Hello all,<br><br>Let me first introduce myself. I am Tim Hart, a technology coordinator at a school in Maine (US for those who don't know where that is). We use Linux pretty heavily in my school and both the teachers and students have benefited from the goodness that Free and Open Source Software brings.
<br><br>I send this email as an invitation to all that may be interested. About a year ago, a few people on the K12LTSP list started talking about creating a resource for teachers and techies involved with FOSS in education. Some ideas were thrown around but eventually it fell to the wayside. The main idea was to provide a downloadable PDF similar to Tux Magazine.
<br><br>The idea has come up again and we are trying to push it into fruition this time around. Obviously this needs to be a team effort, so your input is both wanted and needed. Some of the leg work and structure has already been done. Going back through
the list archives and remembering why it may have failed last time I think
there was too much pressure of people creating the articles in Scribus
and no one putting it all together. We can fix this however.
<br><br>My idea this time around is to have a communal blog where
individuals can author articles and publish them on the web. Once there
are enough articles a few people (who want to) can work on putting the
downloadable ezine together. The focus doesn't even have to be on a
downloadable ezine either. Having a blog with multiple authors from all
tech levels and physical regions would be a great resource for everyone
involved with FOSS in schools. <br><br>There was some good discussion last time so I think there is
a niche for something like this. So to get this thing started I have
done some leg work (which is up for discussion as well).<br><br>Doing this the easiest way, I created a blog at
<a href="http://wordpress.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">wordpress.com</a>. <a href="http://theopensourceeducator.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://theopensourceeducator.wordpress.com/</a> (soon to be <a href="http://www.theopensourceeducator.org/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">www.theopensourceeducator.org
</a>). Wordpress is both easy to use and pretty powerful to boot (GRUB of course, ha, bootloader joke).<br><br>I have also created a google group for discussion about TOSE and issues around FOSS in education. <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/tose/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://groups.google.com/group/tose/</a>. Again, I used googlegroups because it was easy. I like easy. I think that is a good thing here.<br><br>We
also have the wiki that Dave Trask set up last time around. I would
suggest looking at that to see where we got to last time. <a href="http://www.vcsvikings.org/tose/doku.php" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.vcsvikings.org/tose/doku.php</a>
<br><br>Please
come and discuss how we get this project of the ground. If you would post this anywhere appropriate it would be appreciated. All others are welcome. Feedback is
very welcome.<br><br>To get involved just visit <a href="http://theopensourceeducator.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://theopensourceeducator.wordpress.com/</a>
and see how. If you have any questions email me back.<br><br>Tim Hart<br>Glenburn School<br><br>