I totally agree. I am extremely disoriented regarding this project. I can't even figure out how they think makes sense to produce "a textbook" -- a textbook of what? For whom? Even a series of textbooks in some discipline needs some further narrowing-down... say, what is the approach, what is the audience, etc.
If they want to toss together a bunch of math definitions, they should be more honest that they are just creating a reference. Yet PlanetMath is already doing this, with the Free Encyclopedia of Mathematics.
In general a textbook requires a high degree of cohesion and singular vision; this may not be compatible with a commons-based project style at all.
Remember the recent findings of materials that change the handedness of em? I.e. left-handed instead of right-handed, negative dielectric constant. This URL talks about it:
"Similarly, Maxwell's equations further suggest that lenses that would normally disperse electromagnetic radiation would instead focus it within this composite material. This is because Snell's law, which describes the angle of refraction caused by the change in velocity of light and other waves through lenses, water and other types of ordinary material, is expected to be exactly opposite within this composite. "
Now I'm not physicist, but this sounds like exactly what would be needed.
Slashdot Mirror
If they want to toss together a bunch of math definitions, they should be more honest that they are just creating a reference. Yet PlanetMath is already doing this, with the Free Encyclopedia of Mathematics.
In general a textbook requires a high degree of cohesion and singular vision; this may not be compatible with a commons-based project style at all.
Remember the recent findings of materials that change the handedness of em? I.e. left-handed instead of right-handed, negative dielectric constant. This URL talks about it:
i brary/PR/2000/blucsd1.htm?terms=negative+d ielectric+constant
http://composite.about.com/industry/composite/l
Here's a key excerpt:
"Similarly, Maxwell's equations further suggest that lenses that would normally disperse electromagnetic radiation would instead focus it within this composite material. This is because Snell's law, which describes the angle of refraction caused by the change in velocity of light and other waves through lenses, water and other types of ordinary material, is expected to be exactly opposite within this composite. "
Now I'm not physicist, but this sounds like exactly what would be needed.
glasnost