[Announcements] Community Naming Process for Jasig-Sakai Merged Organization

[Josh Baron]

Community Naming Process for Merged Organization

What’s in a name? We want you to be involved! (and you and your team could 
win an iPod Nano!)

Jasig and Sakai are coming together to create a new organization that will 
support open source projects and practices in higher education. The new 
organisation will have a strong emphasis on existing software communities, 
and existing project brands. Names such as Sakai and uPortal won’t go 
away, they will remain an essential element of reaching constituents old 
and new. We are iteratively developing a shared value document describing 
the benefits of the merger which we believe will be of use to those 
considering suitable names. “The Value of a Common Foundation” document is 
available at: 
http://www.sakaiproject.org/sites/default/files/CommonFoundationValue1-1.pdf

We invite you to get involved in the process. We want to draw on the 
strengths of our communities to create a name that will last, and 
communicate our culture and our values.  A name that is unique and easy to 
remember. We’d also like to hear the explanation, or back story, behind 
your name suggestion.  The following are suggestions of how you may create 
a name:

(1) Engage your faculty and students, especially in business schools and 
courses associated with the creative industries. “The Value of a Common 
Foundation” document could act as a brief for student or staff engagement.
(2) Engage your institutional marketing team.
(3) Engage your colleagues.

If you decide to get involved we would recommend that you review basic 
principles for naming (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_naming) 
and also keep in mind the following:

(1) It should be something people can say and spell fairly easily, even in 
different languages
(2) We don’t want to be confused with other existing organizations or 
products
(3) We are an international organization and thus are particularly 
interested in non-US/English Language centric names
(4) You may find it useful to read a bit about branding and mergers, one 
good source is: 
http://www.mergerbranding.com/articles/2006%2006%20M&A%20Branding%20-%20SMR.pdf

The Founding Board will be announcing the new name in a press release in 
early 2012. Please submit your ideas by December 16 to be considered. If 
your idea is used you will receive a formal Letter of Appreciation from 
the Founding Board along with iPod Nanos for your entire team (up to five 
total).

Please send entries to Patty Gertz ed at jasig.org and Ian Dolphin 
iandolphin at sakaifoundation.org by December 16, 2011.

Thanks for your help!


-----------------------------
Joshua Baron
Senior Academic Technology Officer
Marist College
Poughkeepsie, New York  12601
(845) 575-3623 (work)
Twitter: JoshBaron
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