[Gslug-general] Re: GSLUG

[Fred Morris]

There is in my mind a seriousness factor here: people will say "I need it 
now", but when you get it all together they'll say "maybe next time, the new 
version of Descent/Front Page/the widget I need to sync to my mobo just came 
out and it only runs on Windows/Mac/blah blah...".

More people are being exposed to it in college/high school/on the job (I work 
in a shop which is almost entirely Linux and Mac at the moment, but it's a 
little different than your typical corporate office). People have tried to 
make a go at it before and failed, and except for those targeting the 
corporate environment or also teaching other topics there are very few 
successes.

If I was going to get involved, I'd want to know there was enough interest; at 
the moment I don't know what that means except to put a value on it, and that 
means people pay... something... before we start planning it... which could 
be a ways out in front. I don't need the money, it could go in the LUG's 
treasury or it could be used to buy pizza and beer for the attendees. ;-)

What about the cons? Was there anything along these lines at OsCon, LinuxFest, 
etc? How well attended were they, and isn't that a reason to get more people 
to go to those? I would also suggest that doing it under the auspices of 
something like the UW Experimental College might be a good idea. In short: 
getting the word out and manufacturing luck by being in a place where a 
larger than average number of potential attendees are gathered can't hurt.

Honestly though, I'm so far from being a computer beginner I don't know what 
people would really want in a course like this. I don't know what I could 
effectively teach, either: nothing I do particularly falls in the beginner 
category (although I do certainly mentor/lead by example/impart knowledge 
osmotically on the job). I'm guessing though that when people say "Linux" 
it's like "Windows" and it's really neither Linux or Windows they're talking 
about but some application they've been sold on (hook line and sinker) or the 
suite or ensemble (and what that suite or ensemble might be) they need to 
accomplish some set of tasks and how that works together.

I do know that people who don't know linux who are struggling and crying for 
help are often trying to install it on some crap hardware which may or may 
not work in the first place. I would strongly suggest that one of the 
prerequisites for the class is that you go buy one of several pre-vetted 
systems, or else pay someone to get linux up and running on your hardware 
before you come to the class. There are computer recycling (as in recycling 
to make working systems out of old hardware) outfits and perhaps contacting 
them would be in order... both to see what if anything they're doing with 
linux and also so that if they're putting linux on the boxes they can put the 
word out about the class.

--

Fred
http://devil.m3047.inwa.net/contact.html

On Sunday 27 July 2008 10:05, Paul DeShaw wrote:
> [...]
> So what I'm wondering is this: Is there any interest among the members of 
GSLUG to create the course that doesn't exist?  Could people agree enough on 
what needs to be taught, and how to teach it, to present a training for new 
users as a public service?  Is it possible to produce CD ROMs to hand out, 
and distribute over the Web, that would walk new users through the basics?  
Can we even define what "the basics" are?
> 
> I personally think this is a grand project for a LUG to take on. There is a 
significant "herding cats" factor to overcome.  But I would like to start a 
discussion, at least.
> 
> 
> --Paul
>