[Ambassadors] ambassador stuff - college campuses
Hi folks, just wanted to say that I'm going to excuse myself from the
ambassador list - I will not have the time to fly out to the Columbus
FAD meeting and participate in some of the things you want ambassadors
to do but will continue to be a big Linux/FOSS advocate and campus point
of contact.
On campus this semester I have already given out all of my dvd's to my
students, have figured out for other faculty and students that we don't
need to use Vista for our "Vista Blackboard" classroom mgmt system since
it runs with Java 6 installed on Fedora/Linux (and maybe using "iced
tea" but haven't tried it yet), and trying to encourage students to use
gcc as their compiler of choice (which it should be, it's simply
better!). I've also introduced them to version control as the first
step to encouraging them to participate in open source projects (since
they need to know how to check out and submit code).
I see 2 main initiatives that are needed for campuses: 1) an on-line
faculty LUG where faculty can share experiences, tips, etc and provide a
point of distribution for dvd's, some fun schwag, etc 2)the formation
of student run FUG's/LUG's (with faculty reps) - the student groups are
really the springboard for installfests, release parties, etc. I think
some sort of "campus box" is needed prior to each semester that will
have stuff for faculty and the student groups to give out and provide
for the student groups to run a couple of installfests. Maybe Fedora
can sponsor these mail lists / campus lug web sites ? Maybe student lug
webmasters get a free Fedora T-shirt, ball cap and maybe some other
recognition...
One of the biggest stumbling blocks that I still encounter for students,
faculty, and others in the corp world is the perceived fear of trying to
install Fedora/Linux, even as a dual-boot system and frankly even to
boot as a live-CD. People are just scared their system is going to be
messed up and they will be unable to work and in big trouble. We need a
web page that can be printed as a simple flyer with good, simple
graphics to hand out with dvd's that eases this fear, especially to deal
with the "dreaded" disk partitioning. From a marketing standpoint, one
of the biggest features we can request from the core team is to develop
some sort of on-the-fly partitioning in the install procedure.
I will be happy to continue working on these goals so feel free to stay
in touch and email me at drjohn.taber(a)gmail.com