On Wed, 2003-04-09 at 21:33, MJ Ray wrote:
Chris Puttick <chris@centralmanclc.com> wrote:
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.
AFFS are already UK members of SchoolForge, although because our education campaign has not really got going yet, we're not particularly active. You can help change that, though.
Also, I really don't think that the UK needs two organisations doing this (see past), so why double the overheads and divide the effort? I also think that we need the continuity of a formal organisation with other backing rather than trying to treat education in isolation. As you saw at the conference, other departments, such as the Cabinet Office, who AFFS already talks to, are involved here, not just DfES.
If this email appears, I'll forward my ones from yesterday that the list server didn't let through.
Just returned from Westminster where I have a good political lead to get pressure for more OSS in schools. All a bit complex at the moment but I have at least 3 MPs who look likely to make OSS in education an issue.Gordon Brown's budget problems are a definite ally! I don't particularly want to go into detail at the moment because it is early days and it could come to nought but rest assured I wouldn't waste my time travelling to meeting in London if I didn't think it worthwhile. At the moment I'm at the "tell us more" stage and I have been assigned a researcher who seems to have some clue about it all, so I'm relatively optimistic. I think we need to attack this from as many fronts as possible. Political, Civil Service, BECTa, volunteers in schools and companies. Remember, the squeaky hinge gets the grease! -- ian <ian.lynch2@ntlworld.com>