Meetings?

[Jon Green]

Hi All,

I really enjoyed the MassCUE conference last week, especially meeting
so many others with shared interests. However I would have liked more
opportunities to explore how others are using Open Source software in
their districts and learn of the benefits they've realized and
challenges they face.

As a new member, I'm hoping that this SIG can provide those
opportunities so that we can all share our expertise and work together
to solve problems.

So here come the newbie questions. Do we have meetings? Would we like
to? I'm happy to organize and host if people are interested.

Thanks!

[Algot Runeman]

Jon,

It is great to hear your positive reaction to the conference. Open
source certainly isn't the main focus of the organization, but we can
hope to advance the "cause" through sharing of what we know or find out.

This SIG has been "homeless" since Michael Selva changed jobs. He had a
position at a private school in Watertown, but is not there any more.
Meetings last year were "road show" productions at two other MassCUE SIG
meetings. It would be great to have a standard venue. Thanks for your
offer. Let's get together at your place to talk about it.

Even with a home base, I have also been thinking that the road show idea
is still valid. Because I am a retired person, I can make easy
arrangements to travel to any school that wants to host a meeting. What
do you out there on the list think?

--Algot

--
-------------------------
Algot Runeman
47 Walnut Street, Natick MA 01760
508-655-8399
algot....@verizon.net
Web Site: http://www.runeman.org
Open Source Blog: http://mosssig.wordpress.com

[Dave L]

Sounds great to me... but, where is Maynard in relation to Rhode
Island? How long a drive would it be for me??
Dave Laroche

[Algot Runeman]

Maynard is not close for you. It is for me, just a few miles up route 27
from Natick, fortunately, so I am going on Tuesday to meet with Jon.

We can then discuss the options for a stable meeting site or the
alternative of having many people offer hosting service on some sort of
rotating basis (even one-shot hosting would work for me). My travel
options are wide open.
--Algot

[Jon Green]

Maynard is a little more than an hour North from Providence either
taking I95 or I495.

[Algot Runeman]

This list is getting a bit of advance notice before the December
MassCUE Calendar is issued. The following information went in to be
included.

Moving to Open Source Software in Schools (MOSS SIG)
Date: Monday, December 14, 2009
Time: 9:00 A.M.
Location: Fowler Middle School, 3 Tiger Drive, Maynard, MA
Check in at the main office as a visitor. There will be signs posted
to the room where the meeting will be held.

Directions:http://www.maynardschools.org/directions.html
MapQuest: http://bit.ly/7Wb5q5 (shortened with bitly.com)

This meeting is intended to be a "roadmap" meeting, trying to get a
clear picture of the steps that the SIG can take to make itself useful
to schools, technology coordinators, and teachers and ultimately
improve students' access to open source tools which will improve their
chances to succeed.

In addition, we want to provide access for those who cannot be
physically present. We are working on the details this coming week.
Look for more information in a later blog post. We are specifically
looking into a tool called Internet Relay Chat (IRC). More details to
come.