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FSFE Edu-Team activities
Community
In Bergen one of the local groups are having a workshop at the beginning of August. Not sure what they did in Oslo but there was a nation wide coordinated meet-up where 6 cities and several speakers from different fields were represented. Among them Rigmor Aasrud, Minister of Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs.
They organized an event in June in Bergen where not only scratch but also Raspberry Pi, Arduino as well as other non-FLOSS projects. (Thanks to Cecilie for this input!)
Government
- The evaluation phase of moodle@schule (German) in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, just ended. The project was initiated by the ministry of education and funded by the EU with the goal to create e-learning content for schools and personalized, to use and evaluate with Moodle. Basically, this teaches teachers how to use it. I am looking forward to reading the news about the outcome of it.
- Free Software on tablets and PCs in schools in Brussels Region. Students and teachers at 160 high schools in the Brussels Region have started to use free and open source applications. Since April, the region’s Informatics Centre (CIRB) is helping schools to modernise their computer classrooms, electronic whiteboards and networks.
Edu Software
- The website LearnDoubleEntry.org is based on DELT (Double Entry Learning Tool), which is available as free software at github, released under the terms of GNU Affero General Public License. Its aim is to offer students a way of practicing double entry bookkeeping principles without the complexity of a software that is normally used in a firm, but in a more profitable way than it would be by using spreadsheets or, worse, pen and paper.
distro news
- Desktop4education. Once more, there was the event “linux4education” in Weiz, Austria, to teach teachers about Free Software in education.
Other news
Video of a talk: The Kids are alright at re:publica. I haven’t watched it yet, but it was highly recommended to me, so I thought to include it here blindly.
future events
- Skolelinux will be presented at the upcomming FrOSCon in Sankt Augustin, Germany (August 24 & 25, 2013)
- “Jugend hackt” (Youth is hacking) is a two day hacking camp in Berlin for people below 18 years and will take place on September 7 & 8, 2013. Sebastian will be there, too.
If you have any infos on news or events that might be of interest to Free Software activists in education, please let me know or dump it on the edu-eu mailinglist!
I just want to recommend reading a blog post I found on KDE: A school in the southeast of England, began switching its student-facing computers to GNU/Linux. Stuart Jarvis interviewed the school’s Network Manager, Malcolm Moore. I think it’s an excelent case study to refer to.
Here are some gems:
To the question what caused the descision to switch to Free software: “ultimately something had to give and professional pride would not let it be the quality of the systems we support.”
“politicians don’t seem to get the saying ‘If you think education is expensive, try ignorance’”
“We wanted to offer the best IT systems and education possible with the funds available. Money spent on essentially promoting Microsoft Windows and Office to students can be better spent on old-fashioned things like teachers and actual education.“
the UK government threw out the old ICT syllabus, which was based largely on teaching students how to use Microsoft Office, and told schools to go for a more computer studies-based syllabus, which meant that we were in a position to hit the ground running so to speak
We specialize in science and engineering and want our students to go on to do great things like start the next Google or collapse the universe at CERN. In those environments, they will certainly need to know Linux.
Has it given me sleepless nights, yes. Has it nearly driven me insane, yes. Would I do it again… in an instant!
Now, go read it! And don’t forget to share! 🙂
I’ve been looking for a web based XMPP client and found about 20 in the list on xmpp.org. I skimmed through them and as a Free Software license is mandatory for me, I was left with 7 clients. I haven’t had the time to try any of them on my own machine yet, but here is what I found so far:
- Salut à Toi looks very cool. The feature list is quite impressive. Just look at the “Pipe over XMPP” feature! The web interface (what I am actually looking for) is called Libervia, but according to their wiki, installation is “currently a bit tricky”. So, as I am no expert, I will try other options first.
- Converse.js can be tested on the spot with any jabber account. I tried it with an old unused account and it worked perfectly. Installation of the
minimal stuff seems fairly easy and will probably suffice for my needs.
- Jappix has a mini “applet” that looks similar to Converse.js.
- Jwchat seems to open numerous little browser windows according to the screen shots. Since I don’t like that, it will not be my first choice.
- Claros uses a modified Mozilla license. I don’t like the use of exotic licenses, so I put this aside, too.
- xmppwebchat development seems to have stalled.
- And so has Ignite (latest build: 2008).
I will try my luck with converse.js first. Second choice will be Jappix and then Salut à Toi. If you have any experience with XMPP web clients or have further recommendations, please let me know!
Update: Candy was suggested to me today. Couldn’t test it, but looks promising. 2014-08-06
Here are three months of education news related to Free Software! Sorry for the delay, I was somewhat tied up with FuxCon and was traveling for a month. Enough said, here we go:
Turkey
- Despite the worrying situation in Turkey right now, FSFE decided to send an open letter to Erdogan, which had been prepared before the protests even started. (Personally, I am not totally happy with this, but I guess we have to face the fact that big proprietary software companies will not stop lobbying either.
Distributions
Q: What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux /Debian Edu?
Cédric: Maybe the lack of manpower to do lobbying on the project. Sometimes, people who need to take decisions concerning IT do not have all the elements to evaluate properly free software solutions. The fact that support by a company may be difficult to find is probably a problem if the school does not have IT personnel.
One can find support from a company by looking at the wiki dokumentation, where some countries already have a number of companies providing support for Debian Edu, like Germany or Norway. This list is easy to find readily from the manual. However, for other countries, like France, the list is empty. I guess that consultants proposing support for Debian would be able to provide some support for Debian Edu as well.
Future events
- RMLL will have an edu track again. As far as I can see, on Monday (Jul 8) and Tuesday (Jul 9) in K.4.201 and K.4.401. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend, again…
If you have any infos on news or events that might be of interest to Free Software activists in education, please let me know!
End of February, a UNESO conference (WSIS+10) took place which in parts dealt with Free Software in education. The final report has been
published for a while and just recently, I found the time to go through it.
For those who don’t have the time to read the entire document, here are the passages I found related to Free Software:
Page 3 (emphasis added):
Universal human rights, as recognized in the international standards of the human rights edifice, should be at the core of the debate on
Internet governance and regulation. The same rights that are applied in the offline world should also be applied online. Decisions should
be based on democratic principles, including inclusiveness, transparency, openness, economic growth, equal participation and
empowerment of all sectors of society.
Page 6:
Digital Literacy and Informatics: Develop a curriculum for teaching Computing including Digital Literacy and in particular Computer
Science/ Informatics that will allow children in K12 education to have an access to knowledge that will make them creators of technology –
not just its consumers.
Session 18. This is actually the main chunk excplicitly talking about Free Software:
Adoption and teaching of Open/Libre technologies in Higher Education curricula and Professional recognition for FOSS engineers and
practitioners (IFIP, 27 February)
- UNESCO/WSIS should encourage changes to Computer Science/Software Engineering curricula to include both Open Source tools and Open Source Methodology to recognise the innovative and transformative power of these and their consequent impact on economies. Approaches to ACM and other CS curriculum should now be taking into account Free and Open Source software explicitly to ensure its inclusion.
- UNESCO/WSIS should encourage universities and other educational institutions in the provision of knowledge and skills for industry,
government and practitioners that will better their understanding of the innovative and transformative power of Free and Open Source
software in the economy.
- UNESCO/WSIS should take a leadership role in promoting education in the collaborative skills required to excel in open source. Further they should seek the development of education techniques and resources that lead to such skills development as an adjunct to and context of Computer Science education.
- UNESCO/WSIS should support the development of education modules about risk management in the selection of FOSS and proprietary software for IT projects.
- UNESCO/WSIS should support the development of education modules about the benefits of Open Source adoption and the best practices in doing so.
- UNESCO/WSIS should promote the development of arguments and tools helping business and governments better understand their quality requirements on the IT projects they use and develop.
- UNESCO/WSIS should actively promote the development and application of rigorous auditing of IT projects by properly qualified IT Project Management Specialists to ensure standards of practice can emerge to guide future decision making and operation.
- UNESCO/WSIS should take a leadership role in promoting the encouragement of granular certification carried out by communities’ experts to facilitate external trust in both experts and communities.
- National, regional or international certification must ensure that the benefits of certification recognise the high level of innovation that is provided by the application of good ICT practice.
- UNESCO/WSIS should actively support those accreditation schemes which recognise those granular certification programs that build on innovation in the professional practice of ICT.
Page 11:
Session 33: Avoiding e-waste: Sustainable life-cycle management of ICT equipment (UNESCO, 26 February)
– Avoiding or minimizing e-waste as well as protecting workers health and the environment have to be considered by producers, service providers, users and regulatory authorities as essential parts of the ICT equipment life-cycle management.
Page 13:
The open, end-to-end, interoperable and decentralized design of the Internet should be maintained as a key enabler for an inclusive and
open knowledge and information society. By empowering users at the edges rather than the center of its architecture, the Internet embodies democratic values and fosters a wide range of Human Rights.
It is a little sad that Free Software is not mentioned at all in the concluding Recommendations.
I already posted this on the edu-eu mailinglist. Please join us there and participate (or just follow) the discussion!
 FUxCON logo Die erste Fuxcon ist vorbei. Zu der von der LUG Frankfurt (namentlich Harald und Nadja Vajkonny) initiierten Veranstaltung wurden sämtliche UserGroups aus Frankfurt und Umgebung eingeladen. Das Spektrum der eingeladenen Gruppen war weit gefächert und es fanden sich letztlich ca. 20 Gruppen, die sich und ihre Arbeit mit einem Stand vorstellten.
Darunter natürlich auch die FSFE Fellowship-Gruppe Rhein/Main! Sven hat ein ziemlich abscheuliches Foto von mir an unserem Stand gemacht…
Es fand reger Austausch zwischen den Gruppen statt und so war unser Stand gut besucht. Wir hatten viele interessante Gespräche und konnten einigen Menschen etwas über die Arbeit der FSFE erzählen. Auch werde ich in Zukunft einige der anwesenden Gruppen mal besuchen.
Gesprächseinstieg war zu 80% die FreeYourAndroid Kampagne von der ich ein Poster auf den Tisch gelegt hatte (es gab keine Stellwände und wir hatten keine Wand im Rücken). Hier fand ich es erstaunlich, dass niemand F-Droid kannte. Leute, da müssen wir aber noch ein bisschen mehr Werbung machen! Vielen Menschen ist das rooten zu heikel. F-Droid kann jedoch JEDE Person in zwei Minuten installieren und künftig nur noch freie Apps nutzen. Ein künftiger Wechsel macht den Umstieg umso leichter.
Zurück zur Fuxcon: Die meisten waren sehr begeistert, dass es etwas wie die FSFE gibt (Ich hoffe, das sich dies auch irgendwann in Spenden und neuen Fellows resultiert 🙂
Ich wurde von einem Reporter der Frankfurter Neuen Presse interviewt und es gab in der Montagsausgabe auch ein paar Sätze dazu, in denen zwar ein bisschen was verdreht wurde, (ich erwähnte Apps, die nicht gelöscht werden können, er schrieb, dass es Apps gibt, die man nicht installieren darf) aber dennoch die Kernaussage erhalten blieb: Bei den meisten Modellen ist man nicht Herr über sein Gerät.
 "I cannot read your documents" sticker Jürgen Gasper, Landtagskanditat der SPD, zeigte sich ebenfalls auf der Veranstaltung und recht interessiert an unserer Arbeit. (Die Veranstaltung fand in seinem Wahlkreis statt).
Das Infomaterial, dass ich vorher bestellt hatte (das kann übrigens jeder machen, der einen Stand machen möchte) ist gut weggegangen. Was mich etwas wunderte, war, dass die “I cannot read your documents” Aufkleber am schnellsten weg waren.
Von den Rednern hat mir Cornelius Schumacher von KDE e.V. am besten gefallen. Er redete über “Was macht eine Open-Source-Community erfolgreich? – Erfahrungen aus 15 Jahren KDE-Entwicklung”
Die zweite Keynote in der Alexander Plaum über das Usergroup-Programm beim O’Reilly-Verlag gesprochen hat, fand ich persönlich weniger interssant (hauptsächlich, weil das Image dieser Firma nach dieser Lektüre etwas bei mir gelitten hat). Lustiges Zitat aus dem Gedächnis:
“Facebook wird eher für Marketing genutzt. Von Usergroups kommt da eher nix (an feedback). Facebook ist eher was für normale Leute.”
Na da bin ich ja froh, nicht normal zu sein 🙂
Ich habe einige Fellows getroffen, die zwar auf der Rhein/Main Mailingliste sind, sich aber noch nie persönlich bei den Treffen gezeigt haben. Fast alle gaben an, dass ihnen die Anreise zu lang sei und alle begrüßten meinen Vorschlag, den Ort vielleicht rotieren zu lassen. Meine Pläne diesbezüglich werde ich demnächst etwas auf die Rhein/Main-Liste posten.
Also alles in allem eine sehr gelungene Veranstaltung. Ich freue mich schon auf eine zweite Auflage!
Der Vollständigkiet halber könnte ich vielleicht noch erwähnen, dass es als allererste Veranstaltung dieser Art natürlich auch einige Dinge gab, die hätten besser laufen können. Diese gilt es jetzt festzuhalten und bei einer Nachbesprechung aufzuarbeiten. Wer dazu Kommentare hat, bitte melden!
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