[edu-eu] European Schoolnet and the Future Classroom Lab

[Thomas Jensch]

Hello,

thanks for picking that up.

* Federico Bruni <bruni at fsfe.org> [051212-0111am]:

> My friend is concerned about the presence of these companies. It's quite
> likely that they are going to use the project to promote their products.
> As far as I can see, all these companies produce proprietary software or
> hardware.
Indeed, that doesnt look good. It is also written that companies
        "have their technology included in the Lab and used to
        demonstrate future classroom scenarios"
ieeks. Especially since there is a trend towards smart/whiteboards
(which use Windows as the OS).
        
> What can we do to guarantee the presence of Free Software projects and 
> companies in this project?  Is there any European directive which 
> recommends the use of Free Software in such situations?
I have to check that, but as far as I recall there is no real
recommendation. 
One way to get involved is to get in touch with the Ministries in ones
country and get some more information about that network. Usually the
people involved in that FCL get their orders from the national level and
are not just happy Europeans ;)
Questions which might be worth to ask are whether teachers unions, civil
society etci. are involved in the process, what's the role of the
companies involved and the like. (Although some of that is already
written on the website in a fancy code-of-conduct style...)
Another option is to get in contact with Free-Software companies who
work in the education field and point them towards the FCL. They might
be interested in a continuing non-barrier access to the market.

> I think that FSFE may take a stand and do some "lobbying" about this 
> project.  What do you think?
Of course! Do you like to get involved, too? If so, you could help a lot
by summarizing the programme and the website :) You could answer
questions like 
        the goal of the programme
        the process 
        the milestones
        the funding
        the setting (i.e. how the programme is integrated in the .eu
                landscape)
        the mindset of the stakeholders (i.e. what's their motivation)
        the involved parties / participants
That would help others, including me, to contact the right people with
relevant questions.

mfg
Thomas Jensch