[ubuntu-za] Website for FOSS in Schools

[Hilton Theunissen]

I would like to propose that we changed the topic to "Ubuntu/Edubuntu in 
SA Schools". This way the discussions will be focused.

David Robert Lewis wrote:
> Great idea. This is exciting stuff and would resolve an issue I have 
> with the current ubuntu-za wiki which doesn't focus on Ubuntu enough. I 
> really believe that we need to grow the local distribution, and there 
> are a number of reasons why Ubuntu is not simply another FOSS and is 
> more than just a flavour of Linux. For one there is the security of 
> knowing other computers are running what you are running. Not all of us 
> can simply hack away at Linux. Then there is the problem of discourse - 
> every Linux distro has different terms and ways of doing things. A 
> teacher would probably go mad keeping a classroom in one place with a 
> general Linux free-for-all. Look, I'm not trying to diss the broader 
> Linux community but rather see this as a parallel development. So if you 
> want the total solution go to schoolforge. If you want the Ubuntu 
> solution, go to ubuntu-za? Seems appropriate?
> 
> 
> Hilton Theunissen wrote:
>> Hi All
>>
>> We registered the domain www.schoolforge.org.za, we are going to setup 
>> the wiki next week similar to www.schoolforge.org.uk. We will add  
>> "How to" and "SA Projects" pages
>>
>> I am going to make contact with a few organisations that have running 
>> open source projects in South Africa to add their projects. Also all 
>> the tuXlab schools and other floss schools will need to upload their 
>> casestudies.
>>
>> This for me would be that one-stop for schools that want to learn how 
>> to deploy floss, learn from others experiences, link to ubuntu-za 
>> community, k12ltsp.org community, suse community, etc. Link to 
>> international projects.
>>
>> Once we have enough reading material and projects loaded here, we 
>> should then approach Government. I have a link to the Minister but 
>> nobody knows what Gov will look like post April.
>>
>> Then we should plan two conferences
>> 1) Schoolforge SA 2-3 day conference ( uwc, cape town, Sept 2009)
>> 2) Schoolforge International 5 day in Jozi(csir venue or Wits, Jan or 
>> April 2010) invitee list US, Uk, Finland, Spain, Norway, Malaysia, 
>> Uganda, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria,Senegal, Germany, Brazil, 
>> India, Egypt, Austria, Netherlands, China, New Zealand, Australia,- 
>> target 50 internationals)Then we need to approach Canonical, Redhat, 
>> Novell, Google and Yahoo for sponsorship)
>>
>> If you in call me 0729008001
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Hannes Coetzee wrote:
>>  
>>> Greetings
>>>
>>> Most of the main issues here has been discussed in more detail. I 
>>> hear what everyone else is saying but I don't see any solutions yet 
>>> so it's back to more research. While I'm educating myself some more 
>>> I's like to say the following:
>>>
>>> Situation one:
>>> Some guy installs Edubuntu for a school. Everything works great until 
>>> this guy gets killed in a car accident. Now the school is screwed but 
>>> luckily the person who installed the lab told them that there is a 
>>> site where they could find new support. He even put a sticker on the 
>>> box with the address. Now the school have a few options -
>>>
>>> 1) Give up and convert everything back to MS.
>>> 2) They could go to the site and figure everything out themselves (or 
>>> anything else that involves only the school)
>>> 3) They can contact the nearest person that's listed on the site and 
>>> find out if this person can help them.
>>> 4) They could contact their IT company and ask them - "We have this 
>>> system. We know that it is not standard but we'd like to keep it if 
>>> possible. If you don't know how to fix the problem don't worry, just 
>>> go to this site and you will find all the info you could ever need."
>>> 5) Everybody sit back and do nothing.
>>>
>>> Situation two:
>>> Somehow a school decides they want to use for example Edubuntu in 
>>> their lab. They are told that they should have a look at a website. 
>>> So they go to the site and read up on everything until they are 
>>> convinced that all their questions have been answered. They decide 
>>> that they now need to get this new system into their school. Now they 
>>> have a few options -
>>>
>>> 1) They understand enough and everything themselves.
>>> 2) They install the system with the help of forums and irc.
>>> 3) They contact the nearest person that's listed and ask him for help.
>>> 4) They go to their nearest IT company and ask them for their 
>>> assistance. (Once again by just pointing the company to the site)
>>> 5) They realize that there is no way in hell that they will make head 
>>> or tail of whats going on so everyone just sit back and do nothing.
>>>
>>> These are just two cut-down-to-the-basics examples. The point I'm 
>>> trying to make is - Why can we not put something together to help the 
>>> schools help themselves? Why can the IT companies not help the 
>>> schools without support or why can they not help themselves? Why 
>>> could we not point David to one single place where we know he will 
>>> find everything to set up a server at his school? Why can we not 
>>> point interesting parties to a central location where they can get 
>>> leaflets, documents to present to teachers, governing bodies and IT 
>>> companies that's unaware of FOSS, manuals and links on how to install 
>>> a server, info on whatever they need to know before making a decision 
>>> to switch over or info on how and where to get new support. Why can 
>>> this not be done? How will anyone ever find a solution to a problem 
>>> if they always give up?
>>>
>>> There's an AIDS orphanage close by and it so happened that I saw the 
>>> person in charge this afternoon. After a bit of chit-chat we started 
>>> talking about their computer lab. A few seconds later - "I really 
>>> don't know what we're going to do. We have a lot of break-ins lately 
>>> and they seem to go only for the computers. After we've build a more 
>>> secure place we'll have to look at something where we only have one 
>>> valuable computer like a central server that we could lock up. It 
>>> would be nice to have all the kid's  files on the server so nothing 
>>> can go missing with the other computers. We'll most likely take the 
>>> server home during holidays. Do you think it will be possible?". 
>>> Edubuntu can do that but the first question I'm always asked is - 
>>> "What happens when you 're gone?". So what should I tell them? They 
>>> are only the third school this month who came to me looking for the 
>>> same solution. I am not prepared to install something that would be 
>>> completely useless should I not be able to support them one day. I've 
>>> told all three these schools I'll get back to them with a possible 
>>> long term solution.  So what now? It is because of these schools and 
>>> countless others in the past that I voiced my opinion in the first 
>>> place. If none of the currently proposed solutions will work are we 
>>> not wasting our time discussing this?
>>>
>>> So what will it be? Are we going to stop everything or will we 
>>> continue until we find a solution? Personally I believe this could work.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> Hannes
>>>
>>>     
>>
>>   
> 
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