Re: [seul-edu] Schoolforge ready for Prime Time?

[Felipe Bergo <bergo@seul.org>]

On Fri, 7 Dec 2001, David M. Bucknell wrote:

> Dear Schoolforge Coalition Supporters,
> 
> I am hesitant to bring this up, but I think we should delay the coalition
> announcement slightly. I would not bring this up, but as Doug wants to make an
> announcement and have the site up by Sunday, I think I'd better speak up.

I think that we should give some more time before opening it up too.

> My point in what follows, is that the purpose of the coalition is to make our
> efforts more effective and efficient. The _way_ we do things must represent
> this. To be ready for Sunday, we will have to have three things ready: the
> site, the mission statement and the announcement. These must be developed
> together and agreed upon, at least in a loose consensus, because we will
> effectively be signing them.
> 
> But we need a bit more time to do this right.
> 
> For example, as much as I _really_ appreciate and admire Bergo's efforts, I do
> not think the site, as it stands, (and I know it is only a start, a work in
> progress) appropriately represents the coalition. As I understood it, it was
> meant to be a gateway to other sites, not to be a replacement for them. It
> should not, therefore, have a "Resources" section at all, as resources _are_

I was told that schoolforge would replace the whole seul/edu site, so it 
would have to keep mailing list subscription interface and archives, the 
activity reports (which I think are the most important part of the whole),
an application index (either the current existing one or a new, whatever).

I don't care if my work goes straight to the trash can unused, but I'm 
still working on getting the site code done for sunday if it is needed 
by then.

> what the coalition members are. In my thinking, the site should have only a
> few things:
> 
> *A header (and logo)

Now that we are at it, I didn't give much thought to the logo when I 
drawed it. Does anybody have anything strong against it or a better idea ? 
(this is probably better answered privately to me)

> *A mission statement

hmm...I am not a fan of these dreaded mission statements.
I think a wee bit longer document, communicating the following issues:

- many schools have adopted open source succesfully
  (and as far as we know, among the few who dared, the success
   rate is high)
- most schools would have a better usage of technology by
  adopting open source technology, but are usually turned down
  by marketing, fear-of-the-unknown, 
  without-microsoft's-support-we-all-will-die-a-horrible-death,
  and other reasons. 

- we (everybody within the coalition) are to tame your fears, bring you
  the knowledge you seek, general (how cheap is free ? where do I find
  support for this tools in my place ?) and specific (what software
  should we use to provide all of MS Exchange functionalities ?).
  we are also the ones that will point people to the correct
  places (you need success stories about Linux on age 11-18 schools ?
  go to this place, so and so)

Also, for many non-tech people, the way we communicate and get things done
may look, hmm, unreal, I wouldn't be surprised to find school directors 
and politicians unaware of what a mailing list is and how fluid 
communication can be over it. Stating how everybody in the "coalition" 
"hangs together" may be useful too.

I believe this "mission" should be somewhat longer addressing these
key issues.

Also, from what I overheard here, Red Hat and Debian (through its Debian
Jr. effort, at least) are to be part of the coalition. Aside from the
schoolforge document above, the high templars of both (Bob Young? and
someone from debian - I don't follow their hierarchy, sorry) could write
an editorial piece on why they are in such a coalition, to be "thrown in"
the "tech press" soon after schoolforge is announced.

> *An unordered, alphabetical list of links to coalition members' sites

I don't like the yahoo.com-like mode. There was something like this for
Linux software, www.webwatcher.org, and it's dead now, with freshmeat
taking the crown. But it's just my opinion. A better option would be a
list of sites with a 1-paragraph description of the contents and some
iconical information of what can be found inside (case studies, technical
documents, support service, consulting (in the OSEF sense)...).

But I still can't see it fitting in the front page.

> That's it. The functions in the present resource list should be carried out by
> members' sites. _Nothing_ else should be on the schoolforge.net front page.
> Everything should point people to coalition members' efforts.

taking that box out is easy, but again, it was made in the belief that 
seul/edu would fall beneath it.

> The site should embody our goal of complementing, not replacing each other's
> efforts. If it doesn't do that yet, then it isn't ready.

nod.

.........................................................................
Felipe Paulo Guazzi Bergo - Free Software Developer (bergo@seul.org)
GPG/PGP mail welcome - GPG/PGP Key: EF8EE808 (keyserver pgp.mit.edu)
http://www.advogato.org/person/khazad - Brasilia - DF - Brazil - Earth

* When one makes a OS and considers it good, he doesn't name it Amoeba.