Re: [seul-edu] Forming a coalition to promote free and open toolsand content in education

[Doug Loss <drloss@home.com>]

OK, I'm back and I'll (as usual) put my $0.02 in on some of the messages
that have flown past in the last day or so.

"David M. Bucknell" wrote:
> 
> Let's do this together. I completely support the idea that such a
> coaltion/collaboration should be multilingual and multinational. Coming from a
> background in international schools and being married to a Colombian who
> teaches Spanish and French, and living and working in asia, I think your list
> is a good idea.
> 
Definitely so.  We've worked hard to make sure that SEUL/edu isn't aimed
just at US/Canadian schools, and I think we've succeeded.  I'd insist
that the proposed coalition do likewise.

> I think that for starters a lot of Linux and other free/open site admins might
> be on this list and should speak up if they are willing to work with the
> suggested commuity group.
> 
I'm not sure what you mean here.  If you mean we should get committments
from project leaders who are on the seul-edu mailing list, sure, that's
a good idea.  If you mean we should solicit such committments from
groups that aren't currently connected to us, I think we need to do some
organizing first.

> Likewise, those who belong to LUGS and other relevant groups could help a
> great deal by asking their members to speak up. I'll volunteer to be secretary
> for the start, keeping track of who wants to be in on the project and which
> goals get adopted, pretty much by consensus.
> 
Again, we need to have something to show them before we can solicit
their involvement.

> To add my two cents to the great task list already begun, a lot has already
> been done and just needs organizing and shaping. There are loads of arguments
> for free and open source in education out there and even bibliographies of
> them. When we find one, let's post it to an archive (oss@members.iteachnet.org
> is a new list that was used to start open source schools but is sort of
> dormant now, and as it uses mailman it would make a nice repository of posts
> specifically meant to give the coalition ammunition).
> 
This is a very good idea.  Especially if we can get permission to
combine the various documents into compilations that cover all the
points raised in each document, and can get people willing to do the
compilation.  That way we can have single documents (or just a few) that
address issues, rather than a multitude that cover substantially the
same ground, and that people will never read all of.

> Then whoever's up to it can participate in the ongoing creation of a super
> bibliography and a _few_ well-taylored introductions for each of the audiences
> we wish to reach: school admins, teachers, board members, parents, students
> 
I'm fine with that, so long as the compilations get priority.  These
could be bibliographies to those compilations, so we don't lose the
original documents, but I really think that a single document is better
than a multitude from a consumer's standpoint.
 
> As Doug pointed out, the "vetting" of promotional documents will probably need
> to be more careful than casual. As he also says, the big players need to be
> attracted to the cause. It seems to me we're talking about more than Linux,
> though, and I suspect this was intended, but not stated. I'm just saying it
> aloud. I would err on the side of including both the "free" and the "open"
> portions of the community, as well as the companies that work with the
> software.
> 
Yes.  In this case, "Linux" is just a shorthand expression for "free
software/open source software."

Doug Loss
drloss@home.com