Platoniq interviews Gregor Gimmy, from Sclipo.com (1)


1. What are the origins of SCLIPO? When did it start? What were the main goals?

Sclipo started officially in Jan 2007. I launched a prototype in Nov 2006, which got great feedback from the internet community.

I had the idea, built the first prototype and wrote the business plan. I have been involved over many years in internet and education / knowledge management. E.g., I founded a web-company in San Francisco in 1999 which helped Biotech researchers share knowledge. With the emergence of internet video, I saw that knowledge exchange via web will change the way we learn. It will not substitute today's "physical, off-line" learning, but substantially enrich the overall learning experience.

Main goal (or vision) is to enable to "Transform online learning into a irreplaceable learning environment by leveraging web-based rich media technology, social network technology and 2.0 culture".


2. What needs does it address, what sort of problems does it try to solve?

Sclipo helps solve 3 problems of informal, web-based education:
 
 
This benefits students and teachers. Say you live in London and want a personal class from the flamenco guitar guru in Sevilla. Traveling from London to Sevilla is much more expensive than paying 50 Eu per hour over webcam. The guitar teacher will find new students way beyond his local Sevilla network.


3. Often, day to day practice and community use can shift or reshape the goals and needs. How has this everyday praxis changed the project since its kickoff?

Yes. For example, we started with just "video" as the medium to share knowledge. Then we added "webcam", as it allows for a more personalized knowledge transfer. Hence, we are expanding from pure "video" to a "multimedia educational platform".


4. Is there a specific timeline planned for your project? Future plans?

Nope. Sclipo is a long term project. The product will evolve a lot over the next years, in accordance with user-needs and technology evolution. For example, today people are not used to be taught online (research yes, but not so much teaching). Also, broadband technology is still not sufficient to enable good quality voice and video for live teaching.

By 2012, we believe users and technology will have evolved significantly. By then, we like people to say this about Sclipo: ".... why be restricted to only learning from and with people in a 5 km radius, if I can learn from the comfort of our home with the best teachers at Sclipo, while socializing with people worldwide with whom share the same learning interests".


5. How many people are involved in your organization?

We are now 10 full-time employees.


6. How is setting up sclipo in barcelona and not somewhere else important in your developement?

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