[Dfey-general-discuss] Remember *that* meeting?....

[Joe O'Dell]

Hello All,

It seems such a long time ago since we held the meeting at the hackspace - and nothing really has been done since!

I've got a lot of free time now, as I've just come back from holiday, so I am willing to get cracking on the main idea - a booklet describing and explaining FOSS in schools.

Here are the key points that I think should be included - please add points or expand on them, but bear in mind it is a booklet, not an essay!

1. Introducing FOSS

Describe (in short terms) the philosophy of FOSS, the fact it has nil cost, and that it is improved and repaired by the whole community?

2. Taking Baby Steps

Here should be ideas of the first things a school should use if it were going to change over to FOSS - things like OpenOffice.org, Moodle, Firefox, Audacity and Inkscape.

Do a "Popular Misconceptions" section like "Oh, it's open source so I can't lock it down - FALSE: Many applications that are open source can be locked down, and some made even more secure than proprietary alternatives"

Perhaps it would be worth getting some of us to ask IT Teachers/Lecturers/Technicians what their main fears/thoughts about using FOSS are? I can ask mine when we get back in september.

Also talk about the open education disc?

3. Complete Overhaul/Starting Afresh

Explain that if they are thinking of a complete overhaul, or if they are just venturing into IT Solutions, that Linux and FOSS alternatives are a key player.

Expand on the cost aspects, the compatability, the fact there are not viruses, that it can be locked down heavily (sometimes even more secure than MS), and the fact that it is much more resource-friendly.

Give options such as Ubuntu (Edubuntu for Primary schools) for desktops, Easy Peasy for laptops (based on ubuntu), SmoothWall for proxy filtering, Ubuntu Server/CentOS as an alternative to WIndows Server.

4. Providing Resources

I am thinking that it would be worth including CDs/DVDs of Ubuntu, Ubuntu Server, SmoothWall, the OpenEducationDisc and perhaps another distribution (fedora? I can get a fair amount of fedora dvds direct from fedora if you want them). These could then go into plastic wallets at the back?

The only reason I am thinking this is because we are only going to send them to schools/LEAs - not hand them out in public - and as such if we can ply them with as much FOSS stuff as possible, they have a higher rate of using it.

Also include links to DFEY, Ubuntu etc. etc. - please add them if you want to see them here!

So that's my idea at the moment - the only thing I will request is an EPS of the DFEY logo - as we discussed at the hackspace, FOSS DTP software is far from brilliant, and as I have a Quark license, I am happy to build it on that.

Finally, there is the printing (and postage) charges for all of this - Outsourcing printing is the only reasonable option, as in-house printing on an A4 inkjet is going to look terrible. The only problem being paying for it.

However, there is O2 ThinkBig that can provide up to £2000 for projects - this fits into their "Learning" category - as well as providing mobile credit, a laptop and internet etc. etc.. If we could tap into that, it could pay for a print run of the booklets, plus postage, plus media.

Please, give me as many ideas as you can - I am definitely all ears.

Joe

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Joe O'Dell

GreenerClassrooms Project Co-Ordinator
http://www.greenerclassrooms.org.uk

Fedora Ambassador & Contributor (FreeMedia)

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Ascenseur

bedsLUG Co-Ordinator
beds.lug.org.uk

DFEY Member (SouthEast)
dfey.org