[YLUG] Potential Project for a local School

[Peter Hawkins]

Just flying a kite here to see if there would be any interest in the Uni
assisting a local school with a Linux project.

 

I am a governor at the school and we were recently given a presentation by a
company offering a system to display material on screens around the
premises. The system has the capability to show the company’s own video
content which is generic to the education sector (e.g. content related to
the ‘Every Child Matters’ philosophy) and also incorporates a ‘ticker’
scrolling across the bottom of the screen with the facility for school staff
to create the text and thereby broadcast relevant messages to parents and
others viewing the screens. A third aspect of the system is the ability for
a school to produce its own video material to be displayed on the screens.

 

The head is very enthusiastic about the system but the problem is the cost.
The company sells the system as a package so it is difficult to judge the
cost of the individual elements of the package such as Server, Operating
Software, Generic Content and Screens although it is known that they are
pricing a 42” monitor at £900 because they were asked to provide a price for
the system with one 42” monitor and a separate price for the system based on
the school sourcing its own 42” monitor.

 

The head would be happy to live without the generic content and to stream
video content produced within the school but retaining the ticker facility
to allow staff to convey appropriate messages to parents etc.

 

Someone please tell me if I’m being naïve but I’m thinking that providing
such a facility based on a Linux server should not be too difficult or
expensive and might well be a suitable project for students at the
University with students from computing possibly collaborating with students
from media studies working together to assist the school in creating the
server and the schools own video content.

 

If I’m not being naïve, I would be grateful if someone could put me in touch
with an appropriate contact at the University with whom I can explore this
issue.

 

Peter Hawkins

 

 

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