This is a bit of expansion of my previous status update. I need to expand my “Educause revelation” a bit.
Educause is a nifty way to measure how far Sakai has come because it is an annual event and one where we give talks, hold meetings, etc. So I take the occasion of Educause to reflect on things to make sure that I remain grounded in what we are doing and why we are all here.
Monthly Archives: November 2006
Wither a Community Roadmap
I answered a Brian Jorgensen e-Mail proposing a Community Roadmap – he also has a Blog entry about it.
http://www.moosetrout.com/braindrain/sakai-community-roadmap
This is my answer. While I liked the basic idea – I very consistently am negative when something smacks of a “community driven management layer” – where some group appoints themselves to “be in charge” and drive all of Sakai to be “deterministic” as if we were a set of non-volunteer developers.
Sakai is a federation and we need to accept that – it is simply reality – all the fantasy of us as a company is not there (until we get to 2-3 million of revenue annually).
Once we have 2-3 million in revenue, then we will become a non-profit development company where the paying community has *every* right to have all kinds of checks, balances, determinism, and detailed reports.
But then, folks should look deeply into whether they want the community to *do* the work or delegate the work to a single organization (The Sakai Foundation).
To operate as a real federation where there is true respect for each organization that is in the federation – we must accept that each of those organizations (and individuals) will self-determine to some degree.
Freedom has a price – it is taking responsibility for ones *own* actions and respect for the actions of others.
Foundation Staffing Levels
In preparation for Atlanta, I am trying to characterize the level of effort that it takes to run Sakai right now and who was doing the work to make “Sakai happen”. A lot of these people work pretty quietly so I want to recognize their contributions.
It totals over 15 FTE this point, 3/4 of which is volunteer and 1/4 of which is paid.
I will revise this list and improve it so this is best thought of as a draft.
If I have missed something – please let me know. If you are an institution with a FTE commitment working on the Sakai Core, a Sakai Tool, or Sakai QA – please drop me a short describing the work and give me %FTE in a note so I can add these other contributions to my lists. Do not include the staff it takes to keep Sakai running at your institution – only those who are working on Sakai itself.
These percentages go up and down – I tried to estimate the contribution levels over the past year. Sorry if I over or underestimate these contributions – feel free to correct me.
Status Update
A status update is way overdue – perhaps after this week I can make a longer status update. But here is a short one.
Riding the Michigan Flyer
There is a new bus service from Lansing, MI to Detroit Metro Airport called Michigan Flyer (http://www.michiganflyer.com/). I am writing the Blog entry from the bus. It has wireless networking and costs $25.00 each way. This Blog entry details the trip. It reminds me of the bus from Oxford, UK to Heathrow (http://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/airline1.html).
First lesson – make reservations a day in advance. It has a human in the loop. But in a pinch you can pay the driver $25.00 cash and just hop on the bus. I made my reservations at the last minute and had to make a 4:30 AM phone call – everything worked out.
Report from Kuali Days
I attended the Kuali Days event (www.kuali.org) in Tucson, AZ this week. The event was hosted by the University of Arizona and it was a wonderful meeting location. The hotel is carved out of a mountain covered in Sagauro cactus. The view from the hotel onto the Tucson valley.
http://www.dr-chuck.com/images/2006/11/index.php?img=14-11-06_110743_01.jpg
Sweet Airports with Free Wifi
Aargh – lost track of time and missed my flight from Phoenix to San Fanncisco – thankfully there is a flight at 10:30 PM through Las Vegas that goes to SFO.
Phoenix Has free Wifi
Las Vegas has Free Wifi
Cool trip. Wated a few hours missing a flight but was a good voyage to discover free WiFi spots!!
Football Scenario – OSU and UM
This is what I think would be really cool. This weekend UM wins over OSU but it is a close game and many feel that OSU was the better team.
At some level the only logical ranking the following week would be
UM #1 and OSU #2
Then UM and OSU would meet *again* for the national championship!
This would make up for the times that the big 10 does not make the national championship because other conferences are easier.
An ODE to a wireless ISP – www.kpn.nl
Some day they will tell tall tales of how wonderful the KPN.NL wireless ISP is.
Someday when all wireless ISP vendors have ceased to be stupid, we will look back and see that KPN was the first to break ranks and actually provide decent service! Service that is worth what you pay for it.
Here are a few things about KPN that are unique:
– You can buy a weekly pass for $25 Euros
– It worked at my hotel, all NL train stations and Schipol Airport – I used it 10 times
– They have a real human tech support – I called and got my password reset
Bravo!
End of a Long Week in the Netherlands
This was a action packed week. An IMS Meeting, learning a whole bunch about IMS Learning Design (IMS LD), meeting with Rob Koper and his technical team (H. Martens and H Vogten). My head is crammed with new information.
I am still jetlagged from coming back from Australia – even though I spent 2.5 days in the US – it still feels like I am in Australia.
Here is a cool fact – the wireless provider www.kpn.nl that I used in the hotel also is the wireless provider in train stations. And they give out weekly accounts. Tres cool.
Now it is off to Amsterdam by train and then home tomorrow.