Re: [seul-edu] members and supporters

[Doug Loss <drloss@suscom.net>]

David Bucknell wrote:
> 
> Well, the reason I said "site" in my suggestion for differentiating
> between members and supporters is that the definition of organization is
> vague. seul.org has no official org behind it as I remember you saying;
> nor does opensourceschools.org. Iteachnet, my other site, does have an
> org, but that doesn't mean it's any more substantial than the site.
> 
> Again, I think a simple definition is that members have sites; supporters
> may, but not those dedicated exclusively to the "cause."
> 
This is exactly the discussion I hoped we'd have.  I don't think the
"organization/individual" distinction is as indefinite as you do.  True,
SEUL (and most other OSS projects) has no legally-recognized
organization behind it, but that doesn't make any operational
difference.  It's clearly a group of people working together toward
common goals, as is Open Source Schools, rather than an individual
showing an interest in a particular subject.  There could be some
overlap between organizations and individuals when the organization is
just starting up, as projects usually come from a very few initiators. 
A good example might be Jeff Knox's Linux in the Classroom, which I
would qualify as an organization, but which clearly started as a one-man
effort and stayed that way for a while before expanding to involve more
people.

So I think your suggestion that members should have sites dedicated to
their "organization" :-) is a good one.  That would indicate at least
some committment to actually working toward a goal rather than just
expressing solidarity with a principle.  Individuals could be
supporters, but to become members they'd have to join (or form) an
organization that works (or will work) on some aspect of furthering Free
and Open Source resources in education.  How does that sound?

-- 
Doug Loss          As long as I have you there is just
drloss@suscom.net  one other thing I'll always need--
(570) 326-3987     tremendous self control.
                          Ashleigh Brilliant