Re: [school-core] Proposal for the Reorganization of Schoolforge

[Mike Eschman <meschman@etc-edu.com>]

just got to this

dave can get all of you where you need to go

wake up!

mike e.


On Saturday 05 July 2003 11:43, David Bucknell wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> I've been thinking of the long term, sustaining our efforts and having a
> real effect on the educational world. I am more convinced than ever that we
> can't do it (in this day and age of "winner-take-all economics") alone.
>
> As far as I know, the Open Source in Education Foundation is the only fully
> legalized non-profit organization that has actively pursued our common
> goals. Correct me if I'm wrong. Perhaps k edutainment and Ofset and others
> have also successfully formed legal entities. Of course, the value of such
> an organization is that is can raise funds and distribute them to needy
> causes. The benefit of a non-profit structure is that it can have members
> (not stock holders), shares benefits of corporate laws. The downside is
> that it requires paper pushing to keep it in good legal standing. None of
> this is easy. I have concluded that it is silly for me and others to
> maintain legal organizations rather than joining with others to create one
> we all feel we can support.
>
> I've often wondered whether Schoolforge members could get together and form
> a "legal entity," but I'm conscious of the fact that we have a group/org.
> that we might join and support in return for its support of us and our
> projects.
>
> I'm wondering whether the Open Source in Education Foundation could take on
> a role equivalent to (or better than) that which the Free Software
> Foundation plays in the FLOSS movement, but for free resources in
> education. For example, we could support it (as members) and it could be
> the main supporter of Schoolforge and all its projects. For example, it
> could support
>
> *its own evangelization project (distribution of and demonstration of free
> software in education),
> *the Seul/edu software iso project,
> *the Seul/edu free software in education database,
> *the Seul/edu case study database (and all the other seul projects),
> *various member-organizations' software and content development projects,
> *the new book project,
> *the curriculum project (if people find it worthwhile) and
> *the formation of Schoolforge groups,
> *a jobs forum,
> *a means of supporting the software projects on which schools depend -- a
> membership that gives schools support for software directly from developers
> or experienced sys admin/programmers,
> *outreach to needy schools;
> *guidelines, standards and examples for technology integration using free
> and open software and, perhaps even more importantly, computer science
> using free and open software.
>
> In other words, the purpose of having a "mother ship" legal entity that is
> also a corporate non-profit (aka ngo internationally), would be to give the
> world a focal point for fund raising and as an information source regarding
> free software and other educational resources.
>
> I thought of this because I have just had a meeting of the local shakers
> and movers regarding the long-awaited (by me) formation of
> Schoolforge-Thailand. We have come to that age-old question, just what will
> motivate people in schools to give it a try?
>
> We thought of many avenues:
>
> *holding local Schoolforge meetings
> *encouraging the formation of school-based Schoolforge groups/chapters (or
> subgroups)
> *going to schools with demos;
> *inviting them to schools where free and open resources are at work (like
> mine); *providing support for those who will give it a try;
> and
> *providing Web-based examples;
> and
> *We would like to transform what we're doing on iteachnet into a place
> where those who use free software can:
> a)build a free (geocities type) Website -- we already have metadot there
> for the users and we just need folks to make demos of what's possible using
> floss tools. b)offer hosting to schools who want an external Web and/or
> mail server at a low price because they could share the cost between many
> schools.
> c)offer course hosting
> d)offer portfolio hosting
> e)offer project hosting (software and courses)
> f)distributing software which Schoolforge members have developed.
>
> Speaking for myself, Iteachnet has members now, but I think that what we're
> trying to do is what Schoolforge should be doing. All of our projects would
> fit under Schoolforge and we don't really have a good reason for remaining
> independent. Besides, we try to do too many things. I'd rather focus on the
> name "Schoolforge" and know that it's international than focus on
> iteachnet.org and not know whether we can really say international teachers
> support what we're doing, supporting collegiality and oepnness. Finally, I
> think Schoolforge is a more sustainable idea than iteachnet (despite the
> fact that iteachnet.org is venerable in Internet terms). I think the Open
> Source in Education Foundation could, if it wanted, be the natural choice
> for a mother ship.
>
> We'd have to ask for representation on the board, of course, and members
> would have to have a vote on important issues, including the distribution
> of funds.
>
> How would it affect member orgs?
>
> I think we could have various levels of membership as the first step toward
> raising money.
> Free individual membership,
> Full individual (paid) membership (some low fee with a few services such as
> a login, Web space and mail)
> Free org. membership (for deserving cases)
> Various levels of org. membership depending on the services they request.
>
>
> What do you think?
>
> First of all, Harry, are you interested?
>
> If not, then I think we will, some day, have to face this issue -- form a
> Schoolforge org.
>
> Am I the only one who sees the need?
>
> David

-- 
gutenberg! yum!