For those who wanted to see Free Educational Software development more prominent at FOSDEM 2008, I applied for a devroom but it was refused (I got some mails asking me if I was following what I informally started last year).
I am quite disappointed by the whole thing as it was very difficult to make the request. First I filled a form on the FOSDEM website and second someone told me I have to send a mail. From the form I got no acknowledgment. Then of course I was put down. "Of course" because I am a newbie in that game (meaning I don't know anyone in the FOSDEM board). Also because they want the name of a project and thus they probably thought I wanted the DevRoom for KDE-Edu. As my "father-project KDE has a devroom" (quoting them) of course KDE-Edu cannot have one.
Probably my request was not clear enough (they could also have asked for more info) but I wanted a DevRoom for Free Educational Software in general, not a KDE-Edu room... Last year FOSDEM opened with an OLPC talk, was that only to surf the hype wave?
Next year I hope to get more support and help for lobbying the organization board and make the point for all people who care about Free Educational Software Development and would like to see this topic in one of the leading European conference.
4 comments:
look on the bright side; now you know what they care about, you can make sure you are elaborate and consice about all these in your email next time :)
Hi,
The FOSDEM organizers did not confuse your application as being for KDE-edu.
We're just having a shortage of devrooms -- we've had to refuse half of the requests. There just isn't enough space.
So we hope for a little understanding on this issue.
@florisla: so Education is something you intent to focus on next year or is it a low key topic?
Blooming of Educational distributions, small devices like OLPC, CLassMate PC and even EEE, that's the future. And Freedom does matter here.
I understand you have few rooms, I am just wondering about the criterias. Half new requests getting through is a very good rate in fact.
That's too bad to hear. I think education is a very important subject and even European Union puts a lot of importance on it. Getting kids in contact with free and open source software and the principles behind it as early as possible is also very good for later so I really hope FLOSS Education gets attention it deserves next year.
Post a Comment