I just wanted to share with all those that I am supporting (or preparing to support) pro-bono another step in my plan that could, maybe, become useful in the future to our common activities
as part of my activities, last Summer I started to study Dutch.
today I did the first exam, that I had fixed and prepared from June 15th- this is the announce “NLschap: the first step is done – A2”
the interesting part is that I am using my language learning as an excuse to “export” some of my other marketing/technology skills.
by showing an integrated step-by-step learning community, focused on following my Dutch learning journey
in reality, I will also deploy online, within the WordPress framework, some experimental technologies for language learning
this is to follow a pattern that I set in the past via communities such as
- ComshareNoMore.Com (first secure data storing and communities building, then Drupal and CCK),
- Theatralis.Net (first Drupal and CCK-based customer directory, and then migration to Joomla 1.5),
- Stage6Pack.Info (integrating Drupal and Joomla, while building a meta-community for administrators of new communities that were the result of the “stage6.divx.com diaspora”; I pulled the plug when I saw that the communities were firmly established, and that the cross-communication had ceased; as it is normal after the fall of every empire, and its replacement by independent states
)
GettingAroundTheWorld.net is the main “knowledge sharing hub” on new technologies and related social models
but I created (thank to free resources available online) multiple “entities” where I am just “seeding the corporate identity”
and then letting the idea owners make it evolve, with the level of technology savvy required by the specific needs and skills available
it could boil down to just sending text messages to twitter and e-mails, that are then propagated across the relevant entitities
I am using my travel through Dutch learning to stimulate others in doing the same for other languages
the purpose is: creating a grass-root basic language learning, using available free resources, as I am doing with the free support for basic online marketing and platform integration
as some of you know, from either having seen me while supporting startups, or having discussed with me their initiatives, I have some ideas about access to technology
I think that eventually not just e-mail would become a basic right, but also Internet access and information access will become a basic right
therefore, all the entry level services I think that will eventually need to be brought within the reach of anybody with just basic typing or text-messaging skills
including basic SEO and visibility
while all these activities could seem as a shoot in the foot for a consultant, will actually clear the market from all those “20 EUR a month SEO” offers that deliver nothing
or basic language training that use cheap university students with no formal training, and are the real reasons of most people dropping out from language training
language learning is one of the training sub-sectors where the long-term retention of acquired skills is the lowest
if you look around, there are in any industry plenty of “first level” activities that, instead of being outsourced, could be simply transferred into the hands of those needing them, by applying a typical industrial approach of “do it once, repeat it often”
so, do it one (open source, or for donations), using willing “knowledge consolidators” (i.e. people who read around, learn, and then described what they do, as in wikipedia)
and then, do not just publish the results, but convert it into something that allow others to reuse the model
if you want, that is the approach of my online publishing and software/idea development
if you are curious… visit my websites (accessible from my own frontpage, robertolofaro.com)
of course- if you have ideas, maybe inspired by one of my many websites or online bits-and-pieces, but have no technical skills, let’s talk
it might be that, in my case, it is just a matter of integrating what you want into a copy of the framework
that being the case, I would ask you only to link and acknowledge the source- but you are free to build your own content-based online site (no, I will not ask you penny- not even from advertisement; that’ s not my idea 
)
my purpose? I found wasteful and boring to repeat what I already did; it is much more interesting and useful to create something new, or use a framework to build new ideas and services
but that is, in the end, the OpenSource spirit 
more democratic than most of our other forms of cooperation
Tags: access, democracy, distribute, language, online, open, source, technology