User talk:JWSchmidt/Early 2007 discussions

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Quick question
On occasion for department names or topic names, you include a small definition of the name. I was wondering if perhaps we should extend this to all titles, for example, "Immunology the study of the immune system". This would facilitate the understanding of what exactly various departments and divisions are. Thanks again for your time. --Relex 13:58, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

In passing
You appear to have acquired a contributor who may have been around other Wiki's in some form. User:Kkawohl - check Wikibooks Votes for deletion which will give you links to some Wp stuff - hope you don't mind - regards --Herby talk thyme 21:07, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Generally I try and make friends & I actually popped in looking for Johnny - regards --Herby talk thyme 10:23, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

In passing indeed
I find my good friend Herby everywhere. The problem I've encountered at some Wikis is that a few atheist Napoleons wish to delete anything connected to spirituality. Religious rationality is sorely needed and that may eventually even help to stifle some terrorism. JWSchmidt, I sincerely thank you for your guidance and for being open-minded.Kkawohl 00:02, 5 January 2007 (UTC)kkawohl

The name Wikiversity
Dear JWSchmidt, Was it for legal or practical reasons that the name Wikiuniversity became Wikiversity? Thank you.--Hillgentleman|Talk 19:30, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm quitting wikiversity
I' am sick of Wikiversity, I'm retiring because of the following reasons.


 * I'm not getting any interaction with other editors


 * I' am often the ONLY wikiversity editor online


 * NOBODY has left a comment on my custodianship election page, which I put up weeks ago, but everyone leaves comments on your voting.


 * I have to sit and watch vandals in horror, when I'm the only one online and they destroy the project, as there's nobody to stop them.

I may change my mind though, if things change.--Student Galaxy 16:59, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

REMOVING PAGES
Which of these two pages do you want to be deleted?

Historical Introduction to Philosophy —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mlanaduncan (talk • contribs) 03:22, 7 January 2007 (UTC).

user:mlanaduncan

NOT the page with the general intro.

Thank you. :)

Thanks
Thank you very much for the help! I look forward to contributing.

Mathew 03:47, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Main page
I moved the community service link into "how you can help wikiversity?"

The problem with the link as it was (and this is a problem with a lot of wikiversity pages) is that the contents is completely incomprehensible to a newcomer. A newcommer is going to have two questions

1) How do I get X done? 2) How can I help wikiversity do X?

The main page should send the newbie to a menu where those questions get answered.

Roadrunner 17:33, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

There are now two pages "How wikiversity can help you?" (Wikiversity:Services) and "How you can help wikiversity?" (Wikiversity:How you can help). I renamed the service link to community service and then moved that to the page "how wikiversity can help you"

If you keep it on the main page as "Wikiversity:Service" that makes no sense to a newbie.

When you have a newbie visit wikiversity, you have ten seconds to convince them that the site is worth their time, otherwise you lose them. You need to get them immediately to a menu.

My concern with the wikiversity pages and wikiversity in general is that it is wikiversity-centered and not user-centered.

Roadrunner 18:32, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the notes
Thanks for the notes. One thing that I've learned both in Wikipedia and in academia as a whole is how too much planning can kill anything useful from happening. Things have generally worked better when I've "just done it" and if there any objections these can be resolved later.

Right now the wikiversity site is extremely new user unfriendly, but fixing all of that is going to take more effort than I have. However, I did see a set of simple edits that would improve things, and I think my efforts would then be better spent trying to do actually something with the medium rather discussion what should be done.

I'm trying to use wikiversity as a hub for comments on academic papers, for being an online hub for things like the MIT Energy Initiative.

Roadrunner 20:58, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Welcome
Thank you for the welcoming, I was just looking at your user profile! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Howeman (talk • contribs) 23:05, 7 January 2007 (UTC).

please respond to wikiversity the script
I've made developments!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 * I suggest you register a user name; it helps communication. --JWSchmidt 23:15, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Categorising content
Hi JWSchmidt I removed Category:content as this is a meta category which states that it shouldn't be applied to articles. If this occurs again I'll make sure that I add a replacement category. I'll make more of an effort to add edit summaries to all my edits. I've added template Main welcome and category Empty page to IP address Mystictim 15:45, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Hi there is Category:Uncategorized which aside from it's Russellian paradoxical nature fits the bill. I'll note it's existence on the relevant pages Mystictim 16:38, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

movie script
I have made developments please comment on my developments
 * Where? --JWSchmidt 22:22, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Learning activities
Hi JWSchmidt you've made learn by doing a sub category of Learning activities which is fine. However I intended the category Learning activities to be for pages that have actual activities for people to do. So the pages tagged Learn by doing should also contain actual activities that involve learning by doing. Maybe it would be better to categorise the pages with actual learn by doing activities rather than the school or topic pages. See my updated posts at Category:Learning activities and Colloquium for my thoughts on thisMystictim 19:53, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

Following up.
In August, you left this note. I'm new, so not sure what needs to be done, but the link in the note looks interesting. Let me know if anything is pending. Historybuff 06:03, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the note. I've used the wikimedia software before, but I'm not sure how to archive discussions, or place an infobox on the talk page. There are lots of old discussions, but I think anything from before ~Aug 2006 is from the wikibooks import. On a related note, is there any "main" contact areas for contributors to the Comp Sci area? I've left some notes on some pages, and have got one other contributor to respond, but I'd like to build some consensus on changes and content required, but it's hard when there aren't many editors that seem active. Even if you have editor names that are still active and participate in the CS area -- without checking the history of 100's of pages, I'm not really sure where to start. Historybuff 15:54, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the link on archiving talk pages -- I'm going to start cleaning up pre-August discussions at least. I've left a note where you suggested already, so I guess I'll have to be a bit patient. I've done a little reading on Namespaces, and that helps clarify things a bit more, in terms of trying to understand the orginizational model. As far as being bold, no problem there -- I've already done a bunch of category rationalization in Computer Science, and have started to flesh out some stubs. It might help in the early going here if there was someone who was knowledgeable about Wikiversity who would guide participants. I showed up and accidently found an intersting History course, found some French courses and then only found the CS area from the French language Wikiversity. Not exactly the intuitive way to get to the Comp Sci area :). One more question -- I've added a couple images out of the commons (via wikipedia), but I don't think I'm doing it right. Shouldn't I be able to link through some interwiki magic code, or at present do I have to download and then upload the image? (I got one to work, but another is more stubborn). And thank you for all of your help so far! Historybuff 17:31, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Is there any standard/convention for something like a Todo list for schools/courses etc? (a subpage, a template, etc). Sorry to bug you again, and thanks again. Historybuff 08:25, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Mentor?
I am interested in becoming a custodian and would like to request that you be my mentor. I am interested because I am a computer programmer ( C C++ VB C# and html) currently learning Java. As a programmer I would like to share the information that I have learned over many years of study. Wikiversity seems like it would be a good way of doing that. I'm working on a couple of pages listed under WINAPI Programming and plan on writing a full tutorial about that subject as well as tutorials on C and maybe C++. Thanks for your time.

Sincerly, Bodene

Changing username?
Why have you changed the vandals name who was known as. "Wikiversity is facism" to Vandal account? :S Student Galaxy 10:26, 13 January 2007 (UTC)
 * See Changing username? --JWSchmidt 14:36, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick response
Just to answer and extend my thanks for the ideas as well as the guidance. I will be editing on the pages you talked about as soon as time permits. I do appologize that I did not inform users of a little about myself by adding this information first. I do agree with your thoughts on making wiki a site that is interactive and I believe I have some of the skills that are required to do so. Ideas are not easy to come by, yet the thinker sometimes spends too much time thinking. The doer may learn lessons from past mistakes so a mix between the two is my philosophy on the matter. I mean trial and hopefully a minimal amount of errors are what I desire. Also I think that this can become the best site on the net in areas such as I have mentioned as well as many, many others. My bottom line is this "It is ultimmately better to try to do a good thing and fail than to try to do nothing and succeed." I've spent 15 years programming computers and I wish I could count the times I wanted to just quit because it is very difficult to learn. Now that I know I just want to help anyone who has a desire to learn. Sincerly Bodene 18:23, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
Just a short note of thanks. I didn't have much time tonight and really wanted to get more done. Still haven't read through links etc you sent in the previous email. I did however have time enough to get my user page started. Check it out if you get a chance. Nothing fancy yet but am looking forward to a brighter tommorow so to speak. God bless Sincerly Bodene 07:44, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Featured
I had suspected that this was the case (ie. not duplicating portals' featured content) - however, I personally think we need to have some materials as showcases for what Wikiversity participants have done, without having to dig through each portal. The film school is one of the most developed bank of resources on Wikiversity (if not the most developed), so I thought it belonged on Featured too. Cormaggio talk 16:37, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Category:Computer Science Courses, todos and a question
I'm starting to absorb the namespace info and figure out how things are logically arranged. I do know that "the powers that be" frown on the tradional name "courses", but I choose this deliberately. First, most if not all of the listed courses are lessson fragments or course fragments, so even if a visitor came across them it would be hard for them to link them with a traditional course. Second, I needed a way to refer to and gather together all of the potential learning content, and I couldn't come up with a better name. So, as part of being bold, I added this category, knowing full well it will either be renamed or absorbed into other more appropriate catagories at a future date. You mentioned "bringing over" stuff from wikipedia. Is this a matter of cutting and pasting, or do we have to send a formal request to have features/modules bumped over? I only just read the top page on the Wikimedia software yesterday, so I'm not really sure what is where yet. (This was about TODOs on Schools and Cats, but might apply to templates and other stuff too) I was wondering how we could compose a "locked page" which is made up of subpages like the Main Page. This might be useful for courses if we can make it easy enough to use, because in the course of my category work I've found participants who are just adding their names to the bottom of the page, not looking where category tags are. If they step on some such tag, then the page could be either categorized to a non-existant category, or not categorized at all. Historybuff 17:10, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Followup question - Is there any way to get a listing of Topic space�? Historybuff 21:42, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks again for your speedy reply. I have a bit of a headache this moment, so excuse me if I'm not 100% clear. I think I've got the Faculty->School->Division->Department->"course"->Lesson hierarchy down. What I'm not sure is how this maps into the Topic/Portal/Article space. This has been a source of confusion since I started to wade through wikiversity, and from the way editors are approaching things, I don't think I'm the only one on this count. I've managed to go though all of the CS related topic entries, and given them a category. I'll wade again once I'm feeling a bit better. Historybuff 03:23, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

I read your book
Well, at least watched your wiki reports. :) (You need a real announcer) I have been thinking about the Faculty/School/etc naming, and the reluctance to call things courses. While I understand the motivation, I think that this is a bad time to try to enforce it too much. I do understand that wiki learning can, and probably will be very different from conventional learning. The problem is that most people are used to conventional learning, and we are not only disorienting people by introducing a wiki approach to learning, we are depriving them of all cues that they'd normally associate with a learning institution. When people get here, they are going to expect something evolving towards a University, the same way when they go to Wikipedia they expect something evolving towards an encyclopedia. So, for the time being, while we should reinforce that Wikiversity isn't here to offer traditional courses, I think we should allow a bit of a blanket in terms of what we call learning units. Casual visitors will be more comfortable with something called a course, whatever form it takes, and turning casual visitors into contributors, whether they be students or teachers should be a main focus at this time. You seem to be one of the most active members, so I thought sharing my ideas with you would be best -- I'm not looking to rock the boat, but rather see the journey successfully completed. Historybuff 07:28, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

My intention isn't to antagonize the Board, but since you are more in tune with both the history and the feelings of the board (or even you), I'll listen to your objective advice -- if you feel I'm pushing the envelope too far. Because that is my intention -- pushing the envelope as long as it helps the goal. I did check out the links, and followed another ref link to a paper with a heading of Other courses being developed include. Since its on (what I think is) the master project site, so at minimum it would be a common misconception. I think you understood that blanket above meant "saftey blanket" - I was trying to write something before I forgot while I was still with head hurting :). The main reason that I wrote this on your talk page was to solicit your feedback. I know that the issue can be sensitive, which is why I did this semi-privately. So, my approach right now is to organize and help develop some quality learning pieces, to get people interested. After we have done that, I think focus can be turned to facilitating communication between people. Part of that communication is what Wikiversity can be. I think outside the box on this, while others might not be able to. Wikiversity is precluded from granting paper certification? Big deal, it's all GFDL -- if it's quality, we can find someone to use the content and grant paper cert. And so on. So, now some questions for you. How many active Wikiversitans are there? (by active, I mean actually logging in more then once, as opposed to just signing up). How many are actually contributors (1+ edit), and what is the average number of edits a contributor has done? These kind of statistics will give an idea of the interaction ratio. Unlike Wikipedia, where anonymous visitors might visit for one or two articles, we would like people to be active, I think. Historybuff 16:12, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Question: How do I move a page? In the wikimedia docs, there are refs to a move tab, but I don't see it. I'm trying to move a page in my userspace, but shouldn't this work on the general namespace too? Historybuff 19:23, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not usually impatient, but I'm not sure how many days I've been piddling for, and don't want to wait another couple. :) If you could move User:Historybuff/todo -> User:Historybuff/to do

I would be very grateful. You also mentioned "getting software" ... what would this need to be written in? Historybuff 02:58, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

There are either a few mindreaders here at Wikiversity, or you peeked at my Todo list. ;) Following your link, I found out that Bots are available in Perl, Python, PHP and .NET. Applescript is also on the page, but it leads to a deadlink, ah well. Bots are on my list -- what were you thinking of? Also, I'm not sure if it might not be wise to change my userid, or create a student and a psuedo-teacher account. I showed up and signed up for a History course, and then I started poking around. Any thoughts on that? Historybuff 03:48, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Your bot might be better implemented as screen scraping. Maybe I'll make it a Case Study for the Wiki software. Are you already running any bots? Historybuff 02:32, 17 January 2007 (UTC) 02:19, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
 * See Bots. --JWSchmidt 02:24, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Proposal for advisors
We have custodians (we should find a better name, IMHO) and buerucrats, maybe it would be a good idea to have "advisors" while Wikiversity is in the incubation stages? My thought is that such a person, who doesn't need any admin privs, could facilitate the process of organizing the various schools. It could be that this is too formal or won't work, but while there are huge list of things that need attention, and it doesn't seem there is really a way to focus activity. Thought I'd bounce this crazy thought off of you before taking it out in public. Historybuff 17:36, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Custodian is now what we used to call caretakers, and really is a fancy name for Janitor. I read the discussion, and it seems like they were aiming for a term that was not too "admin/sys op" sounding. Real Universities have a Physical Plant staff, who maintain the buildings etc. This might be a little wordy, but I think something along those lines would be more apt. When I said advisors above, I meant contributing editors who would try and help newcomers find something to do. I was thinking about when I first got here, as opposed to when you get to a bricks and mortar school. There, if you are totally disoriented, you can always go to the admin office (or registrar) and get help. Foreign students and special needs students can get a "shadow advisor", basically a 2nd year or above student who can help them find classes and the like. Your proposal for experts is good too, however. Before I'd want to approach someone, though, I personally would like to see something "serious" on the back side, as far as courses go. There are far too many stubs in the CS area right now. Historybuff 02:32, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Continuing Ed Project -- Research too?
I want to start a local project to get Wikiversity doing something "live". It would be something with mature adults, and something that would allow them to learn as well as contribute. I don't have anything firm in terms of what to do, but I have some ideas of how to do it. What I don't know is where to talk about it. It would be tacitly CS or IT related, but that wouldn't necessarily be the core focus. It's not a learning "proposal", but an actual project.

It could be a real research project too - if we have anyone who is willing to approach that angle of it. (We might want to approach an "expert" for this, to study an experiment in learning. We might even get funding too!) Also, I did see you mentioned Video. I don't think that it's just this generation that is "video driven" -- anybody can watch a video. I already started a thread in the Colloquim about remote learning type stuff, this might be an opportunity to involve that too. Historybuff 08:39, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Would a Grant have to go through WikiMedia? I'm not sure how grants are usually granted, but from what I remember grants were for specific projects (University Grants, I mean). I am going to look into how the grant process works locally. Here's a question for you -- how can I refer to myself when speaking to people? "A participant from the Wikiversity project" sounds somewhat vague. I definately don't want to overstate my title, but I'm not sure what would be appropriate. Perhaps "teaching participant" or "learning facilitator"?

I'm going to do a bit of brainstorming before I post to colloquim. The idea now is too theoretical, I have to have a good way to describe it -- which I think means it needs a practical incarnation.

How are you composing your videos? I'm wondering if that method could be something we use generally, or if the software and knowledge curve are high enough to make that less feasible. Historybuff 15:46, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
I am still trying to find my way around but the information you sent me is a great start.Nancysen13 20:57, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
Hi, Just wanted to thank you for your help with the Women's Studies Department :) mehmetaergun 09:51, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Web Design/A scaffolded Web Project
Hi. You were the last one to edit Web Design/A scaffolded Web Project, so I am contacting you about it. The link on the page leads to a bunch of advertisements. I think that either the link should be updated or the page should be deleted. --Jimmytharpe 13:49, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

What's next?
I was wondering if you would give me a go on the movie script project? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.30.241.211 (talk) 23:10, 24 January 2007 (UTC).
 * Please register a user account and explain what "give me a go on the movie script project" means. --JWSchmidt 23:41, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

astronomy featured content
Yes, I noticed the featured content at Portal:Physical Sciences. Thanks for adding the link. The description looks fine. I also just added a new activity to Observational astronomy that ties in with the project I'm developing at Observational astronomy/Supernova.--mikeu 16:31, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

blog comments
I replied to your question at User talk:Mu301/Learning blog.--mikeu 21:46, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Category:Sin
LOLOLOL --Jorge 04:00, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

...
Thank you for the useful information. --Remi0o 06:48, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

thanks
Thanks for your welcome. I am a sociology professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. I am just starting to think how I might bring wiki into my teaching--either for introductory sociology or my lower division class on communities. I am interested in advice on how to get started---I might want to have some projects that are limited to my students or groups of students so I can collaborate with them as the projects evolve. In other instances I may want to have set materials that are not edited by others. Any direction is appreciated--at first the wiki network seems a little overwhelming and it is hard to remember where I am or where I saw things of interest. best, Profe Kee 15:21, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Oops! Help Please
JW, I just erased a message on this page inadvertently while copying the welcome template for use elsewhere. I am attempting to learn/find the rollback feature but I am not sure as a non administrator I have this capability. If you could check and verify your message to Verin Sedia got back ok I would sure appreciate it! Sorry for the hassle. Mirwin 00:22, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Wow! You are getting fast in realtime! By the time I remembered I could cut and paste from the history to fix the deletion you had reverted.  Impressive!  Mirwin 00:28, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Learning for seniors
I am always looking for new resources for my seniors. I just started teaching a Church group at their church as an alternate to Bible Study on Wednesday Night. This is a first as far as I know and it looks like we will set up a computer room for all church memember to access. I am installing the Christian Edition of Ubuntu Linux.

My county is primarily seniors about 60% and there is real need for this type teaching. Even the material on the AARP site is to advanced for most. I wonder if anyone has really had hands on experience in teaching 60+ folks.

Any idea if this approach is being used elsewhere?

I have been teaching real seniors now for almost a year in one of the "Citrus County Florida" community centers. My experience has taught me more about teaching than I could ever imagined. I am currenty editing a course called "computer basics for seniors" and with input from real Seniors whom I teach. Any outside input from other 60+ would be wonderful. The new website is www.computerbasicsfor seniors.com

Thanks

John Warnken

www.itutorforyou.com www.itutorforyou.stumbleupon.com www.itutorforyou.blogspot.com www.computerbasicsforseniors.com john@itutorforyou.com

Wikiversity has a serious problem....many of our volunteer editors are in their 20s and they tend to develop wiki content that is oriented around their personal interests and subjects that are of concern to that age group. In general, we are much weaker in developing resources for both younger and older groups. We should start something like Portal:60+. --JWSchmidt 16:15, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

I like the Portal 60 + idea. This year I will be 55 and have over 20+ years computer and internet experience. I am aware there is what I call the technology haves and have nots. The youth today seem to believe they are the only ones entitled to the technology and the rest of us are too old to learn.

The fact remains that seniors are the fastest growing group of computer and internet users. They have the time, interest and money to acheive this. Few if any have learned how to effectivly teach this group. Even the information listed in the AARP site is not suited for the average Senior I teach. So using my real experience with real 60+ students I will rewrite how the teaching should be done. I am adding their input as well. John W64.45.216.167 04:09, 21 February 2007 (UTC)arnken


 * Maybe like this JW? ( http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Self_Paced_Reading_and_Grammer_Labs) I am still drafting proposal but I hope you are familar with the Reading and other programs in a box that was in use in the U.S. states Illinoise and Oregon.  Great thing about this is it would provide something for less educated participants to do to help out while bringing their reading, grammer, maybe arithemetic and mathematics ...  I am going to check with Cormaggio for interested educators who might help me get the project started and rolling to self activation or flashpoint.  Mirwin 06:54, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Re: RSS feed
Try refreshing it now, the problem was just some lazy markup on my part. Thanks for telling me  Michael Billington (talk • contribs) 02:07, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Edit
Why do you think I made the edit? --Remi 21:42, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Flash in Wikiversity
My students and I are building a course in Wikiversity -- Topic:Instructional Design. We are wondering how we might incorporate Flash on the wikipage? Our search for this in the help areas leads us to believe that Flash is not supported. Obvious work-around is to put our flash content on a different server, and link to it from the wikipage. Are our assumptions correct? Is there a plan for flash compatibility for wikiversity?

Phonebein 17:29, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Evaluation
Thanks for the Flash info.

Is there a structure in place for incorporating course evaluations into Wikiversity courses? I know my students will ask me this since evaluation (e.g. Donald_Kirkpatrick) is such an integrated part of course design. I haven't been able to find any tech notes on this. Phonebein 23:53, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Userboxes
Thanks for the heads up, but I have to ask you, in the context of Wikiversity, should the Template:User_1337 not exist? TheJF 21:19, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Teemu's knowledge user template implemented
User:Teemu's suggested knowledge list has been for the most part implemented, for example Template:User_knowledge-agri-0. Hopefully this will help situate skill levels and interest at Wikiversity. TheJF 04:56, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
 * No, there isn't, but basically this is what you need to know, if someone can make that into a nicely presented doc, that'd be cool,

For a knowledge user template, for example if I wanted to make a level 0 of the Foobar school. I decide on the knowledge-code as 'foo' and decide to create a new template, as Template:User knowledge-foo-0.

I edit it and type in,

If I want User knowledge-foo-1, I just change level to 1.

To create Category:knowledge-foo-0, I would type in:

And it would create everything necessary automatically. That's it.

History of Quebec and Canada
Thanks for doing all this John - I saw you adding the speedy delete tag to the articles as I was writing my email response, and I mentioned it accordingly. I also see you've added a note to Mikec's talk page - did you also send an email? i think that would be worthwhile (I'll happily do so if you like). Cormaggio beep 15:25, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

External recognition
I've been actively involved in university life from undergraduate to post-graduate student, to researcher, lecturer and Prof. since 1975 (both in Europe and the Americas, in addition to industry-baseed R&D on both sides of the Atlantic). For the past couple of years I've been an active and enthusiastic contributor to Wikipedia etc. I had great hopes for Wikipedia, but it has, in many ways, exceeded my expectations.

I feel that the versity suffix throws us into a whole new, and very much more exigent and critical arena. (And rightly so. -I expect that the people who'll come here won't be seeking general knowledge but rather, expecting something much more advanced). I fully support the initiative, but feel duty-bound to express my concerns that contributors MUST adopt a very much more conscientious, rigorously self-critical and professional attitude than in other wiki-projects (be they formally "qualified" or not) when preparing their submissions, edits, suggestions etc. etc.

Versity-level respect and recognition can only be won by long, hard work, but can be lost in the blink of an eye ! WIKI does, potentially, deserve this level of respect, but will have to earn it.

Have no doubt, numerous representatives (probably the majority) of the traditional academic community will be very vocal in denouncing any error or misconduct, no matter how insignificant or short-lived. It would be an enormous pity to see such a noble project flounder under such criticism. wikityke 22:40, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Introduction to Psychology
Why I did it:
 * The information can be presented in a continuous and succinct manner if it is in one place
 * Here it can be added to/distilled and go outside the scope of an encyclopedia article
 * The information can be presented in a more flexible way than if it was in book form over at Wikibooks

I could definately see how it could be more appropriate as a Wikibook however.

In fact, I will format the page as a course with other scholarly materials, and work on the book over there as a textbook. --Remi 07:31, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

History of quebec and canada
I am one of three co-authors of the original website.Walter Baslyk   wbaslyk@lcc.ca Michael Carley   MCarley@lbpsb.qc.ca Len Harney        LHarney@emsb.qc.ca

We allowed the quebec english school network to use our material on their site as our   contribution to the History Task Force. The original is hosted at http://www.lbpsb.qc.ca/~history/ I am building the wikiversity site to give students access to these materials as these other sites move or disappear and do not allow for the collaboration built into the wiki site..Mikec 18:27, 27 February 2007 (UTC)mikec

you can contact me at michael dot carley at sympatico dot ca

Blocks
Thank you for banning them. They were not contributing very constructively. =) --Remi 02:22, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Catching Vandals
I appreciate you catching the vandals to Hitler's Germany...I've been busy lately and haven't had the time to keep the page in good order. Thanks again! --Kfitton 15:31, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Getting Permission to Copy Wikipedia Text
Hi,

Somewhere in here I've encountered a note about not copying content from other wiki foundation sources without asking first. I would like to use selections from the wikipedia article about screws in my Concept Classification article. Also, I might use some of the information in an external learning activity linked to my article. So, what do I do next?

Also, I have no idea where to look for the answer to this question. Rdubrayj 22:59, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Comment
There is a User who just made a account named MobileLoser. I thoought you may want to block him. Have a nice week and god bless:) --Sir James Paul 23:34, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Sorry
I am sorry fpr turning the topic scientology article into a redirest. Thanks for telling me not to do it though:) --Sir James Paul 13:33, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Custonian Mentor
Hi, I am seeing if you can be my Custionan Mentor. Thank You -- Punk Boi 8 08:41, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Introduction to Logic
As you seem to have been the only user to write anything on logic in the school of philosophy, I thought that you might be the right person to contact (although I do realise that you are very busy working on many other projects).

I have written a 3000-word introduction to logic (Logic is about consistency), starting from the concept of consistency, going on to inference and finally dealing with some of the problems with the conception of truth. Are you still interested in contributing to a learning project on logic? Should I merge this content with your text?

Thank you very much for your attention. (Alex beta 17:48, 24 March 2007 (UTC))

Spanish merge
The Spanish department at Wikipedia is currently a mess—there are six separate pages around where people are supposed to sign up for the department, and two overlapping introductory Spanish courses, with no indicator at all for how they differ. Juan started the new introductory Spanish course "cus the old one looks death" [sic] (in his words). Juan actually stated that he felt it would be good for the participant lists to be combined, but that "the code used in Spanish is difficult and for me additional work. I am becomming to be tired from this birocracy." [sic] Some of the registration pages are built (with table code) in such a way as to be very unfriendly for people to sign up at, and newcomers to Wikiversity have complained about this (and Juan is complaining about it, too). Your removal of the merge tags at the Spanish page without engaging in discussion seems to indicate a lack of awareness of the situation. Concerning the naming conventions merge, the tag was added because of a comment another user had made at a talk page; I don't particularly care, myself. The Jade Knight 22:57, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, that's fine, but right now it's an absolute mess, and several newcomers have complained about not having any idea about where to go or how to sign up. Another disadvantage of multiple redundant courses, apart from being confusing to newcomers, is that they spread out the already limited participation at Wikiversity.  Whatever is decided by the Spanish department, something needs to be done about the participant lists.  The Jade Knight 23:36, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I wash my hands of the Spanish department, then. If you want those coming to Wikiversity to get disoriented and confused, fine.  It's something I'm working to avoid in the areas I'm heavily involved in, but you can run Wikiversity however you see fit.  The Jade Knight 07:31, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
 * The merge tags which you removed were an attempt to orient newcomers and give them an idea of the mess which the Spanish department is currently in. It was also a way of saying "Hey!  Something needs to be done about this!"  You removed it but did not fix anything; to me, that seems like a step backwards (what happened to assuming good faith in my placing the merge tag)?  I apologize that I'm being curt; frankly, it bothers me that you just nonchalantly stepped in without discussing the issue or contributing anything productive, and removed a tag which I placed there to help people notice a significant issue which needs to be improved, and expect me to see how this is obviously beneficial.  The Jade Knight 06:55, 29 March 2007 (UTC)
 * You're saying a lot about how Juan feels, but you removed the template, not him. Why don't you let Juan speak and act for himself instead of putting words into his mouth?  I also was not forcing him to do anything—having a merge tag does not require anyone to do anything.
 * You are also acting like Wikiversity pages "belong" to people. I was not aware that this was the position Wikiversity had adopted.  Could you please point me to the page of the relevant policy so I can educated myself more about it?  The Jade Knight 11:01, 30 March 2007 (UTC)
 * You're ignoring what I'm saying. Where have I said that it's unreasonable to have multiple pages with similar content?  My placement of the merge tag was mostly to provide a heads up to people that there is duplicate content around (which there is, no question).  It was not because I am (in any way) insistant that they be merged.  I am not objecting to Juan's objections.  I am objecting to your stepping in and taking the issue into your own hands, pretending like there's consensus (when there clearly isn't) when you have not contributed to discussion at all.  Can you please show me how Spanish: An Introduction is in a different pedagogically different to Spanish/Spanish One?
 * You have claimed several times that Juan has rejected the merge, and therefore it should be removed. One person is not a consensus.  The way you are presenting the issue makes it appear that you believe that, because he initially created the page, it belongs to him and his word goes.
 * As it is, there is currently absolutely no indicator on the page that there are multiple introductory Spanish courses floating around. When it had a merge tag, there was some indicator.  As it stands, the page is less helpful to new participants than it was before the merge tag was removed.  The Jade Knight 19:59, 30 March 2007 (UTC)


 * OK. When my colegues translate a disambiguation template I will upload it into both Spanish courses.--Juan 11:42, 31 March 2007 (UTC)


 * In what way are the participation lists not a duplication? In my opinion, the participation lists should have been merged.  The lessons probably should have, but if Juan didn't want to, I wasn't going to argue about that; however, a disambiguation page needed to be created.  As there is currently no template for that, the Merge template was a makeshift replacement.  I was not "misusing" the merge template: I placed it where I found a page duplicating the intention of another page which I personally felt ought to have been combined.  If you removed it thinking I had misused it, you were failing to assume good faith.  If you removed it thinking I had used it correctly and was acting in good faith, you were not bothering to find consensus.  Either way, your behavior, particularly for an administrator, was out of line.
 * I was not misusing templates, unless it was inappropriate to place a merge tag where there is duplicate content which I feel could be combined. IF it is not combined, it needs to be disambiguated.  Merging would be better (IMO), but if someone would rather disambig, that's ok.  But I don't know what right you feel you have to go in and take away the merge tag (which stated that there was a discussion on the issue of merging, which there indeed was, as you may have noticed if you bothered looking at the talk page) and not replace it with anything OR contribute to discussion.  The Jade Knight 05:17, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Anyway, this is not enought?--Juan 11:42, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

JSMath
Hello JW,

I was wondering about a more friendly interface for leaving mathmatically formated text on Wikipedia.

There is a package called JSMath that enables one to write LaTeX. The LaTeX is interpreted to show up as Mathematics fonts or formated images.

I have been interested in writing a mathematics problems database. This database would include the capabilities to:
 * Create Problems and solutions
 * Compile problems into HW, Worksheets, quizes, and exams
 * Set "Security" on problems and their answers
 * Allow many people to edit, modify, vary, and provide code for multiple types of problems and their answers

The question is: Is Wiki an organization that would want to include this kind of functionality into Wikiversity?

Thanks,

Joshua Jacobs
 * JSMath looks interesting (based on what I see at http://www.math.union.edu/~dpvc/jsmath/), but I'm not sure how it compares to http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Displaying_a_formula. I know there are some people at Wikiversity who are interested in JavaScript tools for Wikiversity. My advice is that you register a Wikiversity username and post some information about JSMath at Colloquium. --JWSchmidt 03:24, 27 March 2007 (UTC)