Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-project (930 mails)

["Administrator" <admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> > > Absolutely! :-)
> > I like the idea of adding some training to attract more people to
> > openSUSE and fill in knowledge where needed in a scalable way.
> > > > 1. Professional or something related training
> > > >  1.a End-user training
> > As of today I'd stay away from end-user training or maybe we need some
> > agreement on the term user in general. I don't see us reaching out to
> > John Doe.
>
> I think it depends on how we define "end user" - your breakdown below is
> a good starting point.
>
> > I do see the term user divided into two groups: - the user like my wife,
> > my mum, my brother. They use a computer to do some productivity work
> > (OpenOffice covers that mainly), they surf the internet, send/receive
> > emails maybe some picture manipulation or additional a certain software
> > (accounting, database) they need to fulfil their tasks at home or in
> > their small business. They want to switch on/off the computer, maybe an
> > update once in a while and have someone who helps them if something
> > doesn't work. In short they want that everything works as expected
> > without any change, they don't care how it works nor under which licence
> > it is.
>
> Even in this instance, some training material on how to get around the
> desktop, where to find things, and how to get help would be beneficial.
> We wouldn't want to do, for example, OpenOffice training, but pointing
> out equivalencies to what they're used to (for example, saying "on
> Windows you might have used Microsoft Office; in openSUSE, the most
> popular office suite is OpenOffice.  Like MS Office, OpenOffice breaks
> the functionality out into word processing, spreadsheets, presentations,
> and databases. [...]")
>
> That type of analogy-based training would be useful for things like how
> to connect to a wireless network, how to browse the web, how to read e-
> mail, etc.
>
> Fairly introductory-level stuff, but also information that can make the
> transition easier to make.
>
> It's also an opportunity to teach that level of user *why* the licenses
> matter.  My wife commented to me the other day that she never used to
> care about the license software came under until she met me; now when
> she's looking at things like eBook readers, one of the first questions
> she asks is how difficult it is to modify and how flexible the platform
> is.  The reason that's important to her is she understands why Free/Libre
> software is important and (in practical terms) how it helps to extend the
> life of the hardware she's purchasing.  For many users, that single
> economic factor is a significant win.

Can I make a plea for diversity in the education.  Video or audio is much
more effective education / training for most people than written texts.
Even programmers have moved from text based editors to GUI editors.  A
screengrab video with voice over (possibly added later) is very effective is
showing newcomers the features and doesn't demand that they have the same
level of abstract thinking and ability to visualise that characterises top
level developers.

David


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