Comments on: Boy Scouts and Open Source? http://www.rants.org/2008/05/09/boy_scouts_and_open_source/ Thoughts, musings, and rants by Karl Fogel Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:47:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7-bleeding By: Marco http://www.rants.org/2008/05/09/boy_scouts_and_open_source/#comment-22936 Marco Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:07:16 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/05/09/boy_scouts_and_open_source/#comment-22936 I just discovered this program. Having written about Free Software and Scouting years ago on Linux Journal (see http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7533 and http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7813 ) I am very happy to hear about it and I will add it to the Scouting section of my "How to turn into Free Software supporters people who couldn't care less" page at http://digifreedom.net/node/103 I just discovered this program. Having written about Free Software and Scouting years ago on Linux Journal (see http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7533 and http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7813 ) I am very happy to hear about it and I will add it to the Scouting section of my “How to turn into Free Software supporters people who couldn’t care less” page at http://digifreedom.net/node/103

]]> By: Greg Edwards http://www.rants.org/2008/05/09/boy_scouts_and_open_source/#comment-21065 Greg Edwards Fri, 23 May 2008 01:01:54 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/05/09/boy_scouts_and_open_source/#comment-21065 Progress update. The OSS Website has been gaining. However, the site needs writers with Open Source expertize to expand the E-Learning section. This is being built as a teaching platform, and it needs teachers so it can grow. The About OSS section is built on MediaWiki. So if you can give a little time, come and help educate future Open Source advocates. Progress update.

The OSS Website has been gaining. However, the site needs writers with Open Source expertize to expand the E-Learning section. This is being built as a teaching platform, and it needs teachers so it can grow.

The About OSS section is built on MediaWiki. So if you can give a little time, come and help educate future Open Source advocates.

]]> By: Danny Colligan http://www.rants.org/2008/05/09/boy_scouts_and_open_source/#comment-19896 Danny Colligan Sat, 10 May 2008 16:31:46 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/05/09/boy_scouts_and_open_source/#comment-19896 This sounds great and I wholeheartedly support it, but remember the OSI is not the only organization with an interest in the (young, developing minds of the) Boy Scouts. Wearers of this patch might be experiencing some cognitive dissonance in the open-source program: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061020-8044.html "But troop leader, I thought sharing with others was stealing!" This sounds great and I wholeheartedly support it, but remember the OSI is not the only organization with an interest in the (young, developing minds of the) Boy Scouts. Wearers of this patch might be experiencing some cognitive dissonance in the open-source program: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061020-8044.html

“But troop leader, I thought sharing with others was stealing!”

]]> By: Greg Edwards http://www.rants.org/2008/05/09/boy_scouts_and_open_source/#comment-19886 Greg Edwards Sat, 10 May 2008 14:01:29 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/05/09/boy_scouts_and_open_source/#comment-19886 Yes too all of your hopes. One of the stated opportunities that the project was intended to meet was to expand on the Boy Scouts "Learning for Life" mission. The E-Learning section of the website is targeted at teaching all users about Open Source. My plan for this area is to have the Open Source Community build a comprehensive reference to answer the question "What is Open Source?". I think the interesting challenge for many of us technical types will be to build out a path that is written for non technical readers. The plan is to have 3 parallel paths, a technical path, a non technical path, and a humorous path, like the dummies books. My hope is that this approach will reach all audiences, scouts, their parents, and maybe even their grandparents. The technical side my be a repetition of what is already available, but I think the other areas will be unique. Yes too all of your hopes. One of the stated opportunities that the project was intended to meet was to expand on the Boy Scouts “Learning for Life” mission. The E-Learning section of the website is targeted at teaching all users about Open Source. My plan for this area is to have the Open Source Community build a comprehensive reference to answer the question “What is Open Source?”. I think the interesting challenge for many of us technical types will be to build out a path that is written for non technical readers. The plan is to have 3 parallel paths, a technical path, a non technical path, and a humorous path, like the dummies books.

My hope is that this approach will reach all audiences, scouts, their parents, and maybe even their grandparents. The technical side my be a repetition of what is already available, but I think the other areas will be unique.

]]> By: Karl Fogel http://www.rants.org/2008/05/09/boy_scouts_and_open_source/#comment-19863 Karl Fogel Sat, 10 May 2008 07:11:38 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/05/09/boy_scouts_and_open_source/#comment-19863 Thanks for correcting my take on this, Greg. But, I do hope that part of it involves getting the Scouts themselves involved, as it sounds like it does... Of course, I don't really care whether merit badges are involved (heck, I admit I don't really know what a merit badge <em>is</em>), the main thing is that the members of the organization are free to become participants in the maintenance and development of its infrastructure. And, of course, all the volunteers associated with the organization will be exposed to open source software... Good luck! Thanks for correcting my take on this, Greg. But, I do hope that part of it involves getting the Scouts themselves involved, as it sounds like it does… Of course, I don’t really care whether merit badges are involved (heck, I admit I don’t really know what a merit badge is), the main thing is that the members of the organization are free to become participants in the maintenance and development of its infrastructure. And, of course, all the volunteers associated with the organization will be exposed to open source software…

Good luck!

]]> By: Greg Edwards http://www.rants.org/2008/05/09/boy_scouts_and_open_source/#comment-19837 Greg Edwards Sat, 10 May 2008 01:13:19 +0000 http://www.rants.org/2008/05/09/boy_scouts_and_open_source/#comment-19837 When the Boy Scouts approached me about this project I was very excited. As a long time (I used the early versions of emacs) advocate of Open Source I envisioned a real win-win opportunity for both the Boy Scouts and the Open Source Community. The OSI project is not a merit badge program. This is a full fledged strategic plan to apply the Open Source process to the organization as a whole. As far as I know this is the first project of its kind. We all know about Open Source efforts by companies from the technology sector. Most of those projects are self serving and are methods to enhance their market share. For the most part non profit organizations have a difficult time finding software that can help them run their operations. The Boy Scouts and other non profit groups like little leagues, community theatres, art centers, Girl Scouts, churches, and even the Red Cross face the same issues. Generally these groups don't have any options when it comes to software. I like to use the analogy of running a fund raiser. We all get the knocks on the door from a kid asking for money to support the team. It doesn't matter if you're the Boy Scouts or a church youth group, it costs money to plan and go on a camping trip. Most of the time whoever is running the fund raising campaign is living a nightmare, simply because there isn't any good software to help them. There are allot of people that have knowledge about doing fund raisers. Put them together with people that can build the software based on their input, and everyone wins. I have been disappointed about the lack of progress that we've made in getting the general user community to embrace and use OSS solutions. Beyond a couple exceptions such as OpenOffice and Mozilla we have not been able to get the message across. In the server arena and among technology professionals we have made headway. To me this seemed like a true Golden opportunity to reach a very large number of every day computer users. The number of volunteers that the Boy Scouts have supporting their kids is huge. Add to that the number of volunteers from other non profit groups that could get involved in the projects hosted by the Boy Scouts. And as we all know parent volunteers can be a very powerful force. Even if only a small percentage of these volunteers get directly involved, everyone in their organization will hear about how Open Source helped the cause. When the Boy Scouts approached me about this project I was very excited. As a long time (I used the early versions of emacs) advocate of Open Source I envisioned a real win-win opportunity for both the Boy Scouts and the Open Source Community.

The OSI project is not a merit badge program. This is a full fledged strategic plan to apply the Open Source process to the organization as a whole. As far as I know this is the first project of its kind. We all know about Open Source efforts by companies from the technology sector. Most of those projects are self serving and are methods to enhance their market share.

For the most part non profit organizations have a difficult time finding software that can help them run their operations. The Boy Scouts and other non profit groups like little leagues, community theatres, art centers, Girl Scouts, churches, and even the Red Cross face the same issues. Generally these groups don’t have any options when it comes to software.

I like to use the analogy of running a fund raiser. We all get the knocks on the door from a kid asking for money to support the team. It doesn’t matter if you’re the Boy Scouts or a church youth group, it costs money to plan and go on a camping trip. Most of the time whoever is running the fund raising campaign is living a nightmare, simply because there isn’t any good software to help them. There are allot of people that have knowledge about doing fund raisers. Put them together with people that can build the software based on their input, and everyone wins.

I have been disappointed about the lack of progress that we’ve made in getting the general user community to embrace and use OSS solutions. Beyond a couple exceptions such as OpenOffice and Mozilla we have not been able to get the message across. In the server arena and among technology professionals we have made headway.

To me this seemed like a true Golden opportunity to reach a very large number of every day computer users. The number of volunteers that the Boy Scouts have supporting their kids is huge. Add to that the number of volunteers from other non profit groups that could get involved in the projects hosted by the Boy Scouts. And as we all know parent volunteers can be a very powerful force. Even if only a small percentage of these volunteers get directly involved, everyone in their organization will hear about how Open Source helped the cause.

]]>