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[school-discuss] February Press Release
Dear All,
A few changes. If you think this is _not_ ready, then speak up; otherwise, I
suggest we send to the translators and line up a who sends where list.
Doug, Felipe?
David
***SCHOOLFORGE PRESS RELEASE***
[http://schoolforge.net -- February, 2002]
SchoolForge is a coalition of organizations supporting free and open
resources, including software and courseware, in and for education around the
world.
SCHOOLFORGE NEWS:
*Coalition Grows; Begins Work on Open Standard for Educational Resources
In its first month of operation, Schoolforge's membership grew from 31
organizations at its January 8 launch to 48 organizations by month's end.
Located in Asia, Africa, The Americas and Europe, these new members share our
common vision of free and open resources in education. A list of our newest
members is included below, but a full list
is available on the Schoolforge site.
*Work Begins on Open Standard for Educational Software
Members have begun work on Schoolforge's first project, EduML, an XML-based
open
standard for educational software and content development. Although begun in
1998-1999
by Bruno Vernier as a standard for communication between educational
applications, the EduML
project is now being picked up and moved forward with the help of Schoolforge
members and
with the guidance of Mr. Vernier. Those interested in collaborating on EduML
are invited to
join the schoolforge-discuss mailing list via
http://schoolforge.net/sfdiscuss.php.
*More Information
In addition to a description of Schoolforge's mission and methods, visitors to
http://www.schoolforge.net will find news, software, and curricular resources
made
available by our member organizations, as well as a full membership list and
instructions for joining us.
Media and candidate organizations wishing to learn more about Schoolforge are
welcome to contact us at info@schoolforge.net.
RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS BY MEMBERS:
* Blue Linux Beta Release 1.0
Jan 22, 2002 - Hillsborough, NC, US
"With this release we bring a easy to install and configure Linux operating
system for Intel based systems, we hope to have a release for the Macintosh
systems shortly. This release is avaliable on our ftp servers." Full story:
http://www.bluelinux.org/news/012202.php
* K12LTSP 2.0 (K12 Linux Terminal Server Project) released on February 10
February 10, 2002 - Portland, Oregon, US
"K12LTSP is free software with the potential to save schools, public agencies
and businesses millions of dollars." Full story: http://k12ltsp.org/press.html
* MimerDesk 1.5.0pre released
January 10, 2002 - Finland
"MimerDesk is an open-source group environment designed for a wide variety of
uses such as web-based eLearning, carrying out projects and setting up
communities." Full story:
http://www.mimerdesk.org/community/engine.html?page=31
*General Education Online Received Double the Traffic of a Year Ago
At least coincidentally with its membership in Schoolforge, General Education
Online
received more than 200,000 visits in January of 2002, more than double the
number in
January of 2001. GEO is a Web-based project started in 1995, provides a free
and open
database of links to Web sites of higher education facilities worldwide. Full
story: http://findaschool.org
NEWEST MEMBERS
These groups joined Schoolforge in January of 2002:
*OpenSchooling [US]: The OpenSchooling project has the goal of providing
FDL'd (released under the Free Documentation License) curriculum that meets
the
standards set out by each country, state, province, etc. for all subjects and
electives. Both Web browser-based and
printable versions of the curriculum will be made available. Schools and
publishers can make books for sale and use. (http://openschooling.org)
*Northwest Educational Service District 189 [US]: NESD 189 is a regional k-12
service center for regional districts in [ where? ], and which also develops
Web-based tools for education using GNU tools. (http://www.esd189.org)
TEFL China Teahouse [China]: This organization's purpose is to help teachers
create open resource teaching materials that offer them the same advantages
that
open source software has
provided IT professionals. (http://teflchina.com)
Lone Jack C-6 Schools [US]: Public k-12 Institution using Linux as its
primary server operating system and for terminals in labs and classrooms.
[http://blue.ljc6k.k12.mo.us]
GnuSkole [Denmark]: Goal is to promote the use of open source software in the
Danish primary school system by publishing documentation, finding and
translating educational software, and holding a discussion forum for teachers
and system administrators at schools. (http://www.gnuskole.dk)
Goa Schools Computers Porject [India]: Equipping schools in Goa with computer
labs, this project aims to help bridge the digital divide by means of free and
open resources. (http://www.goasudharop.org/gscp)
Linuxlab.org.za [South Africa]: Open source schools advocacy group in South
Africa. (http://linuxlab.org.za)
Globewide Network Academy [US]: Collects information about distance learning
from various sources and publishes an open source database.
(http://www.gnacademy.org)
Regional Institute for Scholastic Excellence [US]: RISE is a group of Illinois
alternative schools charged with providing standards-based curricula and a
structured educational environment for 6th through 12th grade students who
have
been released from other schools. (http://www.s-cook.org/rise/default.htm)
ENMAC Linux User Group [Mexico]: Promotes the use of Linux for Mexican
educational environments. (http://enmac.seul.org)
Greek Research and Technology Network [Greece]: Provides advanced Internet
services to the Greek Academic and Research Community. (http://www.grnet.gr)
***
A FULL LIST OF MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS is available at
http://schoolforge.net/members.php
***
WORLD-WIDE DISTRIBUTION
Schoolforge Member (projects) are located in these (18) countries so far:
US, Belize, Italy, Mexico, Colombia, Finland, Australia, Denmark, India,
Greece, France, Norway, Turkey, Singapore, South Africa, UK, Canada, China
***
TRANSLATIONS of this announcement are available on http://schoolforge.net.
***
CONTACTS:
General: info@schoolforge.net
And:
Doug Loss
dloss@seul.org
(570) 326-3987 (US)
or
David Bucknell
david@members.iteachnet.org
66-2 583-5874 (Thailand)
US Fax: 775-244-0803
or
Harry McGregor
schoolforge@osef.org.
(520) 661-7875 (US)
Copyright schoolforge.net, February 2002. Reposting with
attribution to schoolforge.net is encouraged.
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