Re: [Ambassadors] ambassador stuff - college campuses
2008/9/17 John Taber <jtaber(a)plandecsys.com>:
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
Thank you for this important feedback and for the great work you are
doing trying to convince people using Open Source alternative, Fedora
OS too.
Regards
Francesco Ugolini