[school-discuss] Survey on experiences with implementation of Linux within educational and community organizations

[Jake Odland <jodland2@xxxxxxxx>]

Hello all,

My name is Jake Odland. I am a Masters' student in Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois and I need your guidance.  This is my first post ever to an e-mail discussion group, but it seems to be the best way to contact those with the experiences that I am looking for.

I work with an organization that assists community groups in setting up computer labs.  Our work has centered around East St. Louis, Illinois, one of the most economically disadvantaged communities in the United States.  We have also started to work in Sao Tome and Principe, a small island nation in West Africa.  

Most of the computer labs are developed by students in the Library and Information Science profession who learn hardware and networking skills while completing the service learning component of building the lab.  Some computers are also built by Graduate Assistants such as myself.  

The computers that we have been installing run Windows operating systems.  We install only FOSS programs on the computers such as OpenOffice, Firefox, and Clamwin.  Linux has been discussed at different times, but our community partners were not ready for it.  

We now have some community partners who are interested in trying Linux in their computer labs.  We are excited at the possibility, but would like to get the most information possible before we do the installation.  My task is to survey those who have implemented Linux or other Open Source OSs in their community or educational organizations or are currently administering the labs.  The survey is intended to be part of a larger academic paper discussing the implementation of Linux in community and educational organizations.  

Below is the formal project description and a link to our survey.  The survey should take one hour or less.  We may inquire about follow-up interviews.  Those would take place over the phone, will be less than one hour, and will only occur with your consent.  

If you know anyone who is not on the list but has experience with Linux or other Open Source OS labs in educational or community organizations such as churches, community centers, or libraries, please forward them this survey or send me their information off list.     

If you have questions, comments or concerns, please contact me at jodland2 @ uiuc.edu or my advisor Dr. Martin Wolske at mwolske @ uiuc.edu

Many thanks,

Jake Odland
    

Survey on Implementation of Linux within Educational and Community Organizations.

Are you responsible for implementing a Linux computer lab in an educational or community organization?  We are conducting a survey on the Implementation of Linux within Educational and Community Organizations and would like your input.  I am a graduate student in Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and I work with a project that installs community computer labs in locations around the state of Illinois.  I am working with Dr. Martin Wolske to determine the possibility of using Linux in labs that we will implement in the future.  Please take some time to complete our survey located at https://webtools.uiuc.edu/survey/OrganizationSecure?id=6334089.  The survey is secure and your information will be kept confidential.  Questions?  Please contact Jake Odland at jodland2 @ uiuc.edu or Dr. Martin Wolske at mwolske @ uiuc.edu.