"The future arrived; it just wasn't equally distributed." -William Gibson
I cannot begin to tell you how this quote gave me pause and started 'wheels' turning in my head. This is so true in the world of technology as well as many other cross cultural categories. From socioeconomic status to education and beyond, our world is imbalanced.
After listening to the resources for this week's discussion and blog post, I begin to think about ways that I could help to bring about change in my community. Being an online instructor, I do not have as much access to the public education system and structural facilities. However, I thought about just the one aspect of using Linux as an operating system in our local public schools and how much money that would save to put towards upgrading technology and providing more computers per student. As a resident of a state that remains on the bottom of the educational ranks, I believe changing the operating system and support would be a saving and effective way to increase our statistics and bridge the learning gap for our children and young adults.
Since I still have connections with my former elementary school, I would like to explore the possibilities of creating change in the department of technology to bring about more revenue for the schools and increase the resources available to enhance the learning environment for students. Open source software is a means that should be implemented in this country as in other countries. I know that monopolies from Microsoft often hinder these implementations, but it is time to help increase awareness of our options rather than going with the majority.
One thing that also came to mind after reviewing our resources, is the options a charter school would have if implementing Linux and other open source software and the decrease in expenditures this would bring about, so that start up costs would be more effective in providing needed technology and instructional resources.
As I said, wheels are turning in my mind and the fact that "the future is not equally distributed" in my community makes me want to get out a shovel, move some dirt around, and smooth out the surface!
Cynthia Harrison
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Cynthia,
ReplyDeleteYour wheels were really turning with great ideas. I have not had a chance to experience Linux or much open source software, but I know that it is a beneficial source when trying to bridge the digital divide especially with the way the economy is at this point in time. Have you used Linux or other open source software? If so, are there any significant differences of similarities?