7.1 Floss, oer, equality and digital inclusion  (Page 4/10)

What opportunities do these present to FLOSS and OER developers, and to the communities of users? Which initiatives exist already providing or developing suchbuilding blocks? What should be prioritised to streamline participation in the global knowledge society?

A4. if we could provide access to all the world’s knowledge and educational resources, would we have “equality in education”? whatDoes that mean?

Equality does not end at “access” unless we define “access” to mean physical access (to a computer or some other device)with sufficient bandwidth, and the ability to use the resources effectively. Relevance of theresources is important, as is the freedom to adapt/modify and share alike.

The barriers alluded to previously apply.

Some General Comments

Early Adoption of FLOSS by the OER Community

The OER community is quick to adopt FLOSS and develop and integrate features to support their learners. Recently, this has been incorporation of Web 2.0 features(mashups, use of resources such as del.icio.us , Flickr , YouTube , GoogleMaps , etc.). This is all great - where sufficient bandwidth is available at all times.

Bandwidth and Learning Resources

Recognising the bandwidth issue in much of the developing world, a group of people came up with the idea of “Education in a Box” which laterbecame “Education out of the Box” - a collection of CDs containing FLOSS and free/open content for Education. The intention was to set up a web site with resourcesfrom which one could select and download for use in a local setting. The recipients would be free to use, copy, learn with, adapt, improve and share - i.e. take control of their owndestinies and offer professional services (such as localisation, redistribution, support, etc.) enhancing the potential impact of these resources on meeting local needs.

The project did not receive direct funding but was supported indirectly by the Developer Roadshows (OSI, OSISA and OSIWA ). It is a “libre project” - anyone is free to take the idea further in their own way.

Initiatives in South Africa which provide FLOSS and free/open content, which have exchanged notes, include the Digital Doorway (minimally invasive education), the FreedomToaster , and tuXlabs . The latter started out deploying FLOSS computer labs in schools, developing an effective methodology fordoing this. At last count there were over 240 schools with tuXlabs. SchoolNet Namibia has done something similar with over 340 schools so far. The FreedomToaster provides FLOSS and some free educational content toanyone who arrives with blank CDs/DVDs. The digital doorway provides access to people in environments not normally suitable for computers (on account of crime and vandalism forexample).

For connectivity within a community, the WirelessAfrica project suggests ways in which a community may set up a network. If there is high bandwidth to the Internet availablesomewhere in the community, everyone may gain access via the mesh.