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RE: [school-discuss] Thoughts on how to make Schoolforge more effective
In response to the following, I must say:
I feel as though, in the very short time (less than a week) that I have read this list that the real character of a few individuals has shown through in a way that has drawn me in. so I would say that this list IS building a sense of community, although I usually prefere and asaynchronous model ,such as a msg board...Although, Matt@Bluelinux (one of those whose postts I have enjoyed) has responded here, but not onthe boards at bluelinux, to my messages, for what that's worth.
Kyle and Mike E, as well as Matt, already I feel as though I a getting to know you, as I annoy you with my ignorance, I am sure.
I have complete respect for what you are trying to do for both Schools and OpenSource. Your generosity and sharp wit both have gotten my attention. Keep this up!
but find a way to send this list in digest, please...
Tony Baldwin
>Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2002 08:52:07 -0500
> Doug Loss <drloss@suscom.net> schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net [school-discuss] Thoughts on how to make Schoolforge more effectiveReply-To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net
>
>I'm forwarding this message from Paul Querna with his permission.
>I've marked the parts Paul wrote, and my responses, with our
>respective names. I'd like everyone else here to join in on this
>discussion.
>
>----------------------------
>
>Paul: I agree with inf ["inf" is the IRC nickname of Teemu Arina,
>another member of our group] that SchoolForge doesn't have the feel
>of a community. I do feel distant from it. The Linux in Education
>reports are great, I applaud them, and I enjoy reading them, but it
>doesn't bring the people together.
>
>Doug: Thanks for your encouragement. I never meant the Linux in
>education reports to be a rallying point so much as a snapshot of
>our ongoing discussions and work for the rest of the Linux and
>educational communities to see, so they can be kept abreast of what
>we're doing and what problems we're finding.
>
>Paul: I think that inf is correct in that a Web based Fora/Forum
>software is needed. I personally much prefer these. What would be
>better is a Fora/Forum that can automatically take in the mailing
>list and cross post, etc...( a complete forum <-> email gateway is
>needed, I don't know if one exists, but for a normal forum also look
>at phpBBv2, which I feel is better than phorum. I think I could
>even write a forums <-> email gateway pretty easily if it comes down
>to that.)
>
>Doug: I personally prefer email mailing lists, but I recognize that
>tastes differ. I'm happy with having a web-based forum so long as
>there's a fully bidirectional web<->email gateway between it and
>this mailing list, so we have one discussion with two interfaces to
>it rather than fragmenting the discussions by creating two fora in
>different media covering the same topics. To that end we're looking
>at Phorum as the software for implementing web fora because it has
>such a gateway. Harish Pillay is planning to set it up for us. If
>anyone has suggestions for a better program for this purpose, please
>let us know.
>
>Paul: Also, one thing I think that could be helpful is a technical
>discussion area. I know there are others out there programming for
>Schools, but there is no central place for all of us to confer on
>formats, design plans or even help out on simple programming
>problems. I know this is part of the idea of the mailing list, but
>I feel that most of the developers have not used the mailing list
>for this purpose, so I think that web based forum would be more
>receptive to them.
>
>Doug: We talked about this a little while ago when the EduML
>discussion was running. It was definitely too early at that time to
>fragment the list, but Paul's point is well-taken. One of the
>reasons Schoolforge was formed is so people from various projects
>working on creating free/open source software for use in education
>can talk to each other and collaborate on areas of common interest.
>The general discussion list can be used for that (but currently
>isn't being so used), but might that tend to chill other types of
>discussion? We need to keep the general list open and available for
>any type of questions people want to ask. Would it be useful to
>setup other more focussed lists for technical discussions or other
>specific areas? If so, how should we keep the discussions going on
>on these various lists connected? We don't want to have questions
>being asked on one list that are easily (or have already been)
>answered on others.
>
>Paul: Another thing I think would be nice is to create a running
>list of what is *needed* for Open Source education software. From a
>Gradebook program, to 3rd Grade History about the Oregon Trail,
>creating a list that identifies the need and allows a coder like me
>with an interest in helping know where I can help, and lets the
>non-geek users have an easy place to let the coders know.
>
>Doug: Les Richardson set up a Needs, Problems, and Opportunities
>Database at <http://seuldat.seul.org/npo/> for just this purpose.
>It hasn't had a lot of use, probably because it's not been widely
>publicized. Take a look and see if it will fill your needs. Of
>course, it will only do so if people actually _enter_ their needs,
>problems, and opportunities in the database. Take a look, folks,
>and let's see about using it.
>
>--
>Doug Loss All I want is a warm bed
>Data Network Coordinator and a kind word and
>Bloomsburg University unlimited power.
>dloss@bloomu.edu Ashleigh Brilliant
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