school I learned >> just as >> > much from my peers as I did from my professors, and this could be a good >> > tool for facilitating and enhancing that aspect of peer to peer >> learning. >> > >> > There are some pros and cons to this idea: >> > Pros: >> > - Utility! People would be able to come to class more prepared and be >> able >> > to learn from the notes of others as well as their own. >> > - Display scholarship! Our handsome friend Parker has suggested that >> perhaps >> > it could be used to highlight good scholarship, to display papers we are >> > proud of. It would be cool to share them with each other and comment on >> > their content. >> > - Novelty! I'd love to be able to see the coursework and notes that >> people >> > in other majors take, simply for my own curiosity. >> > - Promote SFC! I can't think of anything that would bring in more >> members >> > than a useful, public service. >> > - $$$ for SFC: If it became popular enough, perhaps we could slap up >> some >> > ads and bring in a little cash to the organization. >> > >> > Potential Cons: >> > - Plagiarism/Cheating: This is going to be a difficult issue. Some >> people >> > may abuse the service to simply copy and paste other people's work. >> While I >> > think that outright plagarism is a really bad bad thing, I don't think >> > there's anything wrong with remixing somebody else's ideas and learning >> > about what makes a good paper and what makes a bad paper. In fact, this >> is >> > really the whole heart of our organization, right? >> > - Copyright: Some teachers may object to having their courses >> 'notesified' >> > and uploaded public consumption. IANAL, but I believe I remember the >> supreme >> > court (or perhaps is was the supreme court of Florida (??)) ruling that >> a >> > students' notes are their own property. This could be a good way to test >> > that ruling. (Legally, I think we'd be okay thanks to the DMCA safe >> harbor). >> > - Damaging our relationship with professors: Parker has been having >> success >> > promoting OpenCourseware at Dartmouth and affords much of the success to >> > friendliness, handsomeness and cooperation with professors. This idea >> may be >> > too subversive and could damage rapport for members who want to >> establish >> > these ties. >> > >> > What do you guys think? Would you use this service? Would you be willing >> to >> > upload your own notes to it? >> > >> > I've learned Django recently and I'm pretty sure we could whip up a >> > prototype in a couple of days. >> > (Also!: Please join fc-hackers ( >> > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fc-hackers ) if you are >> > interested in developing this or any other FC ideas.) >> > >> > Thanks! >> > Rich >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Discuss mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> > FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss >> > >> > >> >> >> >> -- >> http://www.madebyparker.com >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss > >
_______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss
