Teaching Teachers Open Source

https://festival.edgeryders.eu/

28:th November - 10:00 - 17:00+

Södra Hamnvägen 9 (Hus Blivande, Directions here)

Lunch included.

Background and motivation to the workshop

Internet, computers and programming is introduced from birth in our children’s lives. The current generation is the first, that never will have experienced a world without internet.

As coming generations enter the educational system, they are now introduced to tools, thoughts and concepts derived from the digital world. Today, most of them are proprietary - opposite to free and open source.

What happens to knowledge in our future digital world if proprietary world views on computers, internet and programming are left unchallenged?

Free and open source values, such as transparency, collaboration, freedom and empowerment - are already cornerstones in our educational systems. So why don’t we apply them when it comes to teaching computers?

The hypothesis is that teachers simply don’t know enough of how free and open source really is central to knowledge itself. I believe we need to educate teachers and leaders in schools/academia in this area. That is how we change the game for the benefit of future generations of internet citizens.

This workshop aims to help to bring together actors in the educational systems with those from the core free and open source landscape. YOU are invited! Together we’ll try to find ways to influence the educational system towards open source values. We stage the workshop to learn from joint experiences and develop concrete ways to reach the education system.

What will you experience?

Learn about the cornerstones of Free & Open Source and how those are fundamental to learning anything in a digital world.

Collaborate on how to reach out to teachers with this message as one important group to win.

Have a great time shaping the next generation internet citizens.


Frequently asked questions

How do I get an invitation/ticket to this workshop?

Use this form which will take you through the registration process: https://register.edgeryders.eu/

How is this event being organised?

This event, and the festival it is part of, is coordinated on the edgeryders platform (where you are now) and co-curated through a series of community video calls. We have allocated a collaboratively managed budget for the festival and operate on a solidarity basis. Participants who need some financial support to organise or be able to participate in the festival are eligible provided they contribute towards making it a meaningful and generative experience for all - in the run up to, during and/or after the event. If you would like to join us but are unsure as to how to contribute, don’t worry. Create an edgeryders account, then tell us a bit about yourself here and we will guide you along from there.

How is this all financed?

This event is part of the NGI Forward project Generation Internet (NGI) initiative, launched by the European Commission in the autumn of 2016. It has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 825652 from 2019-2021. You can learn more about the initiative and our involvement in it at https://ngi.edgeryders.eu

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Eu emblem

Does getting involved mean I endorse the funders views or actions?

No. What you are doing is contributing to an open consultation on the topic of how to build a next generation of internet infrastructure, technologies, business models etc that promotes the wellbeing of humans and the natural environment. The consultation methodology is designed in such a way as to allow for diversity of views, premises, disciplines, themes and contexts. We employ open notebook science principles and the results will be presented in the form of a research report accessible to everyone after the event. You can follow the process, review the methodology and open source tech we are using and engage directly with the research and coordination team here: https://edgeryders.eu/c/ioh/workspace

What is the code of conduct?

It is important to us that everyone in the room feels welcomed and safe; if you have any particular concerns or needs just send me a PM here on the platform or write to nadia@edgeryders.eu .

The Edgeryders online platform technology and activities are intended for people to cooperate within and across projects trying to build a better world. The word “better” has here a fairly broad range of meaning. These Community Guidelines are here to help you understand what it means to be a member of Edgeryders. Don’t forget that your use of Edgeryders is subject to these Community Guidelines and our Terms of Service.

What happens with my data?

You can read about our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy here. Also:

8 Likes

Sounds like a really good idea. I know a little, and have some particular idea around FOSS user community. Yes, let’s put something together to benefit as many as we can!

Simon

1 Like

I am in Free and Open Source Software since quite a while. I believe I’d have great fun preparing and doing a workshop, but would need proper financial compensation atm.

1 Like

Hello @erik_lonroth, I have a question: who do you mean when you write “our community”? The IOH community?

2 Likes

I would love to do this with you at Blivande. What a great initiative!

1 Like

Oh, well, I’m not to picky about what the community really is. Those that show up I guess.

@hugi @asimong

I see a two step process here:

  1. Come together some experts, discuss and produce some material on: “How do we explain and educate in the four freedoms of FOSS to teachers and students”?

  2. Then, a plan on how we run this education through our community in a good and way such as they too can teach others?

The rationale for this strategy is:
Since computers and programming gets introduced very early in children’s lives today - planting FOSS values is of critical importance in how the next generation of internet citizens reflect on software and its use/implementation. Today, they get pumped even in school, with the message from a proprietary world view: “copyright”, “limited use”, “eula:s”, “trademark”, “Intellectual property”, “patents”, “digtal right managements”, “activation codes”, “geo blocking”, etc. etc. etc. These are the things taught in schools today.

We, as in IOH, need to work out a means to foster a generation that desire something else and it needs to start with a narrative that can be understood by teachers, students and people not experts in computer science.

In my role as Open Source officer at Scanai and board member of Open Source Sweden I can provide contact with higher academics should this develop that way, but its likely best to allow this to grow and develop inside a community that already share these values.
I can also provide access to a “test platform” in form of a school (Gymnasium, 17-19 years) to test the education. I know a teacher that would love to participate in such a setup. I might even pull strings on the “Gymnasiechefen” in Stockholm, who happens to be a relative.

These above items are all “possible” paths later, but lets start small and create the education for ourselves first?

2 Likes

Sounds good! We need to find a group that can develop the material. I need to be realistic about what I can offer towards this initiative.

What I can commit to relating to this program is the following:

  1. Providing space at Blivande for seminars, hackathons etc.
  2. Participation in workshops
  3. Edgeryders and Internet of Humans branding if/when needed
  4. Plugging this project into the wider IoH ecosystem
2 Likes

Yes, I can see value in teaching about FOSS principles (I’m no great expert here, though I could help work out how to teach them – I can also see value (perhaps even more) in teaching with examples of FOSS projects, illustrating the principles through them. And also, what has also been missing (badly), teaching people about what needs to happen at a social, collaborative level for FOSS projects to work. How much time I am willing to give pro bono depends on the alignment here.

All good wishes

Simon

2 Likes

Ok, so you mean “this emergent community here in the Internet of Humans space” as opposed to, say, “the tech community in the Nordic countries”, or any other community you might be a part of. Noted. :slight_smile:

Wow, this is really valuable!

Don’t free/open source programs run into trouble a lot of the time because the person(s) who created it often move on to other projects and don’t support them as they need to migrate to upgraded operating systems and hardware requirements?

I assume with “programs” you mean smaller open source software projects.

It is not difficult to find such situations, but the answer to the kind of “inverse” question is true as well: “Doesnt it happen that open source projects can be continued by other person(s) after the original creator(s) do not support them anymore?”.

And in contrast to the also often happening event that a proprietary software product gets the plug pulled out, at least there is the technical and legal possibility to continue using (or migrating) that specific technology.

So, I do not really understand where your question points at. I see a couple of points (maintainer burnout, blind dependency on projects with unclear (future) stories, and all the reasons that lead to failing or abandoned projects).

Besides, it is not the programs that run into the trouble, but those users relying on it and not being able to create a situation (or society :slight_smile: ), where safety nets or a responsibility chain (you are holding one end yourself) are in place for the stuff one relies on.

For the tech-savy: some pretty nerdy puns inside:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/comments/7dc7de/what_happens_when_linus_dies/

3 Likes

Yes you are correct it is true that an open source program of any sort can be carried on by others which is a great virtue and strength. Some of my experience is with nonprofit and other small organizations who are not well funded and go for open source software to save money but like you say it is necessary to have somebody with technical ability to maintain an even move ahead these programs.

Open Source (for humans) - in my opinion - is not about saving anyones money. Its about maintaining a culture of transparency, collaboration, empowerment and freedom.

Running computer systems, in any form, comes with a cost - be it your time or your money - its equally true.

Its true also, that if you don’t care - you are still free (under the four freedoms of foss) to USE the software as you please. However, if you think that running/modifying the software comes without cost, you need to rethink. Free and Open Source Software has nothing to do with cost. Its about what principles the software operates under. In FOSS software, those principles are “hacked” into western copyright law by utilizing a license scheme that guarantee the four freedoms for anyone and mandates that this freedom is passed forward. Its popularly called “copyleft”, but its really just a hack of the existing anglosaxian copyright. As curiosa on this is that it was not until this year that the chines law recognized open source licenses as valid at all under Chinese law which tells a story about the current copyright legislation and its reach.

6 Likes

Well said.

What is the parameter to measure the “know in depth”? I’m on this world since 1997. Is time a good metric?

1 Like

@erik_lonroth I’m very curious about this. Currently applying for money on how to educate kids and youngsters who have not been reached by existing educational initiatives around coding and software/hardware. Key aspect of the funding applications is having a starting point from FOSS/OSHW in order to widen mentality, thinking and leadership.

2 Likes

Lets get together and try meet soon?

2 Likes

Hi Erik. @hugi showed me the transcript of the listening triads from the event in Stockholm. I was quite taken with a rather eloquent statement you made there, “My dream is to have an internet where everything is truly allowed. And it should be easy to choose where to be, if you disagree with something, don’t go there.”

I wonder if you would be willing to elaborate a bit on this. You had also mentioned monopolies. Do you see monopoly behavior that prevents this? Maybe the key is “easy to choose where to be.” Maybe it just seems easy, but we get funneled into things without our knowing it?