I was deeply honored to be named a 2010 Sakai Fellow—mostly because fellowship bestows a coveted black “ninja” sakaiger (pictured)—but also because I read my fellowship as evidence that the Sakai community recognizes and values all forms of contribution to our collaborative work.
Three out of 2010’s six Sakai fellows have made their substantial contributions primarily in areas of actual technology development: Oxford‘s Matthew Buckett, Cape Town‘s David Horwitz, and Michigan‘s Gonzalo Silverio. I can’t stress enough the high value and significance of these three fellows’ work.
The other three 2010 Sakai fellows—Indiana‘s David Goodrum, Michigan‘s Steve Lonn, and myself—have made our primary contributions in what might seem “softer” areas of Sakai: coordination, communication, thought-work, and research. The very tangible outcomes of David’s leadership in the formulation of the Sakai Learning Capabilities and Steve’s continued focus on the invaluable research of Sakai’s Multi-Institutional Survey Initiative are far better evidence than any of my own contributions of the value of work outside the Sakai codebase.
Unlike others who suggest a strong difference between what might be called the “write” and “read” communities within Sakai, I see this year’s Sakai fellowships as testimony to my view that such a dichotomy is not so useful. Instead I see read/write activities in open communities as a continuum that generates a virtuous circle of outcomes: new reading generating new writing and vice versa, until the distinction between reading and writing becomes robustly fuzzy.
All of us in the Sakai community are readers and writers at different times, of different texts, inspiring and supporting our whole collaborative endeavor.
Thank you Sakai!