Is The Community Enough?

[Michael Paric]

Linux and Open Source software thrives because of the communities surrounding them. Without the collaboration and cooperation of thousands of people world-wide, the Internet as we know it wouldn't exist.

So what happens when we rely on the Community to provide support for Open Source projects in our schools? I've seen (and participated in) many volunteer build-fests, recycling projects and classroom installs that provided a great start to projects. I've also seen many of them fail after just a few months because all of the excitement generated by the volunteers at the initial event wanes when we have to get back to our day jobs in order to pay the bills. On-going support is critical in keeping these projects alive.

Can our schools rely on the volunteer efforts of the Community to provide Open Source technology support? How do we keep the momentum of the initial program alive?

[Steve O'Connor]

I think regional cooperative inter-school entities such as BOCES should embrace open source and provide a support structure. Larger districts might be able to take care of such needs on their own.

[Michael Paric]

I've run into a lot of resistance from school IT staff as well as faculty considered "computer savvy" when discussing Open Source options. It seems that they'd rather have less money for salaries and fewer computers for students than consider alternatives to a Windows-centric network. I would love to volunteer to help train the staff if they would only accept.

[indigo196]

No, schools can not rely on volunteers for using any kind of technology - OpenSource or Proprietary. Schools have technical staff and those folks need to become part of the 'movement' in order for projects to survive. Given that the community volunteer efforts need to focus on getting the technical staff training and provide them with an avenue to reach out and ask questions when they run in to road blocks.