Talk:SchoolForge

Wikiversity should have contacts with other organizations that have a similar mission. We should make clear to these other organizations that they are free to use Wikiversity resources. I need someone to explain what SchoolForge actually does or has done or plans to do. I've made several trips into their webpages and I still do not understand what they actually do. --JWSchmidt 16:48, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
 * SchoolForge is currently dormant, but is expected (by me, at least) to bounce back to "life". It had steady growth and surges of interest from 1998 to 2002 thanks to the KDE Edutainment Project, SEUL, the Debian community and many others. No one can say exactly what happened. (I have a theory.) But the advent of Wikiversity could change the context dramatically. CQ 21:07, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Project for SchoolForge
I get the idea that they are not too sure of what they want do. Fortunately, I have something which needs to be done which people can learn from. Therefore, I will create a project and see what happens. If it does not fit their needs, then we can move it to some other kind of educational category. Robert Elliott

Thanks Robert - I would invite you to stop by the SchoolForge discussion list to share more about this project. I can understand how it may have appeared that we weren't too sure of what we wanted to do - but there are probably a few good reasons for this. The overall goal is to increase awareness and facilitate communication - and simply to bring people to find the benefits of free software. There were a lot of ideas bounced around when I started working on the web development, and I switched from Joomla to Drupal (which I had never used, but was willing to learn) after a discussion with the community. As I've been learning Drupal and getting through the learning curve, things have started to mesh and perhaps now the direction would be a bit more visible. JustinR

SchoolForge is a Coalition
Individuals may not join SchoolForge. Only organizations may. There is a document that states that somewhere But I can't find it any more. (...and that is, I think, an acceptable, if not typical practice for a coalition). The site has been refactored since my group, OzoneFarm participated. (Ozonefarm is now reduced to a dead SourceForge project and a channel on FreeNode with some hangers-on lurking) CQ 21:07, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
 * A bit of an update: ozonefarm is coming back to life now that I'm in Memphis and have access to a mountain of old computers via a group called CCM. I'm setting up servers and workstations in several locations running FreeBSD and Linux. Things are finally getting back on 'tract'. yeoman 13:37, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

SchoolForge then and now
The story is best seen by looking at the Coalition page and its subpages:
 * current
 * historical

A Comment on this - While there is a significantly lesser amount of members in the Coalition presently as compared to the historical status of the SchoolForge Coalition - to suggest that some 'story' can be read into this, I think, is a bit of a stretch. There had been no organized coalition activity for a number of years. When I started leading the web project, many of the projects that were listed didn't even exist anymore. We made contact with as many people that were involved as we could, and asked those who would like to carry on with the Coalition to sign up. I think it's better to have fewer, but more involved members than a huge list of some defunct projects (and some not) presented as members. Also, the Coalition was formed primarily to show unity amongst free software projects and organizations in response to the DOJ Anti Trust case with Microsoft - I think that now, that shared sense of unity exists without it having to be explicitly stated. I feel that there is some truly fascinating and visionary work happening by members of this community, and I can only hope that my efforts with the website provide a focal point to others who wish to learn more and become involved. JustinR

SchoolForge-UK
SchoolForge-UK is alive! I started a page there for Wikiversity. --CQ 17:45, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Update: Cormaggio (who studies at Manchester-UK) and I have started contributing there. Hopefully some SchoolForge people will reciprocate. CQ 20:25, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Coalition-building
I've added a section, Related groups at the bottom of the SchoolForge page with a couple of entries for groups that may qualify as coalition members. I think it is important and possible to increase participation by identifying groups out there that fit coalition membership criteria. I was pleased to chat on #wikiversity-en with Justin Riddiough who administers the main SchoolForge.net site. Whether or not Wikiversity becomes an official "member" of the coalition, we can still contribute greatly to expanding its mission through this learning project. CQ 13:48, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

BeautifulIinteresting site!
BeautifulIinteresting site! Thank you