There’s a new kid on the block in the education commons movement. It’s called SELF, a project dedicated to developing premium training and educational materials about Free Software and Open Standards.

“There is growing consensus on the idea that the lack of educational materials is one of the main causes that hold back the massive adoption of Free Software and Open Standards in many organisations, and specifically in educational institutions,” said project founder and coordinator, Wouter Tebbens.

SELF has launched a web-based platform that enthusiasts can use to both locate, and collaborate on building or translating educational materials around the topic of Open Standards and Free Software.

The SELF platform was officially launched on 5 September at events in the Netherlands, Sweden, Bulgaria, Argentina, Mexico and India, as well as most recently in Spain on 6 October. Based on an ‘early release’ policy that is often used in Free Software projects, these events saw the launch of a beta version of the SELF platform. Check out the beta version here and feel free to provide feedback to the development team.

Apart from collecting currently available learning materials, ensuring the openness of the content and maintaining high e-learning standards, building community around the project has also been of importance from the inception of the project. And its international flair is showing - SELF has partners in India and Argentina, and the team is constantly working on establishing connections with several organisations and individuals around the world.

“The involvement of these individuals and organisations is of paramount importance for SELF, said Wouter, “We aim to become the reference platform for the production and sharing of Learning Materials on Free Software and Open Standards, and to accomplish such an ambitious goal one cannot rely on the community of a single country or language. In the area of ICT, and specifically in Free Software, the most innovative and original initiatives do not necessarily come from the most developed regions of the world, and SELF wants to be wherever creative people are, helping them share their knowledge with the rest of the world.”

According to Wouter, the platform is especially aimed at serving the needs of educators, who can directly share this knowledge with their students, who in turn, can pass it on, resulting in a multiplier effect that will benefit the adoption of FOSS. But anyone who is interested in Free Software and Open Standards can participate in SELF, as there is a need to improve existing materials and collaborate on creating new materials. As Wouter points out: “Together we can make the content in SELF grow in quality and quantity and translate it into our own languages.”

Wouter recommended the following ways in which you can get involved in building SELF in its early stage of development:
- join one or more of the SELFish mailing lists,
- visit the beta platform and provide feedback to the development team,
- contribute materials and collaborate with the Learning Materials team by harvesting and translating existing materials,
- spread the word about SELF on blogs, forums, newspapers and among
your friends and colleagues.

And the final word from Wouter is to quote the SELF slogan, "Be SELFish, share your knowledge!"

Who would have thought that being SELFish would be more rewarding?

tags: Amsterdam Netherlands education open-source-software floss teaching collaboration learning-materials open-standards

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