[school-discuss] Promoting FLOSS

[Joel Kahn <jj2kk4@xxxxxxxxx>]

Daniel Howard wrote:

>I'd love for this group to explore the idea of how
>we can more determinately promote FOSS for schools.
>Our competition uses advertising, wining and dining,
>FUD, and incentives to achieve their goals; what can
>we do in defense besides FUD?

Since sensible and rational techniques have not been as
successful as one might wish, perhaps it's time to try
a really wild and crazy approach. Here goes. . . .

I suggest that FLOSS-based school districts compete
with each other to create the largest sculpture of
Tux the Linux Penguin. The object should be made
basically of trash--this would be a form of recycling.
Schools which are just making their move from M$ to
FLOSS are in a special position: rather than simply
throwing out all of that old M$ junk, they can take
the boxes, manuals, paperwork, &c and put them into
a mixed-media work expressing their new position.
For example, if the sculpture is large enough, a
CD_ROM could be used to represent each eye.

All of the activity should be documented with video,
still photos, text, smaller artworks, &c. Send
appropriate parts of the documentation to the most
suitable spots on the web: Youtube, Flickr, Revver,
Current, the IFC Media Lab, Creative Commons, the
Internet Archive, and so on. Enter portions of the
overall activity in contests: photos, essays, &c.
See if you can get the Guinness World Records people
to create a whole new category to fit this. Invite
the local news media in to observe and report upon
as much of it as they can take. If it is possible to
make the final sculpture sufficiently weatherproof,
put the thing outdoors where lots of vehicles will
go by it; if it stays indoors, put it in a building
lobby or some other high-traffic area.

Whenever anyone asks what in the world that big 
penguin is doing there, that is your opportunity
to get a useful conversation going.

Who do I think would win this competition? A likely
candidate would be the largest organization involved.
Is it true that the entire state of Indiana is moving
towards FLOSS? I'm picturing a giant penguin towering
over the infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
as the Red-Hat-sponsored car charges towards victory
in the 2009 Indy 500. . . . While we're at it, has
Tux ever been a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving
Day parade? How about a float in the Tournament of
Roses on New Year's Day? How about a FLOSS Bowl on
the road to the college football championship?
Would you Europeans like to try something related
to World Cup Soccer? (Not as likely here in the US.)

Anyway, getting back to the original idea--I would
expect that this should be extremely educational
for the participating students: they will be getting
interdisciplinary exposure to art, engineering, and
public relations, among other fields. In addition,
the thing ought to be a whole lot of fun.

Joel



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