[seul-edu] [Fwd: RFC: Open source in Technology Education]

[Doug Loss <dloss@suscom.net>]

owner-seul-edu@seul.org wrote:

> From: "Jason Mellen" <jmellen@cfl.rr.com>
> To: "Seul-Edu@Seul. Org" <seul-edu@seul.org>
> Subject: RFC: Open source in Technology Education
>
> I am an officer for my school in an organization called the Technology
> Student Association. www.tsawww.org. This organization focuses on education
> students on the many different fields of technology.
>
> In our current curriculum, we study programs such as Microsoft Office. I am
> submitting a proposal (attached) that recommends teaching about Open Source
> software as well. I would appreciate any comments and suggestions that you
> may have on the document. Thanks.
>
> Jmellen
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Jason Mellen
> Palm Bay High School
> Webmaster / TSA Reporter / Television Producer
>
> Open Source Initiative in Technology Education
> By Jason Mellen
> March 20, 2001
>
> Background:
> The idea of open source computing has been spreading throughout the industry. In the beginning of
> computer science research, work was shared freely between scientists in a manner that allowed the
> community to benefit. Once corporations became involved engineers were no longer allowed to share
> their work and everyone had to either recreate the work from scratch or pay a large sum of money for
> the information. That trend is beginning to reverse as individuals and companies are starting to
> realize the benefit of studying technology as a community.
>
> Here is a quote from an open-source media application that is being developed:

> Have you ever heard the saying: "You can give a man a fish, and feed him for a day. Or you can teach
> him how to fish, and feed him for a life time."  That's the best way to understand what we mean when
> we say matterial is free.  We are not simply giving matterial for free -- as in a free gift, or free
> food. (We are not just giving you a fish.) But matterial is free as in freedom. (In a way, we are
> teaching you how to fish.)

> (We are teaching you how to fish, by) making the source code to matterial free also. The source code
> is the very essence of matterial... or any other piece of software. It is what you need to change or
> modify to change matterial, or to add new things to matterial.  So why is it important that the
> source code for matterial be free too? Because it is the only way to give you absolute freedom over
> matterial.  It seems essential in the field of technology and education in general that this freedom
> be explored. Students need to understand that proprietary solutions such as Microsoft Windows and
> Office are not the only solutions. While it is important to provide instruction in proprietary
> products that are widley used in the working world, it is just as important to show that
> non-propriety alternatives exist and are being widely used.
>
> Proposal:
> Create a unit of technology education that focuses on the aspects of freedom as well as introduces
> students to practical examples of these ideas.
>
> Topics to be Covered:
> Freedom and the GNU philosophy
> Linux operating system
> Popular Applications (AbiWord, Gimp, OpenOffice, Natualus) and new technologies (Gnome, matterial,
> OSDN, Free Film Project)
> Business model of Open Source companies
>
> Further Reference:
> GNU - www.gnu.org; www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html
> Matterial - matterial.sourceforge.net
> FFP - freefilm.sourceforge.net

--
Doug Loss                 God is a comedian playing
Data Network Coordinator  to an audience too afraid
Bloomsburg University     to laugh.
dloss@bloomu.edu                Voltaire