Re: national OSS-ed summit & barnstorming

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On 4/12/06, Steve Hargadon <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 4/11/06, Tom Hoffman <tom.hoffman@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Unfortunately, we have no education specific books to sell (am I
> > forgetting something?)
>
> ISTE.org, the organization behind NECC, has asked me to put together a
> book on Open Source in Education, for which I've been soliciting help
> from the lists over the last few weeks.  I think it's a unique
> opportunity to determine what we want to say, and what people want to
> hear.

Oh yeah!  Steve is clearly the furthest along in building his
barnstorming evangelist resume ;-)

> > Perhaps a more plausible plan is wooing some of the people who already
> > have the keynote/pundit gigs locked in.  David Thornburg is actually
> > doing pretty much straight-up Linux advocacy in his talks now.  Does
> > anyone know him personally?
>
> I've been corresponding with him, and he has submitted a presentation
> for our Open Source lab at NECC which I think we'll likely accept.

Ah, you are on the ball, Steve.  This is a big deal imho, it will the
free software center a big boost in legitimacy, at least in some
people's eyes.  Thornburg has been around forever.

> Some additional thoughts:
>
> 1.  Mark Shuttleworth's sponsorship of labs in South Africa, I think,
> has made a huge difference for interest in and acceptance of Open
> Source in schools there.  That would sure help here, and there is
> plenty of need (think Gulf Coast).

Foundation support is key.  We're getting closer, consciousness is a
lot higher now.  One problem is that Foundation people and Corporate
people will, by default, talk to each other (Mark Shuttleworth is a
big exception here, too).  We need to figure out how to get the
Foundation people talking to the grassroots (one reason for a summit).
 I think they'll be amenable to it, but they don't know how to start
the conversation.

> 2.  At the Ed Tech shows that I've coordinated Open Source labs for
> (NECC and CUE), the huge draws have been Moodle, blogging, and
> podcasting.  That seems to be the door that is open right now.
> 3.  Just replacing proprietary software solutions is a limited vision
> that is unexciting to most educators.  Collaborative learning and -- I
> think -- students participating in Open Source projects will likely be
> the key to broader interest.  If we are just replacing what works,
> even if we are saving money, that's not a message that gets a lot of
> attention.  But when Open Source does something that can't be done
> otherwise, then you'll see some excitement.

In the long run, I think the big paradigm shift will be triggered by
the need for low-cost 1-to-1 initiatives.  That's 3 to 5 years out
though, and there isn't much to be done by us in the meantime to speed
that particular process except cheer on OLPC.

--Tom


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