X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/e8aade9fc124dbd020313b34cb60f34b9059e48f..6de2416d4a9b7a56fb1c04dec08cdff3a6aa8fb6:/blog/archive/2013/12/12.rss diff --git a/blog/archive/2013/12/12.rss b/blog/archive/2013/12/12.rss index 464c343677..f8d83700d8 100644 --- a/blog/archive/2013/12/12.rss +++ b/blog/archive/2013/12/12.rss @@ -6,6 +6,217 @@ http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ + + Debian Edu interview: Dominik George + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Dominik_George.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Dominik_George.html + Wed, 25 Dec 2013 13:40:00 +0100 + <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux +project</a> consist of both newcomers and old timers, and this time I +was able to get an interview with a newcomer in the project who showed +up on the IRC channel a few weeks ago to let us know about his +successful installation of Debian Edu Wheezy in his School. Say hello +to <a href="https://www.ohloh.net/accounts/Natureshadow">Dominik +George</a>.</p> + +<!-- http://www.dominik-george.de/images/foto.jpg --> + +<p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p> + +<p>I am a 23 year-old student from Germany who has spent half of his +life with open source. In "real life", I am, as already mentioned, a +student in the fields of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, +Information Technologies and Anglistics. Due to my (only partially +voluntary) huge engagement in the open source world, these things are +a bit vacant right now however.</p> + +<p>I also have been working as a project teacher at a Gymasnium +(public school) for various years now. I took up that work some time +around 2005 when still attending that school myself and have continued +it until today. I also had been running the (kind of very advanced) +network of that school together with a team of very interested and +talented students in the age of 11 to 15 years, who took the chance to +learn a lot about open source and networking before I left the school +to help building another school's informational education concept from +scratch.</p> + +<p>That said, one might see me as a kind of "glue" between school kids +and the elderly of teachers as well as between the open source +ecosystem and the (even more complex) educational ecosystem.</p> + +<p>When I am not busy with open source or education, I like Geocaching +and cycling.</p> + +<p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu +project?</strong></p> + +<p>I think that happened some time around 2009 when I first attended +<a href="http://www.froscon.org">FrOSCon</a> and visited the project +booth. I think I wasn't too interested back then because I used to +have an attitude of disliking software that does too much stuff on its +own. Maybe I was too inexperienced to realise the upsides of an +"out-of-the-box" solution ;).</p> + +<p>The first time I actively talked to Skolelinux people was at +<a href="http://www.openrheinruhr.de">OpenRheinRuhr</a> 2011 when the +BiscuIT project, a home-grewn software used by my school for various +really cool things from timetables and class contact lists to lunch +ordering, student ID card printing and project elections first got to +a stage where it could have been published. I asked the Skolelinux +guys running the booth if the project were interested in it and gave a +small demonstration, but there wasn't any real feedback and the guys +seemed rather uninterested.</p> + +<p>After I left the school where I developed the software, it got +mostly lost, but I am now reimplementing it for my new school. I have +reusability and compatibility in mind, and I hop there will be a new +basis for contributing it to the Skolelinux project ;)!</p> + +<p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?</strong></p> + +<p>The most important advantage seems to be that it "just +works". After overcoming some minor (but still very annoying) glitches +in the installer, I got a fully functional, working school network, +without the month-long hassle I experienced when setting all that up +from scratch in earlier years. And above that, it rocked - I didn't +have any real hardware at hand, because the school was just founded +and has no money whatsoever, so I installed a combined server (main +server, terminal services and workstation) in a VM on my personal +notebook, bridging the LTSP network interface to the ethernet port, +and then PXE-booted the Windows notebooks that were lying around from +it. I could use 8 clients without any performance issues, by using a +tiny little VM on a tiny little notebook. I think that's enough to say +that it rocks!</p> + +<p>Secondly, there are marketing reasons. Life's bad, and so no +politician will ever permit a setup described as "Debian, an universal +operating system, with some really cool educational tools" while they +will be jsut fine with "Skolelinux, a single-purpose solution for your +school network", even if both turn out to be the very same thing (yes, +this is unfair towards the Skolelinux project, and must not be taken +too seriously - you get the idea, anyway).</p> + +<p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?</strong></p> + +<p>I have not been involved with Skolelinux long enough to really +answer this question in a fair way. Thus, please allow me to put it in +other words: "What do you expect from Skolelinux to keep liking it?" I +can list a few points about that:</p> + +<ul> + + <li>always strive to get all things integrated into Debian upstream + <li>be open to discussion about changes and the like, even with newcomers + <li>be helpful at being helpful ;) + +</ul> + +<p>I'm really sorry I cannot say much more about that :(!</p> + +<p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p> + +<p>First of all, all software I use is free and open. I have abandoned +all non-free software (except for firmware on my darned phone) this +year.</p> + +<p>I run Debian GNU/Linux on all PC systems I use. On that, I mostly +run text tools. I use +<a href="https://www.mirbsd.org/mksh.htm">mksh</a> as shell, +<a href="https://www.mirbsd.org/jupp.htm">jupp</a> as very advanced +text editor (I even got the developer to help me write a script/macro +based full-featured student management software with the two), +<a href="http://mcabber.com/">mcabber</a> for XMPP and +<a href="http://www.irssi.org/">irssi</a> for IRC. For that overly +coloured world called the WWW, I use +<a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/">Iceweasel +(Firefox)</a>. Oh, and <a href="http://www.mutt.org/">mutt</a> for +e-mail.</p> + +<p>However, while I am personally aware of the fact that text tools +are more efficient and powerful than anything else, I also use (or at +least operate) some tools that are suitable to bring open source to +kids. One of these things is <a href="http://jappix.org/">Jappix</a>, +which I already introduced to some kids even before they got aware of +Facebook, making them see for themselves that they do not need +Facebook now ;).</p> + +<p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to +get schools to use free software?</strong></p> + +<p>Well, that's a two-sided thing. One side is what I believe, and one +side is what I have experienced.</p> + +<p>I believe that the right strategy is showing them the benefits. But +that won't work out as long as the acceptance of free alternatives +grows globally. What I mean is that if all the kids are almost forced +to use Windows, Facebook, Skype, you name it at home, they will not +see why they would want to use alternatives at school. I have seen +students take seat in front of a fully-functional, modern Debian +desktop that could do anything their Windows at home could do, and +they jsut refused to use it because "Linux sucks". It is something +that makes the council of our city spend around 600000 € to buy +software - not including hardware, mind you - for operating school +networks, and for installing a system that, as has been proved, does +not work. For those of you readers who are good at maths, have you +already found out how many lives could have been saved with that money +if we had instead used it to bring education to parts of the world +that need it? I have, and found it to be nothing less dramatic than +plain criminal.</p> + +<p>That said, the only feasible way appears to be the bottom up +method. We have to bring free software to kids and parents. I have +founded an association named +<a href="https://www.teckids.org">Teckids</a> here in Germany that does +just that. We organise several events for kids and adolescents in the +area of free and open source software, for example the +<a href="http://kids.froscon.org">FrogLabs</a>, which share staff with +Teckids and are the youth programme of +<a href="http://www.froscon.org">the Free and Open Source Software +Conference (FrOSCon)</a>. We do a lot more than most other conferences +- this year, we first offered the FrogLabs as a holiday camp for kids +aged 10 to 16. It was a huge success, with approx. 30 kids taking part +and learning with and about free software through a whole weekend. All +of us had a lot of fun, and the results were really exciting.</p> + +<p>Apart from that, we are preparing a campaign that is supposed to bring +the message of free alternatives to stuff kids use every day to them and +their parents, e.g. the use of Jabber / Jappix instead of Facebook and +Skype. To make that possible, we are planning to get together a team of +clever kids who understand very well what their peers need and can bring +it across to them. So we will have a peer-driven network of adolescents +who teach each other and collect feedback from the community of minors. +We then take that feedback and our own experience to work closely with +open source projects, such as Skolelinux or Jappix, at improving their +software in a way that makes it more and more attractive for the target +group. At least I hope that we will have good cooperation with +Skolelinux in the future ;)!</p> + +<p>So in conclusion, what I believe is that, if it weren't for the world +being so bad, it should be very clear to the political decision makers +that the only way to go nowadays is free software for various reasons, +but I have learnt that the only way that seems to work is bottom up.</p> + +<!-- + +> * Who should be interviewed with this questions in the future? + +That's probably the hardest question of them all, as I do not know the +community. However, I would be willing to do the following: + + <li>Run an interview with a German headteacher who is very open to + free software, and also prefers it, but cannot really use it because + of the decision makers above; + <li>Run interviews with some kids, both with and without previous + knowledge about free software + +If that is wanted, just let me know ;). + +--> + + + Dugnadsnett for alle stiller på Oslo Maker Faire i januar 2014 http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Dugnadsnett_for_alle_stiller_p__Oslo_Maker_Faire_i_januar_2014.html