User talk:Rogerhc

Wikigogy
Hi Roger - nice work of late! I'm curious about what you write on your userpage (that you hope Wikiversity to be an "alternative" to Wikigogy) - does this mean you no longer believe Wikigogy to be effective, or perhaps redundant with Wikiversity? Perhaps I've radically misunderstood, but I'd love to hear your perspective on both projects. As for Wikiversity finding a clear "navigation" - hear, hear! - we are still working out pretty fundamental things like "how do you facilitate learning on a wiki?", which is fascinating, but I agree that some sort of direction might be good to at least get us started in a semi-coordinated fashion. In an unrelated note - were you at either of the last two Wikimanias (Frankfurt, Boston)? It's just that you look quite familiar but I just can't place you.. Talk to you again, no doubt. Cormaggio beep 00:17, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I created Wikigogy on the momentum of ten years running an email list for English teachers in China. A wiki seems a logical evolution for that group. And if for China, why not for the World? So I put Wikigogy.org online but none of my 1000 list members are using Wikigogy. Maybe I was wrong that it is a logical evolution. I'd like to put a note up on Wikigogy's Main Page, "Don't bother, I'm sleepy. You want Wikiversity." :-) Sooner or later I probably will. My spurt of new Wikiveristy pages the other day was an attempt to offer a navigational starting point for folks interested in the topic of teaching English to speakers of other languages at Wikiversity. I don't teach any longer, myself. So what I have to offer is limited. I just want to help get the ball rolling for olks who are still teaching ESL and EFL. That's why I put Wikigogy up. But no one is using Wikigogy and few are using Wikiversity, either. Nope, haven't been to any Wikimanias but I may have put my photo up on the Boston Wikimania wiki as a virtual participant and I've been the primary editor so far on the OER Grapevine wiki where you may also have seen my picture. --Rogerhc 23:58, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the reply - I actually hadn't seen this reply above - though I would have done if I had added your user page to my watchlist. The etiquette is normally to answer someone on their talkpage (just as you did) - but if someone's "watching" your page, it doesn't matter. Anyway, this is fine. :-)
 * It's disappointing that none of the subscribers to that mailing list came onto Wikigogy - and that "no one" is using it now. Wikiversity is certainly small - and barely useful to anyone who really needs content NOW, but it's slowly growing, and will hopefully be somewhat useful by the end of the year or so. Your structure for ESL/EFL materials is certainly appreciated (it's what caught me eye), and hopefully someone will be along to add some content soon. (I taught English for a year myself, and might add something, though unfortunately I've nothing on my computer from that time.) It would be great if people from Wikigogy came here and/or if we could send word around to other English teachers' sites - free, high-quality English learning materials is one thing that the world is crying out for. The OER Grapevine is a great initiative (and I met Rob and Kevin at the last Wikimania), so it's great you're working on the wiki there. I'll be back in touch, and I'll be looking forward to seeing how we can begin to make progress between these various spaces. Thanks. Cormaggio beep 01:45, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

blocking open proxies
In order to prevent vandalism, Wikiversity is blocking thousands of proxies, see Open Proxies. --JWSchmidt 18:40, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

Great Fire Wall of China
Hi Roger, after you messaged I tried to ask on IRC of anyone that was in mainland China to try and test this for themselves - but without any joy. The article at Wikipedia - Blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China - does mention "Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites", but it gives scant attention to any specifics. However, according to Wikinews, the block is in place for all Wikimedia sites, unfortunately. However, if your friend wants to get access to any Wikimedia site, there are ways around it (like proxies), mentioned in the Wikipedia article. I'm not well up on this to know of the blocks on open proxies affects this - but I'm pretty sure that people can still happily edit from China - with a bit of technical ingenuity.. Cormaggio beep 00:56, 22 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Nod to that. I'll mail the foundation mailing list now and try to get a bit of Wikimedia solidarity on this - the block is clearly not simply a Wikipedia issue. And if there's a simple way for a common user to access Wikimedia sites, I'll be sure to let you know. Thanks for bringing this up! Cormaggio beep 12:11, 22 February 2007 (UTC)


 * This development, called "Psiphon", seems to be one easy solution to getting around the block. It'd be great to confirm whether or not it works to both access and edit Wikiversity from China... Cormaggio beep 12:58, 22 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Update: After talking to one of the lead Wikimedia developers, it seems like the solution is proxies (though whether the above works or not, and whether or not we can allow people to edit from them, we'll have to find out..) Basically, the Chinese firewall is complex - its IP filters are constantly updated by various parameters - and Wikimedia's IP range is limited. According to this developer, any attempts to get around the block will inevitably have to be "small-scale" and "distributed". It's frustrating - but we'll have to see what people in China can actually do about it. In the meantime, I'd advise you to talk to Roadrunner (his email is on his userpage) - he really knows quite a bit about this... Cormaggio beep 16:08, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

OLPC article
Thanks very much Roger - that's a really fascinating glimpse into something that I thought I knew quite a bit about. :-) Very stimulating - I've posted a response on my blog (permalink). Cormaggio beep 15:03, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

TESOL Grammar
Thanks for the category corrections. Hope I've been helpful. I've been busy lately and may only end up stepping in again if constantly reminded through IRC, so if I am neeeded please drop into #noisecontrolmedia and page me in irc.freenode.net. I'll mention this to my collaborator there Mike42. Talk to you again soon ChrisBradley 21:03, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Dashes
Thanks for fixing the Dashes on the ELang page. The Jade Knight 10:34, 28 June 2007 (UTC)