On Thursday 27 November 2003 16:32, Chris Puttick wrote:
This should help... (for someone who claims it's not her area, she seems to have a pretty good grasp!)
-----Original Message----- From: sue Sent: 27 November 2003 08:22 To: Chris Puttick Subject: Re: FW: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Open file formats and idiology
This is not my area in all honesty. The main archival argument for open standards is preservation (what organisations like the Digital Preservation Coalition and ERPANET are about); records management also requires longevity, interoperability and value for money (of course!). The preservation argument is fairly irrelevant for the work of schoolchildren! My views, for what they are worth:
Government policy is a good place to start, this is a trend coming from the top: http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/00/28/41/04002841.pdf
UNESCO is also a good source. Probably the EU also.
Practically speaking, the differences between the two aren't enormous. Having learnt to use one, finding your way round the other shouldn't present any problems. Given government policy on OSS, and increased use in the private sector, exposure to openoffice might be sold as a benefit. If IBM have a good opensource page, this could represent the so-called "real world" corporte side of the equation.
As far as presenting the ideological and practical arguments go, see:
http://openopen.org/resoruces/oss/oss-uk-gov.html
which also has links to the UK govt. policy and background work to it.
Certainly it is unethical for schools to be seen as institutions who train pupils in the use of proprietary software. They are there to provide basic skills and teach the curriculum (Microsoft isn't on it, surely!
The KS3 strategy was accompanied by a great deal of resources - all of them supplied helpfully in MS formats. This included a type of sound file that I had never seen before and was not recognised by any of the multitude of Linux sound players. There are about 14 modules in the strategy and each could have from 10 -50 associated files. It has been a nightmare converting these to OO and I am on the verge of kicking the whole thing into touch. regards garry Perhaps that might be somewhere to look when justifying the
differences between education and training). Her child can obviously choose to save her work using that horrid .doc format so she can utilise
Microsoft Word at home if her parents can afford it. Perhaps she is unaware that not everyone in the real world can afford expensive software licences, and that openoffice is much more socially inclusive and public spirited.
UKOLN site on open standards is quite good for Q&A too:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefings/briefing-11/html/
Chris Puttick wrote:
Your expertise is called for - this guy needs references on the open file format debate...
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Johnson [mailto:johnsonmlw@yahoo.com]
Sent: 27 November 2003 14:14 To: SuSe Subject: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Open file formats and idiology
Hi all,
A rallying cry for some assistance in a scary world.
We're thinking of replacing MS Office here (97) with Oo.o 1.1 (to be honest, it's going to happen!). I've received a letter from a parent who is "alarmed" that we may be considering any alternatives to Microsoft, expressing how important it is for her child to be in a Microsoft environment because of the real world (I'm paraphrasing - not her words).
I'm arguing along three lines...
*Practicality (cost/budget/product features).
*Educationally (we're teachers not trainers)
*Idiologically (free thinking, open standards and specifically open file formats).
Could anyone point me to some web resources for the definition of "educating" rather than "training" that would enhance my point. And also resources that support the case for "open file formats" versus proprietory (and thus I suppose opensource in general versus proprietory - although maybe this wouldn't directly help as we're at least "looking at Star Office". Hmm). The more professional the body of any report's author, the better I suppose (do Becta cover this stuff?). Any articles at all would be great.
Cheers
-- Matt Johnson
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I think your experience is better suited to presenting this argument than mine! Whatever happens, "ideology" ought to be spelt correctly, or it will undercut whatever is written in the response.
S x
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