Mass Deployment of GNOME in Macedonian Schools

TODO: There are some TODOs in the text below. In addition, I think this text should mention:

When the project was started.

When it will be finished.

How much progress has been made so far – for instance, how many schools have the computers today.

For what will the computers be used? For communication, or administration, or learning, or programming? Name just one or two main uses, with others as extras.

Will this project be expanded if it is successful? What does the future look like?

People would probably like to be reminded where Macedonia is.

In what town are the people based? For instance, where does EDC have an office?

Describe the people. Approximately how old is Darko? What is his job? Did you speak on the phone or email or did you meet?

Have they had any official support from Ubuntu/Canonical?

Has the government (or this project) helped with the translation? (which has made lots of progress recently).

How has the local press (newspapers, TV) responded, if at all?

Skopje, Macedonia – 22 September 2005

The Republic of Macedonia belongs to the group of countries which seem to be stuck in an endless “development” for the last 10 years. In a country like Macedonia good things do not happen very often so I didn't know whether to be confused or excited when I found out about the mass deployment of GNOME...

A month ago a friend of mine told me that there was a project going on for free software deployment in schools and NGO's (Non-Governmental Organisations) throughout Macedonia, a project led by USAID and MoES (Ministry of Education and Sciences). After a little research I found out that the project involved deployment of Ubuntu Linux, which as you may already know comes with GNOME as a default desktop environment.

After a few weeks I finally arranged an interview with a representative of the organization responsible for the mass deployment of GNOME and Ubuntu on over 5000 PC's in primary and secondary schools. I got the chance to speak with one of the representatives of EDC (TODO: What is EDC?) who was worked on this project since its beginning. Darko Arsov is working as a Technology Integration Manager at EDC and provided all the information for this article.

As a part of a joint project called “E-School.MK”, Macedonia Connects (USAID and AED (TODO: What is AED?)), EDC and the Macedonian Ministry of Education and Science decided to install Ubuntu Linux in over 460 schools in 182 computer labs all over the country. (TODO: Are the labs in the schools or are the schools in the labs, or are they schools _and_ labs?) I asked Darko what made them consider using Ubuntu and GNOME in the first place and what factors that influenced their choice.

Darko: After a few meetings and some research Ubuntu just came up as first on the list. The main factor that influenced our choice was the interoperability of Ubuntu with other operating systems. GNOME is really all about simplicity and usability. The simple and easy-to-use GNOME UI had a great influence on the final decision and to be honest we're quite happy with our choice thus far.

How do you like the Ubuntu and GNOME 6-months release cycle?

Darko: Well the 6 month release cycle has advantages, because it allows the software to be stable and well tested before it gets to the hands of the end users. Also this gives some nice planing advantages because you know when you can expect a new version and you know that twice a year your software gets updated with new features.

Are you aware of the existence of free software projects such as the education applications @ gnomefiles.org and/or EDUbuntu (TODO: Add http links) and do you plan to introduce them as a part of your project?

Darko: We heard about EDUbuntu (the educational version of Ubuntu) and we are waiting for it to be officially released before we additionally consider if this project satisfies the needs of the Macedonian educational system. I think that there is a strong possibility of implementing something like this in the near future. We're also interested in localizing some of the educational applications for GNOME and implementing them in the existing environment.

Since the PC's are running GNOME 2.8 on Ubuntu Warty, do you plan to upgrade them to a newer version of GNOME?

Darko: Of course, one of our main project goals is sustainability and that's why we'll even encourage teachers to keep up with releases and upgrade regularly. Since GNOME 2.12 is fully translated into Macedonian we would most certainly upgrade all the PC's as soon as possible.

Do you plan to support the use of free software such as GNOME in the near future, could you tell us something more about this?

Everything we did regarding this project was in collaboration with the MoES (Ministry of Education and Science) and we hope that the MoES will continue supporting the use of free and open source software in the educational institutions throughout the country. Anyhow, we are and will be supporting these kind of projects because we consider free software to be the best tool that makes it possible for students to learn how things work, making them understand the process of creating a program far more easily.

I would also like to mention that we've set up 82 wireless hot spots in these labs, both in rural and urban areas around the country. We hope that the fast Internet connection will allow both students and teachers to learn more about the software they're using, how to add software, play with the code and participate in programming projects. We definitely support and encourage both students and teachers to experiment in their newly deployed environments so they can get to know the desktop environment and the OS as a whole.

As a part of this project, through seminars and some training, some 10000 teachers from both primary and secondary schools, will be provided with the basic skills for working with GNU/Linux and GNOME. At the end we'll be doing some analysis to see the short and long-time effects of the project.

Anything else?

Darko: :) We're also working on a web portal intended for students. The portal will definitely be an open source project where students could open accounts, upload their code, join up in teams to work together on software projects, share experiences and above all learn things from which they will all benefit in the future.

Арангел Ангов

2005-09-22T01:15:27