Article: Becta Publications will no longer be available from October 22nd

[Dos_Box]

You can view the page at http://www.edugeek.net/content.php?r=209-Becta-Publications-will-no-longer-be-available-from-October

[FN-GM]

I heard that Edugeek was going to host the site as an archive. I assume this is not correct?

[Dos_Box]

No. We did offer, but apparently the Becta site will be 'parked' on a central govt server somewhere. TBH, it will largely be redundent after 3-4 years.

Some functions of Becta will be continued by a variety of DfES departments. Personally I doubt that spreading the various functions Becta did will be very effective, and judging by this request from Becta: About Becta - The future of Becta's activities - Becta they are still looking for organisations to help.

[GrumbleDook]

As mentioned previously, the Becta site (along with many others) will have a final snapshot saved to the national web archive The European Archive | UK Government Web Archive but some of the functionality of the site (eg the search tool) will not work.

 

Some documents will be worked on as part of the move of some of Becta's role into the Department for Education (DfE)

 

Some of the content will also be re-used by others who take over use of some the the Intellectual Property but this is one of the areas which is being looked at right now.

[CyberNerd]

What about the self-review framework?

https://selfreview.becta.org.uk/

We were told by LA that the site will remain usable. Clearly not if it is archived.

any ideas where is that going?

[GrumbleDook]

The SRF is being discussed at the moment about where it is going. For the time being I have told it will be usuable and that any information will move if and when it does.

 

For clarification ... the article might need the title changing.

From 22nd October you will not be able to order any more documents in hardcopy from Becta. The site, materials for download and other tools will remain until Becta is closed or materials are handed over to the DfE or other parties. Becta is not dead ... yet!

[TrevorGreenfield]

Knowing from my discussions with people in the sector both here and in Australia and Norway how much people rely on the Becta website for advice and guidance, I am very concerned that it will soon be very much harder for people to find what they want and worse, what they are looking for will not be available.

 

As Tony has said, some of what Becta was responsible for will be going to the DfE but decisions surounding what and when are being thought through. I'm happy for The FITS Foundation to host as much of this content as people feel they need regular access to. I just need input from the community to get an indication of what you think.

 

I've created a post on our site ** News Update ** | The FITS Foundation asking for comments. I've also created a new forum where people can post comments.

 

Please let me know what you all think about this.

 

Trevor Greenfield

Chief Executive

The FITS Foundation

[fathead]

Would anyone have a zip file knocking about with all the publications in? I know zip files can be dangerous things and I may be under estimating the file size??!!

 

I think I might have missed the boat on downloading them and I'm a newbie.

 

I assume they were free to download and this wouldn't infringe on copyright?

[GrumbleDook]

They are all still available on the National Archives site ... as for a zip file ... I have a partial download of files I have found that i want to keep a local copy of ... and mine is already past 7 gig.

 

Most documents and resources are free to download and use, all under the Open Government Licence ... the restrictions are mainly around video and digital images where permission has been given purely for specific projects and pieces of work. If there is any particular item you wish to re-use (and even edit and redistribute) you can contact the Dept of Education to double check.

 

I do know a few sites have pulled down some docs to stick them into a more searchable repository, so a search on the interweb for Becta archive should find you some of these.

[fathead]

and mine is already past 7 gig.

 

7 gig, eeek! I've just been on there now and started picking the best ones. Thanks for the advice, God only knows what will be ConDemned next.