[school-discuss] Request for Articles on Your Perspective of FLossEd

["David M. Bucknell" <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

To advocates, users, trainers and developers of FLOSS for Education:

I'm writing to ask you to join us in creating an "Webzine" issue by  
people who make software and content, or otherwise contribute, to/for  
free and open sources for education.

If you are a teacher, student, programmer, translator, designer -- you  
name it -- or an organizer-promoter for a project, we'd love to hear  
your "take" on how it's going, what you find rewarding or not so, and  
what challenges you think must be solved to go forward successfully.

I have written a number of you personally and would now like to send a  
general invitation to members of the community for free and open  
sources for education.  Not just a collection of blogs, it will be a  
kind of snapshot of the current state of affairs and it will be hosted  
on the http://flossed.org Web site. I hope that you will participate  
if you participate.

* Why should you be interested?

You may have seen Red Hat's effort at OpenSource.com.  If you haven't,  
then I recommend it. It's well-done and has published some thoughtful  
and insightful pieces -- and has inspired good discussion in the form  
of comments.

As good as it is, and despite the fact that it has an education  
section, I think there is a need for something more directly relevant  
to k-12 education.  There is not a great deal of competition for the  
free and open source education space, but that is not because it lacks  
value; I believe its voice (and the need for it) is simply drowned out  
by the noise of "commerce."

It would be great to give voice to those closer to the ground and for  
whom free and open sources is an integral part of their lives.  That's  
you, the members of schoolforge-discuss and other such groups  
dedicated to education.  You have made it possible for others to make  
free and open source software part of their lives.  So, I can't think  
of anyone more appropriate than you to give free and open source  
software a voice.

If you can recommend someone else I should contact, please let me  
know.  I'll need all the help I can get.

My part?

I will get the word out.

Please come and join me in creating something good ... at least an issue.

* The Nitty-Gritty:

As we have entered the age of easy multimedia, screencasts and videos  
and animations as well as graphics are all welcomed -- text, however,  
is good.  Take some quiet time and write a bit for us.  We want to  
learn from you.

I'm hoping for ... November 1st.   What do you think?

Some arguable details:

- 500+ words (starting with a non-threatening length, but most people  
need more than that to describe what they're thinking).
- Posted by you on flossed.org or delivered to me as .txt.
(Flossed.org runs on Drupal 6 currently.)

In the past, due to my background as a writing coach, I have tried to  
act as an encouraging editor, so if, prior to "publishing," you are  
interested in reader over your shoulder, that's a role I enjoy.


--
* Flossed.org -- Free and Open Schools -- Free and Open Minds
* IKN (International Knowledge Networks, Co., Ltd. Thailand)
* http://intknowledge.com
* Web Ideas, Tools and Sites for Teachers, Schools, Businesses and You.
* Sustainable Learning Technologies
* Cell: +66(0*)84 329 1183; Office: +66(0*)2 980 9464 (*No "0" if calling from
overseas.)

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