Frequently Asked Questions
Who is involved in LAMS? What are their roles?
There are three main entities involved in the Learning Activity Management System (LAMS). All are based in Sydney, Australia in affiliation with Macquarie University.
The LAMS Foundation Ltd is a not for profit company limited by guarantee. LAMS Foundation owns the LAMS software and related intellectual property. A Board of Directors, including James Dalziel and representatives of Macquarie University, currently manages the LAMS Foundation. In the future, it is anticipated that additional Board members will be added, particularly from non-commercial organisations that would like to be involved in the strategic direction of the Foundation and contribute significant funding towards its goals. The LAMS Foundation is a "virtual organisation", in that it has a Board of Directors and enters into various development and licensing agreements, but has no employees in its own right.
LAMS International Pty Ltd is a commercial services company set up to assist with implementation and technical support for LAMS, working in conjunction with the LAMS Foundation. It has the right to offer LAMS Beta Partner Program licenses and LAMS support services, as well as commercial (ie, non GPL) licenses for LAMS on behalf of the LAMS Foundation. In exchange, development of the core LAMS software by LAMS International Pty Ltd is owned by LAMS Foundation. LAMS International follows open source business models similar to those of companies like Red Hat Linux and MySQL.
The Macquarie University E-learning Centre of Excellence (MELCOE) is a dedicated research centre focussed on e-learning technology and standards development within Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Professor James Dalziel (the inventor of LAMS) is the Director of MELCOE. MELCOE provides core R&D for the ongoing development of LAMS.
For historical completeness, it is worth noting a fourth entity — WebMCQ Pty Ltd — an Australian commercial e-learning company. WebMCQ collaborated with Macquarie University on the initial development of LAMS (based on the original conceptual work of James Dalziel and Donna Gibbs). In late 2003, WebMCQ agreed to transfer all intellectual property in LAMS to the LAMS Foundation, and the LAMS team at WebMCQ moved to MELCOE. Since this transfer, WebMCQ has had no further role in LAMS, and none of the staff that moved from WebMCQ to MELCOE have any ongoing role with WebMCQ.