Re: Education strategy

[Nick Hockings]

> From: Ian Lynch <address@hidden>
> Date: Tue, 7 May 2002 08:48:30 +0100
> 
> Has anyone else got a strategy for developing the use of free software
> in education in their country? 

I am pulling together a team of volunteers to distribute DemoLinux CDs with 
OpenOffice 6.0 to MPs and others. The point is to raise the profile and 
demonstrate the functionality of free software to decision makers. I think we 
should consider some collaboration here. 

E.G. If you are sincerely promoting the pinciples of free software (ie the Four 
Freedoms, copy left licencing etc) then I would list your company, its www site 
and existing projects as contacts/resources. You might consider sponsoring a 
set of such CDs to be sent to schools around England. 

Technical note: DemoLinux is a variant of Debian Potato produced charitably by 
a small group of accademics in Paris, http://www.demolinux.org/  . IT RUNS FROM 
CD WITHOUT INSTALLATION.


> In England, there are government targeted 
> funding initiatives involving ICT that we can use to get some significant 
> presence. So far we have two 30 station networks ...
>...Without a number of successful and working desktop sites, few people 
> are going to take the risk. 

I take it you have some expertise/experience wrt raising govt funds. It would 
be great if you could share this. The ideal place to post info wrt UK govt 
funding would be   address@hidden  . (That's the Association For Free 
Sofftware (AFFS) mailing list. They will one day become FSF-UK when the FSF 
aproves.) More general or EU funding info would be great to put on  
 address@hidden   . But please do keep this list alivee too!


wrt raising profiles/show sites:  if you can ideaologically convert the schools 
you work with to support the principles of free software, then their www 
sites/contacts can be included in any DemoLinux CD we distribute. That means 
schools can call/visit other schools who already have working free software. 
Ideally we should start a chain training system where by each school trains 
staff from other schools to spread the skills. (This is a "Big Cake" strategy 
for your business whereby you get a small slice of an expanding market.)  



> The main problem is inability to run Windows
> based education software - WINE is a possibility but we have to get hold of
> the software to test and testing takes time. For the time being we are 
> concentrating on low cost thin clients 

There is a lot of free educational software that could be substituted. There is 
also the important task of getting teachers to contribute GPL'ed content for 
new free educational e-books etc..  Keep it free and maximise cooperation => 
productivity & efficiency. If you are being ordered to buy a particular 
proprietary product then blow the whistle here and in the TES etc..



> Getting education titles to run under WINE
> is a high priority but difficult for a small company.

WINE is said to be very good now but most free software was written to run on 
GNU and BSD. (BSD licening is to be avioded due to propritization, vis Mac OS 
X.)



> In broad strategic terms, getting a good presence for free software in a
> market sector such as education provides a profile to show others. I
> believe that critical mass will be achieved by getting focus in a particular
> sector rather than a scattergun approach. 

It has taken time to develop the GUIs and then the GUI based apps for lay 
users, now we are ready. We don't have big budgets so our publicity must 
exploit our freedom not our wallets. DemoLinux will help us get attention and 
prove the functionality, utility and quality of free software for lay users. 

wrt scatter guns, in a free society each individual follows their own 
interests. No "great leap forward" has matched the prodcutive genius of liberty.



> Once established in one sector the methods can be repeated in others.
>...(Scotland has a completely different system so its not sensible to talk 
> about UK education)

Do you have any contacts in Scotland or Ireland?

Don't forget to write up what you learn from your projects and publish it in 
the Free Software Magazine  (see fsf-china). And put the Magazine on the 
desktops of your LANs for the users to read.
 

Nick Hockings

<address@hidden>,
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