Wikiversity:Wikiversity the Movie/Script outline

Feel free to make suggestions and discuss ideas on the discussion page.

Outline

Free Culture Manifesto.

Teaser, Jimmy Wales video of Jimmy Wales talk: "Free the Curriculum".

---

History of Wikiversity.

A. start with a history of educational technology.

1. writing
2. mechanically printed books
3. computers
4. internet
5. wiki

1. Ward Cunningham
2. Wikipedia
3. Wikibooks
4. Wikiversity inside Wikibooks; origin of Wikiversity schools, 19 May 2004
5. The two Wikiversity project proposals; Jimbo's "things that should be free"
6. Wikiversity launch, August 2006 (use audio of Jimbo making the announcement)
7. Six month beta period, original research and exclusions from NPOV.

B. Content creation

1. Learn by doing
2. Collaborative learning groups and learning projects.
3. "wikiprojects"; content development projects, pages in the "School:" and "Topic:" namespaces (podcast)

C. Featured content

each Wikiversity School should nominate examples and the best will be described in the movie.

Suggest ideas for movie content

The movie might have several short live-action video sequences. I think that the live action scene should be at the part b. This way we have the actor to explain everything while being on the same web page that the actor is explaining.

The power of printing

All Saints Church in Wittenberg

• <teaser: an introductory analogy between the revolution caused by printing and the "Web 2.0 revolution".>

October 31, 1517
Martin Luther is shown gathering up several documents and then moving through the streets of Wittenberg around All Saints Church.

Map of the Holy Roman Empire in 1512

(voice-over) In the year 313, the emperors of the eastern and western Roman Empires, Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus and Flavius Galerius Valerius Licinianus Licinius, jointly declared that Christians could practice their religion without persecution. One thousand years later, the Roman Catholic Church exerted a strong influence in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.

Martin Luther, after 10 years in the priesthood, wrote down a set of questions that challenged the legitimacy of certain religious practices. With the aid of printing, Luther's challenge to the Roman Catholic Church spread rapidly and led to the fragmentation of Papal authority and the creation of new Christian denominations. Add some more about the impact of printing.....cheap books

January 15, 2001
Show Jimbo and the activation of the Wikipedia website then changing versions of a particular Wikipedia page through time.
Show a graph of Wikipedia web traffic. Illustrate: Wikipedia (free encyclopedia) --> Wikibooks (free textbooks) --> Wikiversity (free education)

(voice-over) briefly describe collaborative editing using wiki technology
state "Imagine a world in which every single person is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing. And we need your help."

Another possible scene: "No courses"

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees ruled-out conventional courses for Wikiversity.

<Based on The Pitch, an episode of the Seinfeld television show. This scene should probably be done with live actors made to looks like Seinfeld characters. This version (Part 2, below) is nearly a copyright violation, but I'll label it as "fan fiction" and add disclaimers>

Part 1 The club

Jerry does a Stand-up comedy routine with jokes about education. Jimbo (seriously balding, in the role of WMF New Projects Developer) is seen in the audience of the small comedy club. After the act, Jimbo approaches Jerry and says that the WMF would like Jerry to do an education-oriented wiki project.

Part 2 The Apartment

Setting: big city apartment. Jerry and George brain-storming for how to set up an education-oriented wiki. Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and George are characters of the Seinfeld show. They are used here with no intent for profit or confusion with the actual Seinfeld show, just to illustrate a funny approach talking about Wikiversity through respectful imitation of great comedic technique.

GEORGE: WMF wants you to do a project?

JERRY: They want an education project. I have the name, Wikiversity, but I don't have any ideas for the project.

GEORGE: Come on, Wikiversity? What kind of a name is that? Look at all these silly names, Wikipedia, Wikibooks, come on! At least use a real name!

JERRY: Well, I already ran the name past Jimbo at WMF and he's happy with the name.

GEORGE: What? These people are wikinuts!

JERRY: George, I don't have time for this. The name is a done deal. What I need is a way to pitch the project.

GEORGE: Hey, if they like "wikiversity" how hard can this be? Here's an idea. Start with a course on computers. There are millions of computer nerds on the internet who will go to Wikiversity and set up a course about computers.

JERRY: Mmmm, I don't know. Computer nerds play games, they don't build online courses.

GEORGE: No, nerds are branching out. Look at Bill Gates. Getting married? Curing AIDS? Computer geeks can do anything, and they have cache.

JERRY: No they don't, they used to have cache, last year. Then the new World of Warcraft level 60 domain opened and the computer geeks have not been seen since.

GEORGE: Oh yeah, like you know any geeks.

JERRY: Oh like you do.

KRAMER enters.

KRAMER: Hey, how's the wiki project coming along, Jerry?

JERRY: We're working on it.

<KRAMER takes a bottle out of the refrigerator and tries to open it. Not able to open the bottle, he keeps trying increasingly ridiculous methods to open the bottle while JERRY and GEORGE continue to talk to each other .... they go through several increasingly silly ideas about how to run conventional courses in wiki format, getting increasingly frustrated at not finding a practical way to make it happen. Finally Kramer, trying to open the bottle by forcing it into a corner, twists mightily and crashes to the floor. JERRY and GEORGE finally notice that KRAMER has a problem and come to KRAMER's aid.>

JERRY: Why are you making so much noise? We're trying to get some work done.

GEORGE picks up the bottle off of the floor.

GEORGE: Hey this is one of those new gamma-ray irradiated juice drinks.

JERRY: And that's all I'm going to drink from now on. (JERRY takes the bottle from GEORGE, and looks at the label) Kryptonium Berry Drink, guaranteed 100% nuked-to-death microbes and hermetically sealed.

KRAMER finally struggles to his feet.

KRAMER: But how do you open these new-fangled bottles?

<they read the technical jargon-filled instructions and then try to figure out how to open the bottle. George remembers that ELAINE mentioned knowing the inventor of a new-fangled bottle opener. They end up going online to contact ELAINE.>

JERRY: Hey! Elaine is online!

ELAINE: (video chat) Hi guys, what's up?

<Jerry explains the problem with opening the bottle. After some disparaging remarks, Elaine suggests they use Wikipedia to look up how to do it. Jerry surfs to Wikipedia and the Kryptonium Juice Drinks article.>

JERRY: Hey, Wikipedia does not list this Berry flavor. I'll add it to the list. (he types)

ELAINE: Did you try googling it?

<Jerry finally finds the solution by searching the internet, they open the bottle and Jerry adds the trick for opening the bottle to the Kryptonium Juice Drinks article of Wikipedia.>

GEORGE: You know, Jerry, this should be the wiki project. This is the education project.

JERRY: What?

GEORGE: This. Some people talking and figuring things out.

JERRY: (dismissing) Yeah, right.

GEORGE: I'm really serious. I think that's a good idea.

JERRY: Just talking?

GEORGE: Well, its wiki, so its people editing webpages together, not really talking.

JERRY: Well what's the whole wiki project about? Where are the courses?

GEORGE: There are no courses.

JERRY: No courses?

GEORGE: No. Forget about courses.

JERRY: You've got to have courses, it’s an education project.

GEORGE: Who says you gotta have courses? Its like, Wikipedia is a project where you make an encyclopedia. That could be a learning project. You just do learning projects.

JERRY: And who would do these learning projects? Who are the project participants?

GEORGE: Anyone could be a participant.

JERRY: Computer geeks?

GEORGE: Yeah. Just do a learning project where the computer geeks program a new video game.

JERRY: So, on the wiki, there's a learning project called "make a video game"?

GEORGE: Yeah. There's something wrong with that? It’s a project in the computer science department of Wikiversity. Computer geeks would collaborate to make a video game and in doing that project they learn about computers.

JERRY: And what else is at this wiki?

GEORGE: Elaine could do a help desk. She knows how to find out everything. Wiki participants will have a problem and they go to a page called "Ask Elaine". The wiki could even have chat channels for quick questions.

JERRY: Ask what? You mean like homework questions?

KRAMER: Oh, baby, Wikiversity, the WMF project that will do your homework!

GEORGE: The wiki does not do your homework, but the wiki community points you to what you need to do your homework.

JERRY: So, Wikiversity has geeks making computer games and chat channels and no courses?

GEORGE: Absolutely. No courses. Do you want people to be bored?

JERRY: So you're saying, I go in to WMF, and tell them I got this idea for an educational wiki project without courses.

GEORGE: We go into WMF.

JERRY: "We"? Since when are you a website developer?

GEORGE: (Scoffs) Website developer. We're talking about a wiki.

JERRY: You want to pitch this crazy idea to WMF?

GEORGE: Yeah. I think we really go something here.

JERRY: What do we got?

GEORGE: An idea.

JERRY: What idea?

GEORGE: An idea for Wikiversity.

JERRY: I still don't know what the idea is.

GEORGE: It's about not having courses.

JERRY: Right.

GEORGE: Everybody else does courses, Wikiversity will do learning projects.

JERRY: So, we go into WMF, we tell them we've got an idea for their great new educational wiki and it has no courses.

GEORGE: Exactly.

JERRY: They say, "What's Wikiversity about?" I say, "No courses."

GEORGE: There you go.

(A moment passes)

JERRY: (Nodding) I think you may have something there.

Part 3 WMF

<Jerry and George in the WMF reception area, waiting>

JERRY: What's the matter?

GEORGE: (Nervous) Nothing.

JERRY: You sure? You look nervous.

GEORGE: No, I'm fine. I'm good. I'm very good.

JERRY: What, are you nervous?

GEORGE: No, not nervous. I'm good, very good. (A beat, then he snaps) I can't do this! Can't do this!

JERRY: What?

GEORGE: I can't do this! I can't do it. I have tried. I'm here. It's impossible.

JERRY: This was your idea!

GEORGE: What idea? I just said something. I didn't know you were going to listen to me.

JERRY: Dont' worry about it. They're just wiki geeks.

GEORGE: They're men with no jobs, Jerry! They wear sweat pants and tee-shirts. They know Mediawiki markup, they have registered usernames and, and multiple sockpuppets.

JERRY: I told you not to come.

RECEPTIONIST: They're ready for you.

JERRY gulps and walks in with GEORGE. Inside is a large board table with men sitting in suits at it.

JERRY leans over and whispers to GEORGE.

JERRY: They're not wearing sweat pants and tee-shirts.

JIMBO WALES: Mr. Sanger, Mr. Flailes take a seat.

GEORGE: Nice leather jacket Mr. Wales, sir.

GEORGE gulps and smiles awkwardly

Adaptation of the "no courses"

Please note that this is only an adaption of the above idea. I decided to do this because that one seemed to be copy-and-pasted. I’ve changed the names, changed some lines and added an extra scene.

Scene 1: The school

• Set: School, IT classroom
• Characters: Jerry, High school class

<Camera is panning in on a school, going through the window and ending up in a IT classroom. Jerry is teaching a high school class IT/web design. The bell goes and Jerry stands up>

JERRY: Right class. Remember those HTML tags for next week’s lesson. Alright? Class dismissed.

<The class walk out of the room until there’s only a little boy left.>

JERRY: Do you have a question Alvin?

ALVIN: Uhhh… Mr Sanger, sir. Why are we learning HTML?

JERRY: Well, what else can you use to make websites?

ALVIN: We could use wiki markup.

JERRY: Yeah, maybe we’ll do that next year. Bye Alvin. Have a good evening.

ALVIN: Bye Mr. Sanger.

<ALVIN walks out of the room. JERRY packs his stuff into a briefcase and walks out of building and gets into car.>

Scene 2: The road/titles

<JERRY is driving along the road. In the background we hear the theme music and see the opening credits.>

Scene 3: The club

JERRY does a Stand-up comedy routine with jokes about education and university on the internet. Jimbo (seriously balding, in the role of WMF New Projects Developer) is seen in the audience of the small comedy club. After the act, Jimbo approaches Jerry and says that the WMF would like Jerry to do an education-oriented wiki project.

Scene 4: The Apartment

• Set: Big city apartment
• Characters: Jerry, George, Kramer, Elaine (on webcam)

GEORGE: Wikimedia wants you to do a project?

JERRY: Yeah, they want an education project. I want to call it Wikiversity but I don’t actually know what to put in it.

GEORGE: That’s useful. It always helps to have an idea of what you’re going to do; content is king. Anyway, Wikiversity? What sort of a name is that?

JERRY: Well, I already ran the name past this Jimbo guy at Wikimedia and he's happy with the name.

GEORGE: What? These people are nerds! They love the word ‘wiki’! they’re wikinuts!

JERRY: George, I don't have time for this. The name is a done deal. What I need is a way to pitch the project.

GEORGE: Hey, if they like "wikiversity" how hard can this be? Here's an idea. Start with a course on computers. There are millions of computer nerds on the internet who will go to Wikiversity and set up a course about computers.

JERRY: Mmmm, I don't know. Computer nerds play games, they don't build online courses.

GEORGE: No, nerds are branching out. Look at Bill Gates. Getting married? Curing AIDS? Computer geeks can do anything, and they have caché.

JERRY: No they don't, they used to have caché, last year. Then the new World of Warcraft level 60 domain opened and the computer geeks have not been seen outdoors since.

GEORGE: Oh yeah, like you know any geeks.

JERRY: Oh like you do.

KRAMER enters.

KRAMER: Hey, how's the wiki project coming along, Jerry?

JERRY: We're working on it.

<JERRY grimaces at GEORGE and cuts his hand across his neck in a ‘keep quiet’ gesture.>

<KRAMER takes a bottle out of the refrigerator and tries to open it. Not able to open the bottle, he keeps trying increasingly ridiculous methods to open the bottle while JERRY and GEORGE continue to talk to each other... they go through several increasingly silly ideas about how to run conventional courses in wiki format, getting increasingly frustrated at not finding a practical way to make it happen. Finally Kramer, trying to open the bottle by forcing it into a corner, twists mightily and crashes to the floor. JERRY and GEORGE finally notice that KRAMER has a problem and come to KRAMER's aid.>

JERRY: Why are you making so much noise? We're trying to get some work done.

<GEORGE picks up the bottle off of the floor.>

GEORGE: Hey this is one of those new gamma-ray irradiated juice drinks.

JERRY: And that's all I'm going to drink from now on.

<JERRY takes the bottle from GEORGE, and looks at the label>

JERRY: Kryptonium Berry Drink, guaranteed 100% nuked-to-death microbes and hermetically sealed.

<KRAMER finally struggles to his feet.>

KRAMER: But how do you open these new-fangled bottles?

<They read the technical jargon-filled instructions and then try to figure out how to open the bottle. George remembers that ELAINE mentioned knowing the inventor of a new-fangled bottle opener. They end up going online to contact ELAINE.>

JERRY: Hey! Elaine is online!

ELAINE: (video chat) Hi guys, what's up?

<Jerry explains the problem with opening the bottle. After some disparaging remarks, Elaine suggests they use Wikipedia to look up how to do it. Jerry surfs to Wikipedia and the Kryptonium Juice Drinks article.>

JERRY: Hey, Wikipedia doesn’t list this Berry flavor. I'll add it to the list.

<JERRY types on keyboard.>

ELAINE: Did you try googling it?

<Jerry finally finds the solution by searching the internet, they open the bottle and Jerry adds the trick for opening the bottle to the Kryptonium Juice Drinks article of Wikipedia.>

GEORGE: You know, Jerry, this should be the wiki project. This is the education project.

JERRY: What?

GEORGE: This: some people talking and figuring things out.

JERRY: (dismissing) Yeah, right.

GEORGE: I'm really serious. I think that's a good idea.

JERRY: Just… talking?

GEORGE: Well, it’s a wiki, so its people editing web pages together, not really talking.

JERRY: Well what's the whole wiki project about? Where are the courses?

GEORGE: There are no courses.

JERRY: No courses?

GEORGE: No. Forget about courses.

JERRY: You've got to have courses; it’s an education project.

GEORGE: Who says you gotta have courses? Its like, Wikipedia is a project where you make an encyclopedia. That could be a learning project. You just do learning projects.

JERRY: And who would do these learning projects? Who’s be a member of them?

GEORGE: Anyone could be a member.

JERRY: Think about it. It’s only gonna be nerdy computer geeks with pens sticking out of their top pockets!

GEORGE: Yeah. Just do a learning project where the computer geeks program a new video game.

JERRY: So, on the wiki, there's a learning project called "make a video game"?

GEORGE: Yeah. There's something wrong with that? It’s a project in the computer science department of Wikiversity. These computer geeks would collaborate to make a video game and in doing that project they learn about computers.

JERRY: And what else is at this wiki?

GEORGE: Elaine could do a help desk. She knows how to find out everything. Wiki participants will have a problem and they go to a page called "Ask Elaine". The wiki could even have chat channels for quick questions.

JERRY: Ask what? You mean like homework questions?

KRAMER: Oh, baby, Wikiversity, the Wikimedia project that will do your homework!

GEORGE: The wiki doesn’t do your homework, but the wiki community points you to what you need to do your homework.

JERRY: So, Wikiversity has geeks making computer games and chat channels and no courses?

GEORGE: Absolutely. No courses. Do you want people to be bored?

JERRY: So you're saying, I go in to Wikimedia, and tell them I’ve got this idea for an educational wiki project without courses.

GEORGE: We go into Wikimedia.

JERRY: "We"? Since when are you a website developer? Since when did you know everything about computers?

GEORGE: (Scoffs) Website developer? We're talking about a wiki here.

JERRY: You want to pitch this crazy idea to Wikimedia?

GEORGE: Yeah. I think we really got something here.

JERRY: Which is?

GEORGE: An idea.

JERRY: What idea?

GEORGE: An idea for Wikiversity.

JERRY: I still don't know what the idea is.

GEORGE: It's about not having courses.

JERRY: Right.

GEORGE: Everybody else does courses, Wikiversity will do learning projects.

JERRY: So, we go into Wikimedia, we tell them we've got an idea for their great new educational wiki and it has no courses.

GEORGE: Exactly.

JERRY: They say, "What's Wikiversity about?" I say, "No courses."

GEORGE: There you go.

<A moment passes>

JERRY: <Nodding> I think you may have something there.

Part 3 WMF

<Jerry and George in the Wikimedia reception area, waiting>

JERRY: What's the matter?

GEORGE: (Nervous) Nothing. I’m fine.

JERRY:You sure? You look real nervous.

GEORGE: No, I'm fine. I'm good. I'm very good. I’m more good than normal?.

JERRY: Are you sure you’re not nervous?

GEORGE: No, I’m not nervous. I'm good, very good. I’m fine. <George waits a moment then snaps.> I can’t do this! Get me out of here!

JERRY: What?

GEORGE: I can't do this! I can't do it. I’m gonna try and I’m gonna fail. I’m going to embarrass myself!

JERRY: This was your idea!

GEORGE: What idea? I just said something. I didn't know you were going to listen to me.

JERRY: Don’t worry about it. They're just wiki geeks.

GEORGE: They're men with no jobs, Jerry! They wear sweat pants and tee-shirts. They know Mediawiki markup, they have registered usernames and, and multicolored signatures!

JERRY: I told you not to come.

RECEPTIONIST: They're ready for you.

JERRY gulps and walks in with GEORGE. Inside is a large board table with men sitting in suits at it.

JERRY leans over and whispers to GEORGE.

JERRY: They're not wearing sweat pants and tee-shirts.

JIMBO WALES: Mr. Sanger, Mr. Flailes take a seat.

GEORGE: Nice leather jacket Mr. Wales, sir.

GEORGE gulps and smiles awkwardly

JIMBO WALES: So, Jerry, what have you come up with since we met last?