Linux for Irish schools was Re: [ILUG] AGM 2004

[Ronan Cunniffe]

On Sun, 17 Oct 2004, Brian Scanlan wrote:

> The Norwegian model is pretty neat and volunteers run the Irish schools' PCs
> anyway. Offering community support for a single, stable platform integrated

I would be surprised if "Offering community support" for any great leap
would be welcomed.  A school will want to either control a project,
or cede all responsibility for it - and why would this be wrong?

A keen teacher trying to get more use out of resources is an example of
the former, the Broadband for Schools project is an example of the latter.
A bunch of techies from outside the school offering to help them Do
Computers In A Better Way is neither, and leaves them looking like they're
doing some risky while giving them no real control (they don't understand
it - how can they steer it?).

Successful pilots allow the fire to spread from keen teacher X to keen
teacher Y in a different school, but if school Z does not (yet)have a
teacher ready to run with this ball, then I advocate not spending any
time on pushing Linux in school Z right now.

(Disclaimer: I tried doing this, met with We're Totally Petrified Of What
You Might Do resistance, and am slightly disillusioned as a result.  I am
more than willing to get involved in another project if the above
condition is met, though.)

Ronan