[Edu-sig] The Geek Channel

[Arthur]

> 
> Imagine a new Geek Channel on cable or via satellite, where kids can tune
> in
> to see vid clips of their heroes in the open source community, talking
> kernel design, futurism, hardware.  Slashdot for television.  OSCON 24/7
> (repetitive, like Sesame Street -- segments for different ages, different
> shows).  Twist in elements from scifi.  Get some authors on, like
> Vonnegut.
> Radical OK.  Clowning around OK.  Both Python *and* Monty Python.  Plenty
> to
> bliss out on, and for both boyz & girlz.  Synchronized websites.  Blogs.
> 
> Damian's lecture on thermodynamics, the game of life, and programming
> using
> a Klingon version of perl -- there's an audience for this kind of thing.
> http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5304
> 
> Should we call it the O'Reilly Network?


O'Reilly is a very interesting company.  What put them over the top in my
eyes was when we discovered through a thread here, that they were helping to
fund a newsletter that was taking a very skeptical view on the importance of
computers in education. It doesn't necessarily mean that anyone at O'Reilly
supports that view. It just means that, as far as I can tell, that they felt
it important that that side of the debate have some meager resources -
considering the resources available to those on the other side of the
debate.

> 
> I'd watch, if it were done at all well.  I'd even help produce it.  I'd
> watch Jim Hugunin talking about IronPython, or Tim Peters talking about
> anything, over political punditry, any day of the week.  And I bet I'm
> typical of a big enough demographic to make this channel more than a
> little
> attractive to advertisers.
> 

There is a fundamental difference, in my mind, between efforts that can be
self-sustaining, and efforts that are motivated by profit.  Certainly I have
no objection to money changing hands in the process.  Should an author of an
educational text expect to be compensated, should his publisher be in a
position to sustain themselves. Of course.

Shuttleworth is now directly employing top Debian developers in putting out
ubuntu.  And there is a corporate entity behind it. Canonical.  I don't
suspect that Shuttleworth is expecting or willing to fund this effort from
his pocket indefinitely.  Nor do I suspect he is looking to profit. He
apparently does have some ideas about how the effort can become
self-sustaining.

Finding workable models along these lines is an extremely important effort,
which is why I follow it with such interest.

Art