Sorry to bring this up again, but recruitment is not going particularly well. I don't want to have to cancel and it might just be that people intending to come are just waiting to book nearer the time. If you are in this category, please E-mail me and let me know so I have some idea of the possible attendance. If you are not going to attend for a specific reason eg delegate fee, date or whatever, that would be useful information too. Also if you can spread the word around through as many of your contacts, mailing lists etc as possible. If we can't get enough interest to run an annual conference its not going to make much impression on the powers that be that there is a growing interest in FLOSS in schools! Regards, -- ian <ian.lynch2@ntlworld.com>
I believe there are 3 registrations so far; the conference needs 50 delegates to run, so just *47 more* will make it happen. We're aiming for at least 100, but there's capacity for 400. This conference is a fantastic opportunity to save money across UK schools, and get more *real* IT into the hands of pupils and teachers. To register, download the booking form *now* from the link at www.schoolforge.org.uk/flossie/conference200402.html or send an email to yvonne@thelearningmachine.co.uk Don't miss it! John Ingleby ************ On Wed, 2003-12-10 at 16:55, ian wrote:
Sorry to bring this up again, but recruitment is not going particularly well. I don't want to have to cancel and it might just be that people intending to come are just waiting to book nearer the time. If you are in this category, please E-mail me and let me know so I have some idea of the possible attendance. If you are not going to attend for a specific reason eg delegate fee, date or whatever, that would be useful information too. Also if you can spread the word around through as many of your contacts, mailing lists etc as possible. If we can't get enough interest to run an annual conference its not going to make much impression on the powers that be that there is a growing interest in FLOSS in schools!
Regards, -- ian <ian.lynch2@ntlworld.com>
Flossie Conference is a great idea but :- 1. I'd love to come but it's difficult to make a day trip to London from Llanelli / Carmarthen and get there before 11.00 a.m., especially if you don't have you own transport. 2. Most of the people you want to influence are in school management and, in my experience, either not in the least bit interested in OSS or downright hostile. Most also have an extremely limited understanding of ICT - either limited to M$ or to whatever the LEA demonstrates to them. 3. Schools are going to require a mixture of operating systems and hardware - pushing OSS alone is not going to work BUT OSS in conjunction with different os's will be a convincing argument eg: X11 / OpenOffice.org on Apple, Linux / Openoffice.org on Intel and Windows / OpenOffice.org on Intel - demonstrates the cross platform operation of OSS systems and, the fact that files are freely transferable from one os version to another. However, you will have to acknowledge that there are areas where Windows is going to be required - particulary in the area of Design & Technology for instance. 4. You really need to host two / three of these events, one in each of the three major regions (England, Scotland & Wales) - Ireland may be more difficult. If you could host them in schools so much the better. I could probably swing such a venue right here with a little effort. 5. Push very hard the 'inclusive' aspect of OSS - you don't need the latest versions of software to do your work. OSS is not exclusive, it does not require a great deal of expenditure on the part of the parent BUT NO / OR VERY FEW parents are going to use software that the school doesn't (I'm one exception to this rule - as of January my children will be working purely on Mac OS/X and Linux at home). In fact our Head as already pointed out to me that she's getting tired of justifying to parents our continued use of Lotus Smartsuite rather than MS Office. What you will probably end up with is a conference of technicians / system admins etc who already understand the issues and know the superiority of OSS solutions but can't get management / teaching staff to show any interest at all. All the teachers want is an easy life, it doesn't matter to them that most kids are running illegal software or, that there's a massive underground market in such things. it's not even that they are downloading illegal software from the Internet - they're just 'borrowing' their friends CD's. Perhaps a way forward here (prepares to be flamed out of existence) is that we begin to report such occurences to M$ because, and I have to be honest about this, there is no justifiable reason anymore for running illegal software, and, that we report not just pupils, but also members of staff. maybe this would help all concerned to see the true cost of not running OSS operating systems and applications. As an alternative thought, I'm organising a small of team of year 8 & 9 pupils who have entered the Celtic Enterprises Competition (www.celticenterprises.org) - we're about two months behind the other teams for various reasons (mainly late start) but, they are intent on producing Javascipt based applications for use in primary and secondary schools using OSS development methods. Some samples of their work to date can be found on www.freewebs.com/ccookbook/eduscripts/index.html - have a look and let me know of any comments that you may have. At present, we have several 'Maths' applications under development, some 'Writing frames' applications for English and a general purpose quiz / revision testing application. Please bear in mind that these pupils are learning to use javascript 'on the fly' and, that all development is being undertaken using Apple iBooks with FireBird being used as the browser of choice. The intention is to produce a CD for circulation to each school in our LEA containing our applications and the FireBird browser for all three major os'es. Perhaps this is another way forward..... just some thought for you all.... Alan :-) (Time to go and put flame proof suit on) On Wednesday, Dec 10, 2003, at 18:25 Europe/London, John Ingleby wrote:
I believe there are 3 registrations so far; the conference needs 50 delegates to run, so just *47 more* will make it happen. We're aiming for at least 100, but there's capacity for 400. This conference is a fantastic opportunity to save money across UK schools, and get more *real* IT into the hands of pupils and teachers.
To register, download the booking form *now* from the link at www.schoolforge.org.uk/flossie/conference200402.html or send an email to yvonne@thelearningmachine.co.uk
Don't miss it!
John Ingleby ************
On Wed, 2003-12-10 at 16:55, ian wrote:
Sorry to bring this up again, but recruitment is not going particularly well. I don't want to have to cancel and it might just be that people intending to come are just waiting to book nearer the time. If you are in this category, please E-mail me and let me know so I have some idea of the possible attendance. If you are not going to attend for a specific reason eg delegate fee, date or whatever, that would be useful information too. Also if you can spread the word around through as many of your contacts, mailing lists etc as possible. If we can't get enough interest to run an annual conference its not going to make much impression on the powers that be that there is a growing interest in FLOSS in schools!
Regards, -- ian <ian.lynch2@ntlworld.com>
-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-help@suse.com
On Thu, 2003-12-11 at 10:35, Alan Harris wrote:
Flossie Conference is a great idea but :-
1. I'd love to come but it's difficult to make a day trip to London from Llanelli / Carmarthen and get there before 11.00 a.m., especially if you don't have you own transport.
2. Most of the people you want to influence are in school management and, in my experience, either not in the least bit interested in OSS or downright hostile. Most also have an extremely limited understanding of ICT - either limited to M$ or to whatever the LEA demonstrates to them.
No, I have the Chairman of BECTA coming some people from the DfES and at least one elected politician. Think bigger. We need to influence politicians not SMTs in schools. SMTs will in general follow the political flow. Look at how suddenly all schools are applying for specialist status simply because of one Government announcement. There is a symbolism in the FLOSSIE logo ;-)
3. Schools are going to require a mixture of operating systems and hardware - pushing OSS alone is not going to work BUT OSS in conjunction with different os's will be a convincing argument eg: X11 / OpenOffice.org on Apple, Linux / Openoffice.org on Intel and Windows / OpenOffice.org on Intel - demonstrates the cross platform operation of OSS systems and, the fact that files are freely transferable from one os version to another. However, you will have to acknowledge that there are areas where Windows is going to be required - particulary in the area of Design & Technology for instance.
This is exactly what the speakers *will* be showing. Wakefield City High have an integrated Windows and Linux thin client network. St Monica's Languages project is using Audacity on Windows and Linux. I don't really understand why people are making the assumption that every non-FLOSS application will somehow be banned from the room. We are promoting FLOSS so that will be the emphasis - practical ways to use it. That includes integration and side by side use - as with East Hull CLC for example.
4. You really need to host two / three of these events, one in each of the three major regions (England, Scotland & Wales) - Ireland may be more difficult. If you could host them in schools so much the better. I could probably swing such a venue right here with a little effort.
I would be more than happy for others to organise regional events. Let's get one national one viable first and have some impact.
5. Push very hard the 'inclusive' aspect of OSS - you don't need the latest versions of software to do your work. OSS is not exclusive, it does not require a great deal of expenditure on the part of the parent BUT NO / OR VERY FEW parents are going to use software that the school doesn't (I'm one exception to this rule - as of January my children will be working purely on Mac OS/X and Linux at home). In fact our Head as already pointed out to me that she's getting tired of justifying to parents our continued use of Lotus Smartsuite rather than MS Office.
I have built FLOSS projects into many specialist schools bids on the grounds of inclusion. I have lobbied parliament on it through my MP, Have a look at the OpenOffice.org schools web page at http://marketing.openoffice.org/education/schools and look at what it says on equality of opportunity. David Hargreaves main areas of interest relate to social inclusion and I think that this will be the main theme of his opening address, though I still need to check this with him. I take on board the need to say more on the website and the flyer about aspects to be discussed but there is a limit as to what will fit on a flyer and the text around the speakers gives a pretty good idea of what they will be talking about. There will also be practical hands on opportunities too. Similar to the last conference.
What you will probably end up with is a conference of technicians / system admins etc who already understand the issues and know the superiority of OSS solutions but can't get management / teaching staff to show any interest at all.
I only hope we do have plenty such people because Professor Hargreaves and the DfES representatives will be there to listen to them. I also hope that we can be civilised towards the influencers and make a good impression. In the end, if we think its important enough we can make some personal sacrifices to try and change things. We might not succeed, but we definitely won't if we don't try. -- ian <ian.lynch2@ntlworld.com>
Colin McQueen wrote:
ian <ian.lynch2@ntlworld.com> wrote:
Sorry to bring this up again, but recruitment is not going particularly well.
I've just received a support email from Capita and it has the FLOSSIE details on it!!
:)
I submitted details to Capita's SupportNet site last week as part of my efforts to get higher publicity for the conference. I've even had help from Steve Smith from Capita in testing the new Firebird compatible tools that were used to submit the event details. (These were implemented about a week after I highlighted that the existing menus didn't work in non-IE browsers.) Tony
Suggest that a more targeted approach may be needed....draw up a list of names/schools/govt depts/suppliers etc and ring them, send christmas cards and email them until you get a reply...share out this load across all the trusted members of this list...having organised a an earlier session with Richard Stallman at DFID on OSS I know how difficult it is to gain peoples interest and commitment......tempus fugit -----Original Message----- From: Colin McQueen [mailto:cmcqueen@mcqueen.uk.net] Sent: 17 December 2003 20:52 To: suse-linux-uk-schools@suse.com Subject: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Re: Flossie again ian <ian.lynch2@ntlworld.com> wrote:
Sorry to bring this up again, but recruitment is not going particularly well.
I've just received a support email from Capita and it has the FLOSSIE details on it!! :) -- Colin McQueen -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-help@suse.com
On Wed, 2003-12-17 at 22:32, chris_thing-e wrote:
Suggest that a more targeted approach may be needed....draw up a list of names/schools/govt depts/suppliers etc and ring them, send christmas cards and email them until you get a reply...
To an extent its been done, but these things cost money, particularly sending Xmas cards out. Faxes are generally more effective than E-mails that just get lost in spam. I believe Yvonne has faxed all the LEAs and a lot of schools in the London area. I am currently drawing up another list but it will now be best to do it at the beginning of next term as people are switching off for Xmas.
share out this load across all the trusted members of this list...having organised a an earlier session with Richard Stallman at DFID on OSS I know how difficult it is to gain peoples interest and commitment......tempus fugit
The best way people on the list can help is to "pester" their contacts lists, local schools etc. Especially those not on the main lists like this one Schoolforge, fsfe etc as these are fairly well targeted. Tony's success with the Capita mailing list is a good example. I was also thinking about a discount for multiple people from the same school/organisation. If a school pays one at the full £59 delegate rate, that person can bring a colleague for £10. (£10 is the basic delegate rate for food etc) If anyone can help in anyway, E-mail Yvonne@thelearningmachine.co.uk and tell her what you can do because she is doing the main administration jobs. Thanks, -- ian <ian.lynch2@ntlworld.com>
participants (6)
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Alan Harris -
chris_thing-e -
Colin McQueen -
ian -
John Ingleby -
Tony Whitmore