On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 5:29 PM, Edward Cherlin <echerlin@gmail.com> wrote:
It frequently happens that the Computer Science Dept. uses Free Software for almost everything, and everybody else uses proprietary software. CS can't talk to the others effectively, because they are "just geeks". I have more hope for elementary schools.
Yes, I understand. Actually I suppose my query has two components, one having to do with the self sufficiency of educational institutions when it comes to the core software needed to run their operations... and the other having to do with free and open source software, which is one way communities band together collaboratively, in order to co-develop said core software. Like maybe MIT has some big programs for scheduling courses, registering students, keeping info on financial aid / scholarships, and publishing the catalog, all of which was developed in-house over many iterations -- but none of these applications have been released under GNU or other open source license. In that case, MIT would be self sufficient by criterion (a), but is not in the business of helping other schools ramp up using customized versions of said FOSS software (b). Maybe it's too site specific? MIT's in-house solutions might use open source (e.g. Python) but the solutions themselves are the closely guarded secrets of MIT (likewise a private company or government agency, like Industrial Light and Magic, or NASA, might use Python but not see any reason to share code). This is all familiar ground by now -- we're all aware of these distinctions. I'm just thinking back to all those OSCON talks by R0ml Lefkowitz and others, connecting FOSS practices and ethics to the culture of the liberal arts. If FOSS is about empowering and enabling local control, then why would any self-respecting academy want to outsource its core functions? What kind of message does that send? One could imagine that big strong universities would be somewhat self-sufficient, semi-autonomous, when it came to managing their own admin internals. Do we have some well known examples? Having the system completely open for tweaking to those on the premises potentially means faster evolution, more expression of the human imagination, a tighter coupling between theory and practice, drawing board and realized features. Schools could develop a reputation for the ingenuity of their internal applications, which might also help students coordinate their own schedules, promote events, submit work etc. Teachers would have access to multiple resources as well, including tools no one has thought of yet... Beyond that, it means a culture that knows first hand about collaborating on large projects, complete with version control, division of responsibilities and all the rest of it. Shouldn't universities be centers of innovation, starting with the bread and butter applications that define their institutional relationships? I remember a panel discussion I attended at a previous OSCON, about open source in Africa. The institutions in that picture were quite keen to do as much of their own programming as possible, as the whole point was to develop the skills and understanding needed for self sufficiency. Licensing fees can be a huge drain, and are in principal avoidable in this day and age, given sufficient commitment to local control. I also remember CERN having some conference scheduling software the EuroPython tried to repurpose for some context outside CERN, and how frustrating that was. Not every inhouse tool is equally adaptable. Similar question on Slashdot, re FLOSS conference management software: http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/02/1954247
There are exceptions, such as Moodle.
I suppose the argument could be made that universities charged with teaching just don't have the time and resources to compete with private industry, when it comes to developing software for production use, bug free enough to entrust with student records and finances. However, given how Linux, FreeBSD and GNU got off the ground, you'd think there'd be a ready-made culture of developers here, at least in some schools. Add the open source ethic and model for sharing, and one wonders why there's not already a lot of free and open solutions out there -- like frameworks. Here's something obscure that's at least in the ballpark: http://tinyurl.com/2dpr6eb """ This paper describes a WAP-based course registration system designed and implemented to facilitating the process of students' registration at Bahrain University. The framework will support many opportunities for applying WAP based technology to many services such as wireless commerce, cashless payment… and location-based services. ...so is Bahrain University somewhat self sufficient when it comes to admin software? Kirby
On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 18:30, kirby urner <kirby.urner@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm becoming more aware of the fact that one reason universities need to charge those tuitions is to pay licensing fees to private vendors who provide them with such basic services as the ability to store and schedule classes, record student enrollment and grades, record instructors etc. The catalog needs to be published on-line. There might be a lot of extended education options, e.g. non-credit courses open to anyone willing to sign up.
Some of these proprietary programs are pretty old, lack features departments need, and so various intermediating applications grow up around the edges to fill in the gaps.
Maybe the big dino system doesn't record student evaluations for example, or keep track of which courses are in the pipeline, but still haven't found a place in the sun.
One would think that universities in particular, which pride themselves on having advanced knowledge of state of the art skills, would band together in various consortia to pool resources and "eat their own dog food" as it were. A school that teaches medicine actually practices medicine (the "teaching hospital"). Shouldn't schools that teach computer science and business administration actually walk the talk in some way? Maybe many of them do, I don't actually know.
To outsource something so core to one's business, to pay licensing fees while not having the power to make design modifications, just seems more than a tad on the ironic side. It's like a bank outsourcing everything it does around money.
I realize not every college or university wants to reinvent the wheel around something so basic, but I do wonder to what extent there's some open source sharing going on, around these core utilities. Are universities so competitive they won't share? So does that mean they all pay the same licensing fees to use the same private vendor offerings?
I remember Zope / Plone and SchoolTool. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SchoolTool
Is there something even more comprehensive that's out there, suitable for college and university use? Does it come in modularized components? Is it an over-the-web database?
Or do few if any universities really eat their own dog food?
Like I say, I'm new to this business, just trying to get oriented.
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-- Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. http://www.earthtreasury.org/