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dreamweaverAbout WatchKnow
WatchKnow.org Press Release
The Internet is full of useful information, but it's disorganized and often unreliable. Despite its problems, the potential of the Internet for education is especially huge. Imagine tapping into that potential.
Imagine collecting all the best free educational videos made for children, and making them findable and watchable on one website. Then imagine creating many, many more such videos.
Just think: millions of great short videos, and other watchable media, explaining every topic taught in schools, in every major language on Earth.
Finally, imagine them all deeply and usefully categorized according to subject, education level, and placed in the order in which topics are typically taught.
WatchKnow—as in, "You watch, you know"—has started building this resource.
WatchKnow is both a resource for users and also a non-profit, online community that encourages everyone to collect, create, and share free, innovative, educational videos.
WatchKnow is now officially launched, after being developed for over a year. Whether you’re a student, a parent, a teacher, or just someone who cares about the education of children, you can now use our service and get involved to make it even better. Please sign up! (But did you know that you can add new videos to our system without signing up? They'll have to be approved first.)
There is no better online cause than the future of our children. And just imagine how fantastic it would be if there were a resource online we could go to, or send our kids to, that would explain every topic they study in school instantly and reliably. Many of the resources needed for such a site already exist online; they just need to be organized.
History
In 2007 and 2008, a Memphis-area philanthropist began conversations with his local network, and especially the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi and its president, Tom Pittman. Eventually they tapped Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger to plan a new, non-profit educational video service. Sanger became Executive Director of the project, directing the development of the new system.
In fall of 2008, Phase 1 of the coding of the project was done, and there was a quiet “beta launch.” This version of the system underwent a very stringent evaluation, and much was learned from it. Rather than launch what was only a rough draft, the partners decided to defer launch until after Phase 2 was finished.
In summer and fall of 2009, the partnership of NURD Inc. (led by Jason Pijut) and Business Edge (led by Brandon Spilove) came on board and finished Phase 2, completely revamping the system. They created, to specification, a drag-and-drop categorization tool, a bookmarklet allowing users to add videos instantly, an edit queue, and a variety of user tools. They also did a redesign of the site.
Also in mid-2009, many teachers, and some librarians, were hired to add videos and edit the Directory. Their work in particular—adding over 10,000 videos—has led to some very positive early “buzz” in the blogosphere and on Twitter from teachers and ed tech people.
We hope that students, parents, teachers, librarians, and everyone interested in the education of children will use and help further build this system. While we have launched with thousands of videos in thousands of categories, there are many more out there to be found.
WatchKnow.org Press Release
The Internet is full of useful information, but it's disorganized and often unreliable. Despite its problems, the potential of the Internet for education is especially huge. Imagine tapping into that potential.
Imagine collecting all the best free educational videos made for children, and making them findable and watchable on one website. Then imagine creating many, many more such videos.
Just think: millions of great short videos, and other watchable media, explaining every topic taught in schools, in every major language on Earth.
Finally, imagine them all deeply and usefully categorized according to subject, education level, and placed in the order in which topics are typically taught.
WatchKnow—as in, "You watch, you know"—has started building this resource.
WatchKnow is both a resource for users and also a non-profit, online community that encourages everyone to collect, create, and share free, innovative, educational videos.
WatchKnow is now officially launched, after being developed for over a year. Whether you’re a student, a parent, a teacher, or just someone who cares about the education of children, you can now use our service and get involved to make it even better. Please sign up! (But did you know that you can add new videos to our system without signing up? They'll have to be approved first.)
There is no better online cause than the future of our children. And just imagine how fantastic it would be if there were a resource online we could go to, or send our kids to, that would explain every topic they study in school instantly and reliably. Many of the resources needed for such a site already exist online; they just need to be organized.
History
In 2007 and 2008, a Memphis-area philanthropist began conversations with his local network, and especially the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi and its president, Tom Pittman. Eventually they tapped Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger to plan a new, non-profit educational video service. Sanger became Executive Director of the project, directing the development of the new system.
In fall of 2008, Phase 1 of the coding of the project was done, and there was a quiet “beta launch.” This version of the system underwent a very stringent evaluation, and much was learned from it. Rather than launch what was only a rough draft, the partners decided to defer launch until after Phase 2 was finished.
In summer and fall of 2009, the partnership of NURD Inc. (led by Jason Pijut) and Business Edge (led by Brandon Spilove) came on board and finished Phase 2, completely revamping the system. They created, to specification, a drag-and-drop categorization tool, a bookmarklet allowing users to add videos instantly, an edit queue, and a variety of user tools. They also did a redesign of the site.
Also in mid-2009, many teachers, and some librarians, were hired to add videos and edit the Directory. Their work in particular—adding over 10,000 videos—has led to some very positive early “buzz” in the blogosphere and on Twitter from teachers and ed tech people.
We hope that students, parents, teachers, librarians, and everyone interested in the education of children will use and help further build this system. While we have launched with thousands of videos in thousands of categories, there are many more out there to be found.
