[Wolves] RE: University of Wolverhampton

[Adam Sweet]

--- "Green, Matthew A." <M.A.Green at wlv.ac.uk> wrote:

> Hello Wolverhampton Linux User Group,

Hi Matthew

> Due to recent interest from the LUG in the
> University (and my name 
> mentioned in postings) I decided it was time to step
> forward.  I am 
> Matthew Green, a member of the teaching staff from
> the School of 
> Computing and IT (SCIT) at the University - some of
> you may 
> remember/know me as I know there are some
> former/current students on the 
> list.
> 
> I thought it might be appropriate to answer some of
> the questions that 
> have been posted, and offer some more insight into
> the inner workings of 
> SCIT and UoW in general.
> 
> Firstly let me add to/amend some of the points that
> have been made so 
> far on this topic - in no particular order:
> 
> 1. To the best of my knowledge, Peter Burden was a
> primary, but not 
> only, advocate of Open Source and specifically Linux
> at the University 
> and has now left.  In his absence several
> individuals have picked up 
> aspects of Peter's work and interests.  I have taken
> on most of Peter's 
> former responsibilities, and in recent months, have
> found myself more 
> and more attracted to Linux, to which I can happily
> announce that this 
> week I removed my final remaining Windows partition.
> :-)  Contrary to 
> postings on the list, Peter's "pro-Linux" approach
> is far from dead, as 
> there is a growing number of existing and new
> members of staff that are 
> pro-Linux - I consider myself to be one of these
> advocates.
> 
> 2. My interest in OpenSSH is only an interest in as
> much as I am 
> interested in all things Open Source.  The reference
> to OSSH is due to 
> one of my growing collection of "geek" T-Shirts that
> students can often 
> see me in, others include Ubuntu, Google, Port25,
> etc.  My recent 
> attendance at the European Open Source convention in
> Brussels help me 
> expand my knowledge and my collection. :-)
> 
> 3. On the subject of marketing (i.e. posters) the
> noticeboards on campus 
> are primarily for official notices and not
> free-for-all, however I 
> believe if permission were sought, that there should
> be no reason for 
> approved posters to be removed.
> 
> 4. Currently, on a Computer Science degree, greater
> than 50% of first 
> year modules have Linux content, ranging in quantity
> from basic concepts 
> through to practical usage, and Open Source content
> continues throughout 
> the current Computer Science and similar
> undergraduate courses.  There 
> are a number of discussions currently in progress to
> further develop the 
> provision of Open Source technologies on our
> courses.

This great news. My reference point was as a student
of the old degree scheme of which I was the last year.
We covered no Linux (or even Unix, except telnetting a
Solaris machine to use Oracle) at all, until it was
covered in an Operating System theory module. It is
good to hear it is now covered.

> 5. Contrary to postings, student interest in Linux
> is growing 
> exponentially.  On modules I lead, several hundred
> first year students 
> have Open Source/Linux exposure in there first
> semester, and 
> approximately 75% have extensive practical ongoing
> usage of Linux 
> desktops in second semester.  Students are
> approaching me on an 
> increasing basis for assistance in getting started
> with Linux, and I 
> offer my assistance in installs/configs/etc. where
> required.

My viewpoint again relates to the fact that the
students weren't exposed to Linux a practical sense on
the degree scheme at all and so interst wasn't
fostered within the university. I am again delighted
to hear this.

> So what's next?
> 
> I feel this is an appropriate time for the
> University and the LUG to 
> form stronger connections and a mutually beneficial
> relationship.  I 
> will make some initial inquiries as to the extent to
> which the 
> University can support the LUG with regards to
> facilities, access to 
> students, etc, so will not make any promises at this
> stage, but what I 
> can assure is that the LUG has an active, positive
> advocate within the 
> university who can help promote the activities of
> the LUG to the SCIT 
> student population.

Perhaps it would be possible to have someone from the
LUG come to talk to the students about Linux to
explain what it is, where to comes from, how it works
and why it is how it is, why they should consider it
(or conversely, not dismiss it) and so on, to debunk
some myth in an out of hours session or a specially
organised LUG meeting at the university (ie familiar
surroundings for the students as opposed to something
that feels like an uncomfortable field-trip into the
unknown world of bearded zealots).

> What I would like is some feedback as to what
> specifically how the LUG 
> believe I/SCIT/the University can help.  I would
> like to help facilitate 
> as many requests as is practical.  From postings and
> such, I think the 
> following is a good starting point for ideas:
> 
> 1. Promotion of existence of the LUG and related
> activities to 
> staff/student population?

>From a personal point of view, this is exactly what I
was hoping for. It has struck me for a long time that
SCIT students are the perfect target recruitment
market for a LUG and felt that we were under utilised
by, or even unknown to students with an interest in
Linux. I would love to see the LUG being promoted as a
local Linux resource to interested students. New Linux
users ask a lot of questions that promote further
debate.

> 2. Possible usage of University facilities to hold 
> meetings/talks/discussions?

As David says, there is currently no requirement for
facilities, however it would be nice to know that it
might be possible in the future. You may have noticed
that we have mentioned the possiblity of dual-hosted
meetings.

It would be good to have some posters to display in
the SCIT if possible. I have no wish to put up posters
if they are not sanctioned as they come down
immediately and I guess, promote mis-trust of our LUG.
If we get some together, would someone out them up for
us?

Thanks for taking the time to get in touch :) It's
nice to know someone out there is listening and sees
us as a valuable resource.

Regards,

Adam Sweet

-- 

http://www.drinky.org.uk

http://blog.adamsweet.org

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com