[seul-edu] debian-edu and/or working with existing groups

[Ben Armstrong <synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca>]

On Thu, Dec 28, 2000 at 01:20:50PM -0500, Douglas Loss wrote:
> I don't know how Debian in general works about these things, but
> I'd recommend checking if the seul-edu or ofset mailing lists,
> or maybe some other, would satisfy the need before creating a
> new one to cover substantially the same material.  Having too
> many similar lists can vitiate the usefulness of them all, as
> there's less chance for getting different perspectives on the
> various questions.

If you look at the goals of Debian Jr. and the mailing list archives, you
can see that our work is very Debian-focused.  We do our best to redirect
discussions of a more general nature to other groups such as seul-edu. The
idea is to have a workgroup that does not attempt to solve all possible
problems relating to making a system that works well for kids, but to
defer as much work as possible to other groups.  So, for example, if we
need the Debian menu system to do something different, we ask the Debian
menu developers to help us with what we need.  If it is a matter of
improving a specific non-native-Debian package, those wishlists get sent
to upstream.  If it is a matter of finding new material to put into
Debian, we look to seul-edu, linuxforkids and so forth.  What we are left
with to accomplish on our own is just packaging, integration, a bit of
documentation: just enough work built on the work of others to make Debian
better for a particular group of people with a particular set of needs.
The end result is not a separate distro, nor a duplication of someone
else's effort, but a better Debian that serves this group of users. 

If there were a debian-edu workgroup, it is this model that I would have
in mind for them.  I cannot see how a coherent effort to tailor Debian for
education would ever be achieved by just telling them all to join seul-edu
and OFSET.  But like Debian Jr., I hope that such a group would remember
not to "re-invent the wheel" and work closely with groups such as seul-edu
and OFSET to do their work.  In the end, of course, it is entirely up to
whoever organizes a debian-edu group to make those decisions for
themselves. 

Ben
-- 
    nSLUG       http://www.nslug.ns.ca      synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca
    Debian      http://www.debian.org       synrg@debian.org
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