Wikibooks to offer free eTexts for education
By Robert Brumfield, Assistant Editor, eSchool News
November 2, 2005
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5932

The Wikimedia Foundation--the group known best for the open-source,  
freely licensed encyclopedia project Wikipedia, which invites users  
to write, edit, and expand upon encyclopedia entries to create a  
collaborative, free-to-use online information resource--has begun a  
similar initiative for textbooks.

If the effort catches on, it could have a profound impact on the for- 
profit textbook and online content markets for schools.

Wikibooks invites users to collaboratively write and edit freely  
licensed, online K-20 textbooks and related nonfiction, such as  
literary criticism, for all subjects. The project uses wiki web- 
publishing software, which permits users to read, edit, and write the  
eTextbooks themselves. Wikimedia describes the software as "a vast  
simplification of the process of creating HTML pages, and thus a ...  
very effective way to exchange information through a collaborative  
effort." The intent is that online communities of experts and novices  
will police the eTextbook content for readability, accuracy, and the  
latest advances in the field.

[ more at http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm? 
ArticleID=5932 ]

Links:

Wikibooks project
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page

Gesmer Updegrove LLP
http://www.gesmer.com

McGraw-Hill Companies
http://www.mcgraw-hill.com