Sorry about the delay. Here is the first draft of the meeting to be marked-up and revised where necessary. Paul On March 12th 2001 at Westwood St. Thomas' School, Salisbury, there was a meeting which took place in order to establish an official structure for the OSIE (Open Source in Education) initiative. The meeting was extremely well represented by people from across the spectrum of educational establishments, LEAs and companies involved in the distribution and support of the Linux O/S, throughout the UK. The underlying purpose of the meeting was to determine a more specific structure for the organisation, its basic principles and objectives, and the long-term aims. All of these ideas were discussed through presentations and discussions from all parties present. The initial points of discussion were introduced jointly by Roger Whittaker (SuSE, UKUUG) and Michael Brown (Fen Systems). Roger's presentation showed the developments to-date toward the creation of OSIE and the need to unify the knowledge and experience that was clearly represented in the meeting. He also mentioned the involvement of companies like SuSE and Red Hat (Malcolm Herbert was unable to attend the meeting but has been instrumental in the ground swell of interest in OSIE). While these commercial organisations are involved integrally in OSIE, they stressed that it was purely in a supportive role. One example of this is the use of the SuSE for Schools news group which has acted as a point of contact for the people present. Roger was quick to emphasise that this in itself was an 'open' forum and would be happy to incorporate this into OSIE once established. Roger also gave a brief introduction to the practical considerations needed in order to make this organisation a credible and viable one. Once the skeleton had been sketched out, it was down to Michael Brown to put some flesh on the bones. Michael has also made some in-roads into the creation of an education specific set of resources and registered an official domain name for the organisation which was one topic for later debate. Michael's tie, like Roger's, is a commercial one, though again he stressed his desire to act as a support to the organisation and not a controlling one. Michael already has a comprehensive database of information and tutorials which he proposed would be the basis for the organisation's knowledge pool and since he already had this involvement, he would like to be involved in maintaining and up-dating this resource. One proposal in relation to this was the formation of three branches that all members (who would be non-paying) would be part of: editorial, technical, and contributors. It was also noted by several participants that this resource should be carefully managed and not become an incomprehensible archive f redundant data. It should be a professional one that would be an evolving one created by practitioners for practitioners. The professional focus was a point of discussion throughout the day. It was felt by many people present that this organisation would only work, and indeed had to through necessity, as a professional one. The long-term implications were flagged up by several other participants and some sub0discussions revolved around the potential for industry based support but more importantly, for peer acceptance. It was clear that many at the meeting were firm believers in the use and promotion of open source solutions, but others stressed the difficulties of more widespread acceptance which the meeting had been called to address. Roger addressed some of these concerns which underpinned the need of a professional structure and appearance to OSIE, and for the right mix and level of support. The great difficulty with OSIE in general will be the fact that the great majority of decision makers are not technically proficient and therefore many of the advantages of open source are lost on them. What they need to see is practical working examples in the "real world". Once this happens, then the solutions will sell themselves. In order to support this it was proposed that the participation and pool of knowledge be widened throughout the UK with subsequent meetings and discussions and the incorporation of geographical points of contact to display working solutions. OSIE would act as the vehicle for this but this is essential for people not familiar with the utility of open source to see examples. In relation to this last point, the later part of the morning was taken up with a demonstration by Christopher Dawkins (Felsted School) of his own system based on open source solutions. Networking problems within the host school meant that the full potential of Felsted was not was possible to demonstrate but a KDE desktop was displayed on the host school site which was running from one of his desktop machines 200 miles away. This in itself was powerful enough as an image of the possibilities. Christopher, through open source solutions, has managed to create a "total ICT solution" that the Dutch football team would be proud of, incorporating several platforms and applications, including BBCs running teletext within the school. He talked at length to the group in terms of the inclusive nature of this solution and also the enormous cost and learning benefits. One sub-plot of the meeting was the issue of dealing with the standard response of people in education who have not seen the benefits of open source encapsulated in the almost universal dictate "they don't use it in companies, therefore it is not useful". Michael had discussed this point earlier and Christopher had addressed it more fully in his practical displays. Most present felt that this was a difficult one to address and the key factor which determined it, and again reinforced the need for OSIE, was ignorance. As an educator myself, I believe that it is inherently wrong to train 'Microsoft proficient units' and not educate students into a deeper understanding of the machines that know form the backbone of the Information Age. The emphasis of the meeting was not a commercial one, but one designed to address the need for solutions that are challenging, education specific, affordable and reasonable. If students can learn the principles underlying using a word processor, spreadsheet etc., then they can cope with any application in the market place, MS or otherwise. Christopher also poignantly noted that if students struggle with something like Star Office, they are still learning and perhaps that is more important than making them "ready for industry". Perhaps a useful analogy to illustrate this would be if you told a history teacher that they had to teach a Stalinist interpretation of history because this is "what everyone else does", they would tell you what you could do in no uncertain terms. Why then must ICT teachers teach computers through the lens of Microsoft? This point was discussed in some depth and carried on through lunch and into the afternoon. The term "free" has some rather negative connotations in society at large. Many people that control the purse strings like the idea of saving money but "free" denotes "no good". It was felt by the group that the emphasis should rather be on "open", as in accessible for all. A more detailed written explanation in line with something like the GPL could accompany this for anyone wanting to dig deeper. Also, to reiterate, the strong emphasis must be on the UK schools specific nature of OSIE. Once the organisation becomes the defacto and dejure organisation that schools turn to for these solutions, then it will take on its own life and grow and expand. A more focused debate in the afternoon targeted some of the practical considerations of making the organisation move to the next phase. It was agreed that the help with infrastructure being offered by UKUUG, SuSE, Red Hat, Fen Systems and others would be a useful basis for development toward a wider incorporation of the aims and objectives put forward. In light of this, it was provisionally accepted to work on the title and destination of the next meeting. Members present from Leeds University suggested their venue as did the Welsh contingent. Though all agreed that this was positive and necessary, no formal decision has yet been made. The next few weeks will entail more detailed discussion, preliminary through the SuSE for Schools forum, to begin implementing the preliminary ideas and findings that came out of the meeting. The afternoon wrapped up with another practical demonstration of the available solutions that help to answer some of the criticisms that currently exist. Phil Jones was an independent developer that had created an instructive web site using a Linux server and Windows client in order to teach students more complex elements of web design including PHP and SQL. All of this was accomplished in a clear and understandable way which had some real potential in schools. Though he used a commercial application to integrate the machines and not something like VNC, he was able to show a working version of GIMP running in native Linux on a Windows desktop, including the KDE task bar sitting on top of the Windows one. It was felt that these solutions are central to the success and up-take of OSIE and should be incorporated into the official site. They can also be developed alongside the structural and administrative considerations such as localised technical support and on-line learning resources in order to increase the user base of OSIE solutions. The first official meeting of OSIE was therefore well represented, informative, and generally felt to be successful for all participating with a great deal of future potential. I strongly believe that this is the beginning of a necessary and timely intervention into the growing needs of education not currently served by the "closed source" alternative. Members present Company Roger Whittaker SuSE Michael Brown Fen Systems Paul Taylor Westwood St. Thomas School Steve Berry Westwood St. Thomas School Michael Robinson Westwood St. Thomas School Matthew Summers LJ Group Colin Davies Meadow School Gavin Lee Innovation-X Rob Maltey Rosemary Musker High School Mark Frans St Peter's High School Philip Hands Alcove UK (Debian) Adrian Carey Dialnet Bob Gautier Aleb Ltd Carol Tough Ysyol y Gwendraeth Miles Berry St. Ives School Steve Rochford College of NW London Christopher Dawkins Felsted School Richard Smedley Its Linux ?????? (illegible hand writing, sorry) Learning Lab Giles Nunn Carms LEA Alan Harris Bryngwyn School Kevin Taylor Northants LUG Andrew Ray Computer Park Limited Ian Lynch IRL Computer Systems Ltd. George Coxhead Leeds Metropolitan University Tony Moan Univentures Phil Jones??? Apologies for my bad interpretation of your hand writing if I have made a mistake. I also did not have the name of the person that did the last presentation but I know his name was Phil.
Back to more interesting and practical matters: As promised, here is a (brief) summary of the key points from the OSIE presentation of last Monday. Please do read the end of this e-mail, even if you skip the details of the presentation - there is important information at the bottom. (NB: "Linux" is used as an abbreviation for "Linux and other free, open-source software" throughout) 1) Why should schools use Linux? - Cost - no licence fees - plays nicely in a thin-client setup (a la LTSP) - lower maintenance costs - easy to automate routine admin tasks - easily administered remotely - Reliability and security - UNIX has been multi-user for many years - software generally co-operates well with other software - security built-in right down to desktop level - Some "killer" applications (e.g. LyX, GIMP, Octave, Apache) - Comprehensive - includes functionality that schools may not want when starting, but it's already in place for when they do want it (e.g. database server) - Freedom - easier for schools to get improvements made to open-source software 2) Why don't schools use Linux? - Ignorance - many schools don't know about the potential benefits of Linux - many schools will not even have heard of Linux - "Business knows best and businesses use Windows" - Fear - "everyone else uses Windows" - "you need to be a guru - no-one will support it for you" - "it might go the way of Betamax" 3) How can we get schools to use Linux? - Take away the ignorance - make schools aware of the existence and potential benefits of Linux - Take away the "Business knows best" idea - why should schools sit back and follow instead of providing a lead? - Take away the fear - "everyone else uses Windows" - make schools aware that there are already schools successfully using Linux - make schools aware that Linux runs a substantial portion of the Internet - "you need to be a guru - no-one will support it for you" - make schools aware of the support that is available, both voluntary (e.g. newsgroups) and commercial *DECLARATION OF INTEREST: Yes, I am in the business of providing commercial support* - "it might go the way of Betamax" - open-source model means that this is virtually impossible 4) OSIE - The proposal Proposed formation of assocation "Open Source in Education (OSIE)" to provide: - An independent, "umbrella" name that can become something well-known that represents Linux in education (almost a "brand identity") - A central web site, built as a collaborative effort, to provide: - Comprehensive answers to the key questions: - "What is Linux?" - "What can Linux do for me?" - "Which schools use Linux?" - "How can I get Linux?" - "How can I get support for Linux?" - A directory of schools using Linux, complete with a description of their setup and testimonials from administrators, staff and students. NB: It is IMPORTANT that this does not become a mere "links page" - A directory of education-specific suppliers of Linux, complete with a description of the products/services they specialise in Again, this must not be just a "link page" - A resource library containing descriptions, screenshots and tutorials of useful educational software (and online content) - A knowledge base of problems encountered by schools using Linux (and solutions to the problems) 5) OSIE - Implementation - Political/Legal aspects - Should be independent - one way of achieving this is to run it under the banner of UKUUG - Should be open - all content of the web site should be released under the GNU General Public Licence or the GNU Free Documentation Licence - Practical - one possible way it could work - Web site needs to be hosted on a server to which we can get full root access - Split web site tasks as: - Contributors - people who actually write the content in the first place. Ideally, it should be open for anyone to contribute. - Editors - people who check contributions for correct spelling, presentation, correct markup etc. before uploading to web site. This step may seem superfluous, but it would help to ensure that the site remained professional in appearance. If all contributions have to go through an editing stage then this avoids any potential for awkwardness that could arise if contributions were edited only when "necessary". - Technical team - people who look after the underlying PHP/SQL/HTML/CSS etc. and maintain a framework in which the contributors and editors can work efficiently. - The current Fen Systems Resource Library code and content was written from the start to become the OSIE Resource Library - it would avoid re-inventing the wheel if this were used as the first version of the OSIE Resource Library - In the spirit of the GPL, membership should be free and open to all. Members will be expected to contribute either time (or, if not time, money) to the project, as is the case with most open-source projects. - The role of Fen Systems in OSIE - Fen Systems would like to be actively involved at all levels (contributing, editing and technical). We think that it is wasteful for organisations to separately produce things like our Resource Library - we would much rather use a collaborative, open-source approach. We would aim to have most of what is now on our company web site migrated to OSIE, so that our own web site merely adds Fen Systems-specific details (e.g. our prices) to the OSIE core content. This would then enable us to contribute the time we would otherwise spend on our own web site into developing the OSIE site. On Mon, 19 Mar 2001, ptaylor wrote:
Michael already has a comprehensive database of information and tutorials which he proposed would be the basis for the organisation's knowledge pool and since he already had this involvement, he would like to be involved in maintaining and up-dating this resource.
OK - I have now ported the Fen Systems Resource Library to a skeleton OSIE site. This site is temporarily available at http://www.fensystems.co.uk/osie/ (it's not linked to from anywhere). The site currently contains only a skeletal outline of a possible OSIE site - it is intended as a starting point for proper development work. The PHP infrastructure for generating several of the various reports (e.g. information on schools, suppliers, people, resources) is in place, and there is some dummy information present. It has not been tested with many browsers but, since it is designed to conform to XHTML1.0 and avoids the use of non-portable technologies such as Flash, it should(!) work on most browsers without problems. PLEASE NOTE: Information currently on this site (other than in the Resource Library) is NOT ACCURATE and should be regarded as FICTIONAL. I have taken the liberty of adding approximate details of a few people and organisations, because it's quite hard to test database code without any data! The site is missing essential features including things such as a "News" page (a la www.ose.org.uk front page) and a sitewide search facility. I am hoping that other people will be willing and able to add these facilities, but I am prepared to code them if necessary. There are a couple of downright ugly bits in the source code, which I want to clean up before anyone else sees it! :-) I am aiming to dump the whole lot onto SourceForge and GPL it sometime this week - please e-mail me if you want project admin / developer access to the code on SourceForge (please do!).
What they need to see is practical working examples in the "real world". Once this happens, then the solutions will sell themselves. In order to support this it was proposed that the participation and pool of knowledge be widened throughout the UK with subsequent meetings and discussions and the incorporation of geographical points of contact to display working solutions. OSIE would act as the vehicle for this but this is essential for people not familiar with the utility of open source to see examples.
Agreed - now, are there schools using open-source software who would be prepared to write a bit about their setup that can then go into the OSIE site? Michael Brown OSIE / Fen Systems
Well done Michael (& well done Paul for the write up) My Inititial impressions are very positive, especially given the fast tunraround time. A few points to consider after a very quick reading: You need to make clear somewhere the copyleft nature of material on the site. Aren't you being unduly down beat about DIY solutions? Do we consider RedHat, SuSE, Debian, etc., Linux Emporium(?) etc., to be suppliers and, at least in the 1st 3 cases, supporters of this approach? Support details aught to include, at least, usenet, linuxdoc.org, distributors websites, LUGs, and the SuSE/OSiE list Again, the distinction between Linux servers and desktops is worth making explicit - point out that a school can use Linux alongside its existing architecture. You will remember to change the title tags won't you? ;-) You can include St Ives on the list of schools - I'll do a write up when I have time; the address details and low res logo are on our contact page: http://www.st-ives.surrey.sch.uk/contact.htm - we are Linux (& Windows), DIY. EMail me for more details if needed. Miles Berry Deputy Head St Ives School, Haslemere www.st-ives.surrey.sch.uk
Back to more interesting and practical matters:
As promised, here is a (brief) summary of the key points from the OSIE presentation of last Monday. Please do read the end of this e-mail, even if you skip the details of the presentation - there is important information at the bottom.
...
Agreed - now, are there schools using open-source software who would be prepared to write a bit about their setup that can then go into the OSIE site?
Michael Brown OSIE / Fen Systems
On Tue, Mar 20, 2001 at 02:26:14AM +0000, Michael Brown wrote:
Back to more interesting and practical matters:
As promised, here is a (brief) summary of the key points from the OSIE presentation of last Monday. Please do read the end of this e-mail, even if you skip the details of the presentation - there is important information at the bottom.
(NB: "Linux" is used as an abbreviation for "Linux and other free, open-source software" throughout)
1) Why should schools use Linux? - Cost - no licence fees - plays nicely in a thin-client setup (a la LTSP) - lower maintenance costs - easy to automate routine admin tasks - easily administered remotely - Reliability and security - UNIX has been multi-user for many years - software generally co-operates well with other software - security built-in right down to desktop level - Some "killer" applications (e.g. LyX, GIMP, Octave, Apache) - Comprehensive - includes functionality that schools may not want when starting, but it's already in place for when they do want it (e.g. database server) - Freedom - easier for schools to get improvements made to open-source software
- Adheres to open standards & protocols - avoids vendor lock-in I don't know if that was mentioned but perhaps it should be, as IMO it's one of the most important reasons for anyone to use Linux. -- Frank *-------*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-------* | Boroughbridge | Tel: 01423 323019 | PGP keyID: 0xC0B341A3 | *-------*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-------* http://www.esperance-linux.co.uk/
On Mon, Mar 19, 2001 at 09:03:26PM +0000, ptaylor wrote:
Christopher, through open source solutions, has managed to create a "total ICT solution" that the Dutch football team would be proud of...
The boy done good. Microsoft's manager must have been sick as a parrot when he put the onions in the string bag. -- `Big Ron' aka Frank Shute ;-) *-------*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-------* | Boroughbridge | Tel: 01423 323019 | PGP keyID: 0xC0B341A3 | *-------*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-------* http://www.esperance-linux.co.uk/
participants (4)
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Frank Shute
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Michael Brown
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Miles Berry
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ptaylor