Wayne, you need a blog.. All this information, dispersed and broken up inside a google group and different Wikipages. I think you need a blog so we can keep up with everything you are doing and thinking about
On Fri, Oct 3, 2008 at 6:56 AM, Wayne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Thu, 2008-10-02 at 09:49 -0700, Steve Foerster wrote: > > Wayne wrote: > > << WikiEducator 3.0 refers to the phases of our strategic plan: >> > > Oooooh, okay, fair enough. > > I've started a stub for Wkieducator 3.0 --- The idea being to provide a > synopsis of our strategy and concise history of the project as the basis to > ask the community to help us identify the strategic and operational > priorities of Phase 3 in our development. > > << TImeline: Startup of the new International Center for Open > Education is scheduled for 1 May 2009. COL has agreed to fund the > technical infrastructure of WIkiEducator for the first 3 years, that > is servers and technical support staff. COL's future support for > WikiEducator is conditional and requires that WikiEducator is > established within a new legal framework that COL considers > appropriate for such support. Our discussions have been around > setting up an independent and appropriate non-profit entity. >> > > I agree that this is critically important. In order to set up a non- > profit organisation, it must have by-laws, yes? And these would > presumably refer to a governance structure, e.g., Board of Directors > or Trustees or what have you? I ask because if that's the case then > this would effectively replace our Draft Policy on Governance, and if > that's so we must be the ones to write it. > > Steve, replacing our Draft Policy on Governance -- not necessarily. > > My personal view is that we should do everything we can to respect and > support the autonomy of the WE community taking into account our history and > what's been achieved to date and the legal requirements. It is conceivable > to have an independent non profit that is responsible for maintaining the > technical and operational infrastructure of the WikiEducator community in > accordance with the policies approved by the WikiEducator Community Council > without interfering with the governance of the community. I'm not a lawyer > and we'll need to get legal advice on this question. So let's wait till we > have feedback from the experts. > > << Steve the Open Education Centre comes under an employer - employee > relationship. This is subject to the normal confidences afforded to > employment agreements. >> > > I hope that doesn't mean that you foresee your relationship with Otago > would require confidences that would preclude you from sharing > relevant information with the WE community. > > Nope -- I don't see it that way at all. We all have multiple roles and > identities. My participation in WE is as an equal member of the WE family. > For example, you work at a University -- but participate in WE as a member > of the community. What I anticipate is a job description which gives me the > time to work for the WikiEducator project as an organisational allocation of > staff time. Increasingly, I hope to see more institutions officially > donating FTE (Full time equivalent) staff time to the project. I've been > thinking about launching an FTE for WikiEducator initiative where > institutions commit real staff time to the project. > > << The moment I have definitive detail on the relationship between the > operations of the International Centre for Open Education and the > WikiEducator project -- I will be the first to let our community know. > >> > > Fair enough. > > > << Suffice it to say, the establishment of an independent legal entity > for administering the funding for the WE project is a critical path > decision for moving forward. Currently -- WE has no legal status. WE > is a community of association whereby individual members are > personally responsible (and liable) for their activities in the > community. >> > > Very good, on this I think everyone agrees. Can we assume the non- > profit group would be chartered in NZ? (Fine with me if it is, so > long as NZ recognises public domain dedications.) > > Yes -- the non-profit would be chartered in NZ. To the best of my knowledge, > NZ recognises public domain dedications. > > The final form of the non-profit is not my decision, nor should it be. This > has to do with taxation status of different kinds of entities, for example > an Educational Charitable Trust versus a non-profit company with charitable > purposes. In the case of NZ Educational Trust, to retain "tax free" status > has implications regarding disbursements -- this has nothing to do with the > form of the entity but local taxation law. As an international project we > must ensure that WE can continue its work at an international level. This > international stuff gets pretty complicated -- our server sits in Germany > and we will more than likely have our Phase 2 hosting located in Canada. > Each country has its laws around these things as well. I'm not a lawyer and > we will rely on the advice of legal professionals working in the field. > There is also the question of legal liability of the organisation that funds > operations etc. So lots of detail that needs to be worked out. > > << I have always acted in the best interests of the WIkiEducator > project. I hold the highest number of edits in the community and the > accolade of being the first member of WikiEducator :-). Since the > inception of the project I have always put community first and will > continue to do so. >> > > I know. I really hope you don't think that I'm asking you these > questions because of any doubt of that, as for the record I have none > at all. And hopefully everyone understands that you can't know > everything yet. I'm only bugging you this way because I want to > ensure that the community is as involved as possible in what happens > to us, and you can't reasonably facilitate that if we don't do our > part by asking what we need to know. > > I respect and admire your approach and ongoing commitment to our project > since the early days :-) --- keep bugging! > > Cheers > Wayne > > -=Steve=- > > > > > > -- -- Leigh Blackall +64(0)21736539 skype - leigh_blackall SL - Leroy Goalpost http://learnonline.wordpress.com http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Leighblackall --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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