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[school-discuss] Free and Open Source Software in K-12: New Webcast, New Website, and Conference Info



Some quick news to keep you updated about some projects, events, and resources.

 First: This Friday (April 4th, 2008), I'm inaugurating a weekly "Open
 Source Friday" Web show.  We'll cover the news of the week, hopefully
 have some interesting guests, and let you tell us what you are doing
 that might be of interest to others.  Find the show link at
 http://www.classroom20wiki.com/live+conversations/.  2pm Pacific / 5pm
 Eastern / 9pm GMT.

 If you're into social bookmarking, you might want to join the Diigo
 group "K12 Open Source"
 (http://groups.diigo.com/groups/k12-open-source) to bookmark sites and
 stories that we'll discuss each Friday.

 Second:  The CoSN.org K-12 Open Technologies website has been revamped
 (Drupal, thanks to Jim Klein!) and is now up with some great content.
 http://www.k12opentech.org/.  Access the CoSN white papers on Open
 Technologies, including the recent Moodle implementation study.  And
 we have guest bloggers! Recent posts include Jim Klein ("A Few of My
 Favorite Open Source Desktop Applications"), Solveig Haugland ("Five
 Principles for a Successful OpenOffice.org Transition"), and Jeff
 Crawford ("SIF Needs An Open Source Zone Integration Server").  Coming
 soon:  Tom Hoffman, David Thornburg, Randy Orwin, Bryant Patten, and
 YOU!  Want to blog on your successful use of Free and Open Source
 Software?  Reply to this email and let me know.

 K12OpenTech.org also has a rss news feed for Free and Open Source
 Software in K-12.  See it on the site or subscribe at
 http://www.diigo.com/rss/user/Stevehargadon/opensource.  And the
 http://www.K12OpenSource.com wiki site has a good set of resources and
 program list as well.

 Third:  Coming September 25 - 27, the second annual K12 Open Minds
 conference in beautiful downtown Indanapolis, Indiana.  :)  Expected
 to be even bigger and better than last year, K12 Open Minds promises
 to be the definitive (and only?) *national* conference for Free and
 Open Source Software in K-12.  Last year there wasn't much outreach to
 K-12 "pioneers" and "stalwarts."  Expect better this year.
 Information will be posted at http://www.k12openminds.com as it
 becomes available.

 Fourth:  NECC 2008 is coming up soon in San Antonio, TX (June 30 -
 July 2).  NECC is again generously hosting an Open Source Pavilion,
 where we'll have 50+ computers running Linux and Free and Open Source
 program, a full speaker series that is in the program, and live demo
 stations.  With sponsorship this year so far from Aspen Learning
 (http://www.aspenlearning.com) and (hopefully) Red Hat again, we are
 still looking for additional financial sponsorship (equipment and
 people transportation!) and for any volunteers to help in the Pavilion
 during the show.  With the recent news that the T + L annual
 conference (last week in October in Seattle) has asked for an Open
 Source Pavilion, when added to our good friends at the annual CUE.org
 show, we now have three major educational technology shows actively
 showcasing Free and Open Source Software.

 Have a great rest of the week!

 Steve

 --

 Steve Hargadon
 steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx
 www.stevehargadon.com
 916-899-1400 cell