[Infopoint] The state of the (Infopoint)?

[Richard Smedley]

On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 23:36:21 alan c wrote:
> > Normally we're at voluntary sector events, where we find a very non-
> > technical audience, but one unafraid to talk about ethical choices,
> > and community values :-)
 
> Have you found them to be receptive? I have had limited contact with 
> that sector, but they
> 1) already have windows somehow bought or donated (sometimes by MS)

Ah, but /everybody/ [1] already has MS - it hasn't stopped you
offering a cure ;-)

Seriously, though: voluntary sector groups choose their IT for all
sorts of reasons. Unfortunately most of them relate to what's on
easiest offer (local expertise, gifts, etc.), and few to IT strategy.

M6-IT are strongly involved in encouraging sustainable IT strategy.
For example we're working with a cluster of 14 social enterprises, 
through a county council's social enterprise unit, to develop
/strategy/ as much as to improve IT use and supply Free Software
solutions.

> and 2) they are not very interested in a system their volunteers do
> not use. 

On the face of it this is more than reasonable. However:

1) All too often VCOs [2] choose IT solutions supported by only *one*
volunteer or member of staff - and when they leave...

2) Staff and volunteers can be trained. Really. It doesn't take long ;)
The key to success is choosing the right technology (within the
framework of a well thought-out strategy for change), and taking
the right approach in training.

> I have made inquiries at oxfam locally for example, and 
> registered at the local volunteer bureau as open source/linux helper 
> (free worker). Not a single taker.

The voluntary sector is crying out for Free Software expertise.
Especially GNU/Linux.

Our newest Director, Matthew Edmondson, just completed a project 
in his previous job where he travelled round the country training
Circuit Riders [3] in installing and maintaining Ubuntu GNU/Linux.

The great interest this generated is in stark contrast to the ICT Hub's
90 per cent cut to support for Free Software, with the funds diverted
to further unsustainable uptake of proprietary IT. :(

If you'd still like to volunteer, we can take this further off-list :-)

Oxfam, btw, are great contributors to Free Software. Have a look 
on YouTube for their talk at the Plone conference.

>  i think peole simply do not know 
> what open source or linux is.

``Open Source'' was a term invented by people who thought that 
businesses were too embarrassed to talk about freedom. We are
happy to talk about ethics, and thus promote Free Software.

A lot of the people we talk too have heard neither term, and have
possibly not heard of GNU/Linux either - although many people
have heard of Mozilla Firefox or OpenOffice.org. However it's 
certainly easier to talk to non-technical people about values
of community, and freedom, than explain source code, compiled
languages, and the difference between ``open source'' that you
/are/ free to copy, improve and share, and that that you are not :-/

> I talked to a near-local windows repair shop (business and private). 
> He never did anything with linux or open source. He said he 'thought 
> linux had folded'. I mentioned that microsoft had just paid 400M (?) 
> to novell and bought 70 000 linux licences to sell to their
> customers. He began to get interested.

:-)

> My own experience has been that the home users often underpin, even 
> cause the business user to follow. 

I think I can't be the only member of the IT profession who
shudders at the very thought ;-)

> This happened in a major water 
> company I worked for, I was in the unenviable position of chair of
> the deciding users committee.

Unenviable indeed. However, away from major infrastructure decisions,
we are not merely happy to get end users involved: we actually
_encourage_ it ;-)
Last week we handed a web portal over to a community, with over
twenty local community groups diving in at the first phase, and
helping to build it :-)

 - Richard


[1] Well okay, /nearly/ everyone - but I'd be foolish to pretend us
lifelong *nix users weren't in an extreme minority :-(

[2] VCO = Voluntary &/or Community Organisation.

[3] Circuit Rider is an American term for peripatetic techies who help
more than one VCO, rather than having a fixed IT position in a vol org.
It is heavily pushed by LASA and ICT Hub, and a term not liked by
others, but the full tale is beyond the scope of this missive ;)

-- 
Richard Smedley,                                         rs at m6-it.org
Technical Director,                                     www.M6-IT.org
M6-IT CIC                                        +44 (0)779 456 07 14

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