"Catalonia has taken a great interest in Moodle ever since the project began"

Yes, you could say that. I was looking for an educational tool that would let citizens participate rather than just be passive consumers. I couldn't find one though, so I decided to create one. I spent three years working on the project. My wife didn't understand what I was doing. "All that work and you're just going to give it away to everyone?", she used to ask. Yes, because its driven by users, who come from all over the world and have different levels of education. Our community, where lots of things happen, is responsible for Moodle's development. We don't worry about what's going on with other products because we've already got enough on our plate with developing everything our users ask us for. There are currently around 87,000 registered Moodle sites. We do have unofficial figures though, such as the data we obtain at talks, where I ask how many users have actually registered and only 10% of the people there raise their hands. Additionally, some Moodle Partners have thousands of clients. So, bearing all that in mind, I calculate that the real number of users is roughly ten times higher than the number of registered users. Of the 29 people in my company, 25 are developers. There are also around 200 people who regularly contribute to the project, and about 10,000 users who help us out in some way, be it with documentation, through suggestions or ideas, etc. Around a hundred, at the moment. Catalonia has taken a great interest in Moodle ever since the project began, when Jordi Adell, a lecturer at Universitat Jaume I in Castelló, mentioned it in a blog. He was one of the first to do so here, and that was how many people found out about Moodle. He organized Spain's first MoodleMoot. I'll do it one day, but not yet, because there's a lot we can do with both Moodle 2.5 and the new version, 2.6, which is geared to continuity. Sudden changes aren't popular in the education arena. People prefer gradual, minor changes that provide greater security, stability, etc. I must say though, if I had to start afresh with Moodle, the first thing I'd do is make it compatible with mobile phones. Yes. Moodle was initially intended for schools and universities, although we've been surprised to find that some of the world's leading oil companies use it. They could afford any alternative product out there, but have nonetheless chosen Moodle. That's very interesting. The greatest paradigm that the internet has given us is that it's possible to do many things from any location instead of having to be physically present in a class. Back when I was one of the first internet users and I built one of the world's first 3,000 websites, I remember telling people that in the future they would be able to work on the train, on the beach or wherever they may be. For years, they didn't understand. All that's normal now, but it was a huge change at the time. I knew it would be possible. At the same time though, I didn't want to lose out in terms of dialogue, cooperation, being able to share ideas, to have a conversation... and that's the essence of Web 2.0, which was only an idea when Moodle was starting out. I'm here for two reasons. Firstly, I'm trying to learn what goes on in places where people use Moodle. Secondly, I'm promoting research based on Moodle. That's something that can be done in universities and schools, where teaching staff are carrying out different research projects, because they've got students and the right environment. I need the information users provide. If I can get it, we can make Moodle better for everybody. We held a talk about that at the meeting in Barcelona, but we've spent all year thinking about how Moodle should be in the future. People think of me in that way because I've been involved with the internet from a very early stage and because I believed that the internet ought to develop thanks to its users, who should be more than just passive consumers. I've tried to make that happen through education, because it's the most important aspect of life, one that conditions all the rest. Of course, to people who aren't particularly familiar with my career, I'm an internet guy, which is a simplistic way of defining what I do. Yes, absolutely! (Laughs) I like to stay in bed for as long as my body will let me, because that's when you feel good and you've got the energy to go to work. It's true that I have lots of work, but also that I'm really enjoying it. I'm very lucky. It's thanks to Moodle that, for example, I've been able to come to a city as beautiful as Barcelona.