A suggestion: There is an international organisation called SchoolForge that aims to represent organisations, including companies, "...that advocate, use, and develop open resources for primary and secondary education.". The organisers recently suggested the creation local "chapters" for national use that could be more focussed on their individual country's needs, and sign up those that may not see affiliation to an international body as worthwhile. A SchoolForge UK seems an ideal, all-inclusive front for those in the UK working with (and on!) open source solutions in school, and could host the wiki, useful links, equivalence tables for UK Linux/MS school software, NC linked teaching resources, lesson plans, etc., etc. and simultaneously provides an excellent press focus for open source in education developments. Setup time could be minutes and an official press launch could be in time for the summer term. Comments? Regards Chris PS SuSE have always been happy to have none-SuSE users on the list - they don't even try and sell to those on it... -----Original Message----- From: John Ingleby To: richard@caliban.org.uk Cc: suse-linux-uk-schools@suse.com Sent: 4/9/03 12:54 PM Subject: Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Open Souce Conference - a way forward... Dear All, I would also like to be involved. A couple of observations: 1) There are "parallel" initiatives which support the use of Open Source in schools, and we need to make a conscious choice about contributing to them, or developing something new. Two such initiatives I've passed to James are: http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/ A comprehensive table of equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software in Linux. http://www.k12ltsp.org/wiki/ The K12LTSP Wiki - Recently created to fill the need for a repository of links and HOWTOs for implementing the LTSP distribution for schools 2) Conversely, what are our unique needs that aren't supported by other initiatives? For examples: What to do about SIMS? How to promote Open Source in LEAs? (as if Martin Williams' work wasn't enough!) What about Becta? I would like to thank SuSe for hosting this forum, and hope that it's willing to tolerate non-SuSe Open Source users like myself! Regards, John Ingleby ************ CoroNet Information Systems Ltd. Kings Langley, UK On Mon, 2003-04-07 at 23:06, Richard Rothwell wrote:
Hi All,
Please take this as a request for comment rather than my solid opinions. I also hope I have posted this in an appropriate place!
Following the conference on Friday I was left with the distinct feeling that we are standing on the edge of a major breakthrough on the implementation of open source software in schools. The offer of this technology is computing that is: - low cost - sustainable - ubiquitious - customisable We need to make sure that the enthusiasm is focussed now, for though we are all convinced of the inevitability of open source solutions, the time scale is determined by those of us who are implementing it. In particular, if the first wave of schools adopting open source does not do so by September 2003, then we will be set back by a whole year.
Suggestions: that invitations are put out to get involved with the first wave - this should include: * schools - the early implementers * schools interested but not ready to implement yet * providers and developers * any other interested parties * we share information and thoughts through a Wiki thus allowing any one to get involved * the AFFS is invited to be the front organisation for this group (www.affs.org.uk) * contact is made with organisations in other countries working on similar lines * we look for a major publicity drive in September by when a number of UK schools should be runnning large scale open source solutions.
===== rgds, Richard Rothwell -------------------------------------------------------------------- "You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the US of arrogance, and Germany doesn't want to go to war."
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