[Ubuntu-ZW] GNU Linux and FLOSS Student Project at the UZ Computer Science Department

Mon May 2 13:46:31 UTC 2016

Hi Antonio,

Thank you, I will do so immediately.

Regards,

Kuda

On Tue, 3 May 2016 at 00:46 António Chimuzu <chimuzu at gmail.com> wrote:

> Greetings Kuda,
> Please forward this message to the Rotary Club of Old Mutare emails to
> Club Secretary kayembec at africau.edu, Club President chimuzu at gmail.com and
> we will take it to our board for discussions.
> Thank you
> Antonio
>
> On Mon, May 2, 2016, 12:16 Kuda Dube <k.dube at massey.ac.nz> wrote:
>
>> Hi Everyone,
>>
>> I have a group of six 2nd Year students at the UZ's Computer Science
>> Department who are working on a GNU Linux and FLOSS Project.
>>
>> The project proposal is to develop a GNU Linux OS that is customized for
>> Zimbabwe. The key and unique feature of this project proposal is the
>> adoption of a set of economic sector-oriented open source software that
>> will be customized to suit the needs of Zimbabwe's industry. Some of the
>> sectors include agriculture, education, mining (GIS, etc), health, and
>> accounting. Each member of the team in addition to developing expertise in
>> customization and maintenance of the  GNU Linux distribution, will also
>> develop special expertise on at least one sector-oriented software system.
>>
>> This group of six students is expected to deliver their version 0.01 in
>> 2-3 weeks from now for initial evaluation and assessment for 2nd Year
>> Project. Unfortunately there is no female among the UZ Six. We had one
>> female student who left the group at some point earlier in the year. The
>> group has been working since November last year.
>>
>> Our plan is that these students should continue to work on this project
>> for the next 2 years until they graduate after 4th Year. The aim is to help
>> them to acquire enough expertise to become contributors to FLOSS as well as
>> to deliver and maintain a Zimbabwe-customized distro to support various
>> sectors of the economy even after they have left the UZ. More
>> specifically, the students will work on this project for the following
>> phases of their study period:
>>
>>    1. One-year attachment programme starting in July/August; and
>>    2. Two semester final year project after attachment --- to be
>>    assessed at the UZ.
>>
>> Currently the students have selected Ubuntu as their base distro to work
>> with and have already setup the environment for tinkering and customisation
>> --- they have reported initial success when they created their first live
>> ISO image.
>>
>> I need help from your Zimbabwe FLOSS Community in general and from the
>> Ubuntu LOCO Team in particular. Your help is sought in the following
>> specific areas of this project:
>>
>>    1. Setup a *fund to sponsor *the students' subsistence costs as they
>>    work on the project during the *one-year attachment period (we are
>>    open if the community want to manage the fund as long as the group get some
>>    form of subsistence to deliver the expected deliverable). My finding is
>>    that on average a student on attachment in Zimbabwe normally
>>    gets US$100-200 per month while on attachment for subsistence for 8 - 10
>>    months depending on the company they are attached to. Therefore, at the
>>    minimum, the project needs US$800, and at the maximum, US$ 10000, in order
>>    to cover what each of the six students will need for bare subsistence.
>>    Attachment starts this year in July/August for the UZ Six students.*
>>    2. Volunteers to:
>>
>>
>>    1. Work to provide effective leadership and organisation to this
>>       project and integrate the students and faculty at the UZ CS Department into
>>       the Ubuntu Community and the GNU Linux Commmunity in Zimbabwe;
>>       2. Deliver their customised GNU Linux on Ubuntu.org.zw (may be
>>       Kalpesh could help the students here)
>>       3. Raise money for the long term sustainability of this project;
>>       4. Deliver presentations/talks on Ubuntu and FLOS at the UZ CS
>>       department;
>>       5. Help the students to organise demonstrations of the works;
>>
>> The UZ CS Department could host the group during attachment. We are open
>> to consider it if your company can host the student group and the project
>> during the attachment period subject to the understanding that we would
>> like build a long term national programme to promote young students from
>> universities to acquire real skills to contribute to FLOSS.
>>
>> I would really appreciate serious discussions on this project and how we
>> could create a sustainable long-term project that can recruit and impart
>> skills to many young students from not only the UZ but from all
>> universities in the country and build a nation of youth who can both use
>> and contribute to FLOSS.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Kuda
>>
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>
>
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