Inquiry Letter to Nuffield Foundation

Dear Kim:

I would like to introduce myself as a member of the board of directors of PlanetMath.org, Ltd, a US-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation that has existed since the early 2000s.

I am physically based near London, having recently completed a PhD at The Open University. My thesis focused on developing new models for peer-supported online learning, with PlanetMath as the primary case study. I'm now a full time researcher in the Computing Department at Goldsmiths College, working on an FP7 project in the emerging field of computational creativity.

Between 2011 and 2014, I collaborated with a research group in Germany to modernise PlanetMath's software. We have many additional "next steps" outlined for PlanetMath that would make use of our unique knowledge base and maths-focused platform, but we currently lack a budget to action them.

Nevertheless, I believe that with adequate support, PlanetMath can play a role in transforming mathematics education for the better.

I should emphasise that quite apart from the effort we've invested in PlanetMath over the years, there are a number of other open online sites with wonderful mathematics resources, including popular sites like Wikipedia, MathOverflow and math.stackexchange.com, ArXiv, and Github. Some focus on basic education, like Khan Academy and the newly launched Citizen Maths here in the UK; others focus on more advanced topics, where there is less integrated support. Much of this content -- text, videos, diagrams -- is available under open licences that are designed to facilitate reuse.

What's missing is a robust initiative focused on connecting users and mathematical content from around the web, and helping people remix all of this great material into high-quality learning resources.

What we envision as the next major step beyond today's textbooks, electronic worksheets, online encyclopedias, and Q&A forums is an enriched reference page for each mathematical topic that assembles study guides, exercises, applications and active discussions. Building on our existing knowledge base, we will be able to create learning pathways that help guide the reader from basic understanding to an appreciation of contemporary research.

On the organizational side, we plan to develop a consortium of partner institutions who can offer long-term support for this service. A similar model has been applied at arXiv.org to maintain their research preprint archive. Worldwide, there are many organizations actively interested in high-quality open educational resources for mathematics. One useful precedent is provided by the Sesamath project, which produces free mathematics textbooks that were used by 20% of French schools in 2010.

Our initial scope is a 6-month project that would deliver a updated version of the PlanetMath software system compliant with a specification focused these goals described above. I asked the well-reputed Drupal development company, BrightLemon, based in London, for a costing estimate. After a close look at outstanding technical issues and a series of discussions they have given me an estimated cost of £81215.

I would be able to supervise this effort on a part-time, pro bono basis. A parallel branch of the software is receiving funding through the brand new OpenDreamKit project as part of Horizon 2020, and there are likely to be synergies with that effort.

The targeted advance I am proposing could come from Nuffield funding is to integrate available free/open mathematical material into one unified learning resource that offers peer produced content at a professional standard.

BrightLemon's director, Leon Tong, was previously involved with the UK government's Year of Maths and has good connections within the British mathematics community who will likely be able to assist with project oversight, as well as provide additional content from earlier projects that needs a new home.

At the level of organisational infrastructure, it may make sense to start a new UK-based not-for-profit as a home for this work. Alternatively, PlanetMath.org, Ltd. has an existing organisational structure, in the US. Finally, Mr Tong may also be able to provide organisational and project management structure here in the UK through a software-related not-for-profit that he runs.

If you agree that PlanetMath could potentially be a good match for Nuffield funding, I wonder if we could arrange to meet and discuss the options together?

With regards,

Joe Corneli, PhD