Re: Major interview

["malonowa" <malonowa@wanadoo.fr>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Jose C. Lacal <jose.lacal@openclassroom.org>
To: <seul-edu@seul.org>
Cc: Brendon Grunewald <brendon.grunewald@openclassroom.org>
Sent: lundi 6 septembre 1999 18:39
Subject: Re: Major interview


> A comment on the issue of "edsoft costs a lot of money to produce
> because of the royalty fees paid for the included content." The point is
> well taken. let's flip it on its head.
>
> Dumb idea:
> - there are millions of video cameras and portable audio recording
> devices in the world today, even in less-developed countries
> - a significant number of kids in schools worldwide have access to such
> devices
> - video and audio encoding equipment (composite video to digital format,
> audio to MP3) is getting cheaper by the day
> - the Internet allows for instant, worldwide collaborative projects
>
> So, how difficult would it be to set-up an OpenSource-centered project
> where students worldwide create audio and video content (of their own
> city, museums, significant historical places, musical traditions,
> typical dances, etc.) and contribute such _royalty-free_ content to a
> central database? Then, edsoft authors can take such "free" (think free
> speech here) content, add their intellectual talent (historical
> background, pedagogical expertise, etc.) and create OpenSource edsoft
> materials? At a much lower cost than traditional software development
> costs.
>
> Is that too crazy an idea, folks?

I already suggested the same thing to doug back in June. However, there are
a number of problems here.

1) There are legal issues. What happens if a "collector" collects something
illegaly without knowing. Who gets sued?

2) Historical content cannot be collected in this way. It's already "owned"
and we can't go back in time to re-record it.

That said, we could start by just collecting data that would be immediately
useful to authors. Primarily I would say recording voice in different
languages. Numbers etc. with a library to play them back. This would allow
free edsoft authors to put digital speech into their programs - something
very useful for young ones. I've already discussed this with some french
people interested in "Linux for Kids" - perhaps this is something we should
do although we'd need support globally for languages other than English U.K.
and French.

That said, it's a great idea. Does anyone have letters, diaries etc. from
grandparents during the second world war etc. Sources of evidence such as
this can be very useful for history.

Can anyone collect data in their region of things such as weather (rainfall,
cloud cover etc). Or Population census that may be public info. All manner
of things can be useful for different subjects.

What about pollution data for environmental studies, pictures or video
footage from the local area. If we can collect and produce data on
environmental issues then this could be very newsworthy. Society at large
may see this as something free software's doing for the good of humanity
generally and not just for the good of computing. I wouldn't underestimate
the power of using such issues to promote our cause and do some good outside
of our field at the same time.

Roman.