How to Fix Wikibooks

1
How to Fix Wikibooks

• Carrie Burgener, Scott Fisher, Emil Ong, Colleen
  Whitney

2
This is Wikibooks
3
Introduction

• Started in 2003
• a collection of open content textbooks,
  manuals, and other texts, with supporting
  book-based texts that are being collaboratively
  written
• Wikibooks versus Wikipedia
• Several books versus one encyclopaedia
• Who seems to be contributing
• Hobbyists
• Free textbook projects (Africa, California)
• College students as part of a class project

4
The Dream

• Philosophy Open educational materials
• Pricing
• Up-to-date, real-world materials
• Global access to educational materials

5
The Reality

• Few books
• Little content
• Low quality

6
Licensing/IP

• Problems
• GFDL
• Vague
• Issue of invariant sections
• Attribution

• Potential solutions
• Upgrading GFDL
• Make licensing clearer to contributors
• Require attribution information before
  contributions

7
Process

• Problems
• Lack of contributors
• Lack of peer review
• Coordination
• No deadlines
• Potential defacers (students!)

• Potential solutions
• More flexibility around process model
• More structure for contributors
• Set release schedules, freeze versions
• Formalized peer review

8
Pedagogy

• Problems
• Lack of standards support
• Lack of exercises and other support materials
• Lack of defined audience

• Potential Solutions
• Shift focus to user needs
• Support standards
• Develop supporting materials
• Define audiences clearly
• Require these during development and make them
  part of the process

9
Conclusion

• Wikibooks is in an early stage
• More structure and focus is needed than in
  Wikipedia
• Best practices for contributors and technical
  support for those practices can make Wikibooks
  successful