Comments on: OpenSourceSchools – the inaugural meeting http://milesberry.net/2008/10/opensourceschools-the-inaugural-meeting/ A personal perspective on education, technology and culture Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:55:57 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: open source schools http://milesberry.net/2008/10/opensourceschools-the-inaugural-meeting/comment-page-1/#comment-19 open source schools Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:07:53 +0000 http://milesberry.net/?p=382#comment-19 [...] does it take to build a community? at dougbelshaw.com OpenSourceSchools - the inaugural meeting | milesberry.net Some extra links for a few minutes [...] [...] does it take to build a community? at dougbelshaw.com OpenSourceSchools – the inaugural meeting | milesberry.net Some extra links for a few minutes [...]

]]> By: Doug Belshaw http://milesberry.net/2008/10/opensourceschools-the-inaugural-meeting/comment-page-1/#comment-18 Doug Belshaw Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:06:59 +0000 http://milesberry.net/?p=382#comment-18 It was great to meet people in the flesh who I'd only previously met online, and to make new acquaintances! Some very good ideas buzzed around the room, but I sensed a bit of a 'wait and see' policy from most involved. I have to say, I'm guilty of that too. The trouble is that there's a lot of already-busy people involved in this project who haven't got time to plough into something that either might not work or may not be there in a couple of years' time. I really want the project to succeed, but I feel that AlphaPlus may have to go down the road to pay some people for their time, just to get things up-and-running! It was great to meet people in the flesh who I’d only previously met online, and to make new acquaintances! Some very good ideas buzzed around the room, but I sensed a bit of a ‘wait and see’ policy from most involved. I have to say, I’m guilty of that too.

The trouble is that there’s a lot of already-busy people involved in this project who haven’t got time to plough into something that either might not work or may not be there in a couple of years’ time. I really want the project to succeed, but I feel that AlphaPlus may have to go down the road to pay some people for their time, just to get things up-and-running!

]]> By: Open Source Schools - it’s a no brainer… right? http://milesberry.net/2008/10/opensourceschools-the-inaugural-meeting/comment-page-1/#comment-17 Open Source Schools - it’s a no brainer… right? Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:18:36 +0000 http://milesberry.net/?p=382#comment-17 [...] Doulg Belshaw and Miles Berry, who were in attendance, have written wonderfully about this project and/or this meeting on their [...] [...] Doulg Belshaw and Miles Berry, who were in attendance, have written wonderfully about this project and/or this meeting on their [...]

]]> By: Ross Gardler http://milesberry.net/2008/10/opensourceschools-the-inaugural-meeting/comment-page-1/#comment-16 Ross Gardler Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:01:29 +0000 http://milesberry.net/?p=382#comment-16 "The sense of empowerment that comes with suggesting features, writing documentation, spotting bugs or contributing fixes is a unique ’selling’ point here." Lets not kid ourselves here - all those points are not unique to open source. What *may* be a selling point is that the development community is responsive to those suggestions. However, that is a selling point for a specific product not for a licence or a development methodology. "As a group we spent a while being perhaps a bit too critical of the site’s present beta release " Then why is this conversation happening here and not on the projects website? There was indeed lots of criticism, but it was all constructive I think. To build a community you have to provide what the community demands. Currently the beta site does not do that (but the team *did* listen and I agree we should "watch this space"). Ross “The sense of empowerment that comes with suggesting features, writing documentation, spotting bugs or contributing fixes is a unique ’selling’ point here.”

Lets not kid ourselves here – all those points are not unique to open source.

What *may* be a selling point is that the development community is responsive to those suggestions. However, that is a selling point for a specific product not for a licence or a development methodology.

“As a group we spent a while being perhaps a bit too critical of the site’s present beta release ”

Then why is this conversation happening here and not on the projects website? There was indeed lots of criticism, but it was all constructive I think. To build a community you have to provide what the community demands. Currently the beta site does not do that (but the team *did* listen and I agree we should “watch this space”).

Ross

]]> By: Miles Berry http://milesberry.net/2008/10/opensourceschools-the-inaugural-meeting/comment-page-1/#comment-13 Miles Berry Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:26:48 +0000 http://milesberry.net/?p=382#comment-13 Open Office, Inkscape and the GIMP are great programs, but, purely in terms of functionality, can one say, hand on heart, that they're <em>better</em> than MS Office, Illustrator and Photoshop? The cloud based apps are interesting - and I'd expect googe docs etc to catch up with OOo and MS Office before very long. There are some interesting data protection issues here though - I suspect it's contrary to the DPA to use google docs for report writing or an online markbook. Open Office, Inkscape and the GIMP are great programs, but, purely in terms of functionality, can one say, hand on heart, that they’re better than MS Office, Illustrator and Photoshop?
The cloud based apps are interesting – and I’d expect googe docs etc to catch up with OOo and MS Office before very long. There are some interesting data protection issues here though – I suspect it’s contrary to the DPA to use google docs for report writing or an online markbook.

]]> By: Ian Lynch http://milesberry.net/2008/10/opensourceschools-the-inaugural-meeting/comment-page-1/#comment-15 Ian Lynch Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:11:02 +0000 http://milesberry.net/?p=382#comment-15 "but it has to include Moodle, Elgg, Wordpress, Apache, Bind and Firefox. I wonder what else?" OpenOffice, Drupal, Inkscape, GIMP, Audacity for sure. OOo 3.0 has already had 10s of millions of downloads and many schools are starting to use it so despite the fact the MS Office will be dominant for some time to come it is already less so than last year or the year before. I should think some will also start using the excellent Google on-line spreadsheet in order to share and publish models on line simply using a browser. The school I was in today training teachers from Turkey, UK, Germany, and Portugal to use Drupal to construct e-portfolios. Appears that this school's entire (LA managed) web filtering assumes the use and is dependent on IE. Install Firefox and you can access any site. This seems incredibly bad practice but it will probably result in that LA simply banning Firefox as a "security risk". If the SOSP is to have any effect it has to challenge these things or no-one will be able to use Open Source simply because the LA won't allow it. Arguably this is illegal in terms of the 1998 competition act. Will SOSP work to unlock these situations? “but it has to include Moodle, Elgg, Wordpress, Apache, Bind and Firefox. I wonder what else?”

OpenOffice, Drupal, Inkscape, GIMP, Audacity for sure. OOo 3.0 has already had 10s of millions of downloads and many schools are starting to use it so despite the fact the MS Office will be dominant for some time to come it is already less so than last year or the year before. I should think some will also start using the excellent Google on-line spreadsheet in order to share and publish models on line simply using a browser.

The school I was in today training teachers from Turkey, UK, Germany, and Portugal to use Drupal to construct e-portfolios. Appears that this school’s entire (LA managed) web filtering assumes the use and is dependent on IE. Install Firefox and you can access any site. This seems incredibly bad practice but it will probably result in that LA simply banning Firefox as a “security risk”. If the SOSP is to have any effect it has to challenge these things or no-one will be able to use Open Source simply because the LA won’t allow it. Arguably this is illegal in terms of the 1998 competition act. Will SOSP work to unlock these situations?

]]> By: Miles Berry http://milesberry.net/2008/10/opensourceschools-the-inaugural-meeting/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Miles Berry Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:07:44 +0000 http://milesberry.net/?p=382#comment-14 I like <a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/" rel="nofollow">audacity</a> very much - not sure that it's out in front of Garage Band or Logic Studio, but then it's not really in the same category, I guess. <a href="http://www.truecrypt.org" rel="nofollow">TrueCrypt</a> is new to me, but looks very interesting. <a href="http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki" rel="nofollow">MediaWiki</a> certainly belongs on the list, and I was tempted to add <a href="http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page" rel="nofollow">freemind</a> to the list too. I like audacity very much – not sure that it’s out in front of Garage Band or Logic Studio, but then it’s not really in the same category, I guess.
TrueCrypt is new to me, but looks very interesting.
MediaWiki certainly belongs on the list, and I was tempted to add freemind to the list too.

]]> By: Davo http://milesberry.net/2008/10/opensourceschools-the-inaugural-meeting/comment-page-1/#comment-12 Davo Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:48:06 +0000 http://milesberry.net/?p=382#comment-12 On the 'best of breed' list: would Audacity and TrueCrypt get a look in? On the ‘best of breed’ list: would Audacity and TrueCrypt get a look in?

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