Re: RFA: The Debian Jr. project
On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:30:40 +0200
Holger Levsen <holger@layer-acht.org> wrote:
> Yup. Has something happened on this in the last month?
Miriam Ruiz has some ideas, but since our initial contact on the
matter, I have not seen any action on them.
> Sounds good and compatible :)
OK ...
> That said, I dont see much of a problem here, or maybe rather, an easy way
> out: Debian Edu provides two key features: customisation of the desktop for
> pupils/schools and providing a network infrastructure for schools. Debian Jr.
> doesnt need the latter at all (or? kindergarten network seems a bit far out
> to me atm, maybe its not), but thats no issue, as Debian Edu also already has
> standalone installs.
>
> And we even have different desktop profiles for standalone installs now: kde,
> gnome and sugar. And I would love to extend this to "kde for primary school,
> kde for middle classes, kde for high school and university" and the same with
> gnome. And then also kde & gnome for kids.
>
> I'd think this would boil down to provide a different installer image or
> installation type with the existing image. So basically, a Debian Edu install
> with "less overhead", which is not needed for a single^wstandalone kids
> machine.
Well, technically, it appears things would work out.
> > How
> > do you think children would view Jr if it were an arm of the Edu
> > project? In Debian Jr, our focus is the child and the fun of
> > discovery. While some progressive educationists claim to hold to these
> > values, I worry about how kids would view the Jr project if it were
> > absorbed into Edu.
>
> Hm. Honestly, I have no idea how kids see Debian Jr. now, maybe I wonder if
> they can see it, as currently afaik its "only" a packaging effort within
> Debian, so I dont think it's visible to them. Do you agree? ;)
Probably. But it doesn't stop me from wishing this were not so. I
didn't want Debian Jr. to be *only* a packaging effort. I wanted a
living, breathing relationship between children, their caretakers and
developers. We've fallen far short of this lofty ideal, but that
doesn't mean it can't or shouldn't be kept alive. That's the
distinctiveness that is at risk to be lost if we're just absorbed by
Debian Edu.
> Basically, to keep Debian Jr. distinct, I would suggest branding :)
Not a bad technical solution, as I said. Let's just see what comes of
the alternate proposal by Miriam to have youth lead this project as a
group before going down that road, though.
Ben
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