Strategy
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| /!\ '''Note:''' This is a draft |
## page was renamed from Edubuntu/StrategyDocument |
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| Edubuntu's primary goal is to create an integrated and usable experience for educational users by enhancing Ubuntu with educational applications, tools, content, and themes. Edubuntu will provide students, teachers, and administrators with the best educational tools the open-source world has to offer. It will do so with a focus on usability and simplicity. Edubuntu is based on Ubuntu and so brings with it Ubuntu's philosophies and commitments. | |
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| This document outlines Edubuntu's strategy for reaching its goals as well as its community structure and development policies. | Edubuntu is a community project within Ubuntu whose mission is to bring the philosophy, passions, and commitments of Ubuntu to educational environments. Edubuntu aims to deliver the best that the open software world has to offer by focusing on educational applications, integration of software, usability, and strong relationships with all role players which include our users, maintainers and upstream projects. This document outlines the objectives, governance, team structures and code of conduct of the Edubuntu project. |
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| When creating release goals, feature specifications, community initiatives or introducing new contributors to Edubuntu development it is important that we have clear objectives in mind. Edubuntu has a three-fold set of objectives that expresses our goals and focuses our efforts. | |
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| === Objective 1: Education === The first objective Edubuntu has is to bring a education focus to Ubuntu. This means packaging and maintaining learning, teaching, and administration tools and targeting the educational user experience. Edubuntu will strive to make it easy to install and use educational software that applies to all ages, all subjects, all languages, and all ability levels. Edubuntu recognizes that education is not just tools, but also content. It also sees the need to not only enable learning, but also to enable quality instruction. |
1. '''Education''' - To bring an education focus to Ubuntu. To package and maintain administration, learning, teaching and content targeted at education. Edubuntu strives to make it simple to install and use educational software. It aims to be inclusive of all ages, subjects, languages and ability levels. |
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| === Objective 2: Integration === The second objective of Edubuntu is the integration of the various educational applications and tools with both each other and the rest of the Ubuntu desktop. Integration is a key element of an effective and useful computing experience. It means that the educational applications should "fit" in with the rest of the desktop and should work together without user intervention where possible. Complicated installation tasks should be abstracted or eliminated. Programs from non-native desktop environments (KDE Edu, for example) should be tested to ensure that they are integrated as much as possible. |
1. '''Integration''' - To integrate educational applications and tools with the rest of the Ubuntu system. To Integrate with popular desktop environments such as Gnome, KDE, Xfce and LXDE. Integration is a consideration with all new features that are implemented for Edubuntu. Integration is the process of ensuring that features are packaged, accessible with and consistent with the rest of the system. |
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| === Objective 3: Usability === Edubuntu's third objective is to provide a highly usable interface for both students and teachers. Usability for adults may be very different than usability for children and so special testing and considerations need to be made. Individual educational applications should be tested by target user groups to gain feedback for upstream developers. Enhancements to operating system and desktop environment such as theming and menus should be explored to make Ubuntu better suited to educational users. |
1. '''Usability''' - To provide a highly usable interface for both students and teachers. Applications, themes, menus, and desktop environment will be tested and enhanced where possible specifically for children and learning environments. |
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| == Areas of Focus == In order to move objectives into concrete reality and concentrate Edubuntu's efforts, four areas of focus have been identified. Each is an important facet of Edubuntu's overall efforts and gives new contributors a better feel for areas to work on. |
== Development == |
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| === Focus 1: Learning & Teaching == It should be no surprise that one of the key focus areas for Edubuntu is on educational tools for learning and teaching. |
=== Reaching Goals === ==== Education ==== * maintain core educational software * package new educational software * respond to educational user feedback and needs |
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| === Focus 2: LTSP & Administration === | ==== Integration ==== Integration is not only integrating Educational apps into Ubuntu but also integrating Ubuntu into educational environments * test educational software within supported desktop environments * make sure educational applications integrate with the rest of the Ubuntu OS * make sure that Ubuntu functionality fits into educational environments |
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| === Focus 3: Sugar === Sugar should be included on the addon-cd as well as the edubuntu-desktop package. There has been some discussion of branding the sugar running on various distributions as in the control panel there is an 'about this computer' which should contain the ubuntu brand for the ubuntu sugar version. Various elements of sugar are still broken, including the control panel, various activities and logging off the session. Bug reports need to be filed for all of these. |
==== Usability ==== * seek feedback on making Ubuntu and Edubuntu easier to use in educational settings * provide educationally-minded themes and artwork * make Edubuntu and educational software easy to install and use |
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| === Focus 4: Community === | === Upstream Projects === |
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| == Edubuntu Community == | Edubuntu aims to have well working relationships with the various upstream projects working on the educational software included in Edubuntu. These relationships include working on releases together so that Edubuntu doesn't ship with obsolete versions of the software. Co-operation on the coordination on bug reporting and bug fixing is also facilitated. |
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| === Edubuntu Governance & Teams === | === Application Bundles === |
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| ==== Edubuntu Members ==== The [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-members|edubuntu-members]] team are people who have demonstrated a significant and sustained contribution to Edubuntu and education in Ubuntu. Edubuntu Membership gives an @edubuntu.org email alias and [[http://www.ubuntu.com/community/processes/newmember|Ubuntu Membership]]. |
Education is a broad field with many sub-categories. Edubuntu aims to provide its users with useful application bundles which group together related packages for easy installation by users. The application bundles will be maintained as meta-packages installable via Add/Remove (gnome-app-install). Current categories include ubuntu-edu-preschool, ubuntu-edu-primary, ubuntu-edu-secondary, ubuntu-edu-tertiary, edubuntu-preschool, edubuntu-primary, edubuntu-secondary, edubuntu-tertiary. |
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| ==== Edubuntu Council ==== The Edubuntu Council is the governing body elected by the Edubuntu Members to oversee the Edubuntu community and approve Edubuntu Membership applications. Currently Edubuntu Council membership is signified by being an administrator of the [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-members|edubuntu-members]] team. |
=== Installation Media === |
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| ==== Edubuntu Developers ==== | Edubuntu is currently distributed on CD-ROM as an add-on to Ubuntu. Future versions of Edubuntu may be distributed on DVD-ROM or USB Flash disk image as the demand for a larger selection of software, translations or content increases. Releasing Edubuntu as a full install distribution would also require a move from CD to DVD. |
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| ==== Edubuntu Bugsquad ==== | == Community Organization & Governance == === Edubuntu Teams === * '''Edubuntu Members'''<<BR>> The [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-members|Edubuntu Members]] are people who have demonstrated a significant and sustained contribution to Edubuntu and education in Ubuntu. Edubuntu Membership gives an @edubuntu.org email alias and [[http://www.ubuntu.com/community/processes/newmember|Ubuntu Membership]]. Edubuntu members may aggregate their blogs to Planet Ubuntu. * '''Edubuntu Council'''<<BR>> The [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-council|Edubuntu Council]] are people elected by the Edubuntu Members to oversee the Edubuntu community and approve Edubuntu Membership applications. The Edubuntu Council also acts as the release team for Edubuntu and so takes technical decisions for the release to come, work on release announcements and update the website. * '''Edubuntu Developers'''<<BR>> The [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-dev|Edubuntu Developers]] are Edubuntu Members who desire to work on packaging and have shown that they are unlikely to cause problems with any of the Edubuntu packages. They collaboratively work on the packaging of Edubuntu's software with other members but do not necessarily have upload permission. * '''Edubuntu Bugsquad'''<<BR>> |
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| ==== Edubuntu Documentors ==== The [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-doc|Edubuntu Documentation]] team, as one might expect, works on the documentation for and about Edubuntu. This covers several different areas including system documentation, [[http://help.ubuntu.com/community/|Help Wiki]], [[Edubuntu|Team Wiki]]. This team is a member of the larger [[https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-doc|Ubuntu Documentation Project Team]] |
* '''Edubuntu Documentation'''<<BR>> The [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-doc|Edubuntu Documentation]] team works on the documentation relating to Edubuntu. This covers several different areas including system documentation, [[http://help.ubuntu.com/community/|Help Wiki]] and [[Edubuntu|Team Wiki]]. This team is a member of the larger [[https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-doc|Ubuntu Documentation Project Team]]. The Edubuntu Documentation team is also responsible for the Edubuntu website. |
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| ==== Edubuntu Artwork ==== The [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-artwork|Edubuntu Artwork]] team provides both Edubuntu-branded and educationally minded artwork themes for different age levels. |
* '''Edubuntu Artwork'''<<BR>> Edubuntu's artwork is done through the Ubuntu Artwork team. (So do we need this team then? -LaserJock) |
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| ==== Edubuntu Website ==== The [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-website|Edubuntu Website]] team maintains and provides content for the http://www.edubuntu.org website. The website is the central portal for all things Edubuntu. |
=== Communication === |
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| === Edubuntu LoCos === Ubuntu LoCo teams are encouraged to create Edubuntu chapters if interest arises. The following Edubuntu LoCo teams have been created: * [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-be|Belgium]] * [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-bo|Bolivia]] * [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-br|Brasil]] * [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-chile|Chile]] * [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-fr|France]] * [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-it|Italy]] * [[https://launchpad.net/~edubuntu-ru|Russia]] * [[https://launchpad.net/~linux.sch.gr|Greece]] |
Edubuntu has four primary means of communication for development: |
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| * Mailing Lists - the {{{edubuntu-users}}} and {{{edubuntu-devel}}} mailing lists are support and development-related mailing lists. Official information regarding Edubuntu are sent to both mailing lists. * IRC - the {{{#edubuntu}}} channel on ''irc.freenode.net'' network. Real-time Edubuntu development and support chat. * Wiki - the Edubuntu team wiki is used for task tracking, development documentation, and long term organization. * Launchpad - Launchpad is used to communicate to users and other developers about bugs via bug report comments. |
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| As a sub-project of Ubuntu, Edubuntu adheres to the [[http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct|Ubuntu Code of Conduct]]. Edubuntu leaders are likewise expected to adhere to the [[LeadershipCodeofConduct|Ubuntu Leadership Code of Conduct]]. While disputes are rare, the do happen. If a dispute between Edubuntu community members can not be resolved privately, one or both of the parties may appeal to the Edubuntu Council for resolution. | |
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| === Communication === Communication is critical to any community-based project. Edubuntu has four primary means of communication for development: 1. IRC - the #edubuntu channel on irc.freenode.net network. Realtime Edubuntu development and support chat. 1. Mailing Lists - the edubuntu-users and edubuntu-devel mailing lists are support and development-related mailing lists. 1. Wiki - the Edubuntu team wiki is used for task tracking, development documentation, and long term organization. 1. Launchpad - Launchpad is used to communicate to users and other developers about bugs via bug report comments. |
As a sub-project of Ubuntu, Edubuntu adheres to the [[http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct|Ubuntu Code of Conduct]]. Edubuntu leaders are likewise expected to adhere to the [[LeadershipCodeofConduct|Ubuntu Leadership Code of Conduct]]. While disputes are rare, they do happen. If a dispute between Edubuntu community members can not be resolved privately, one or both of the parties may appeal to the Edubuntu Council for resolution, if the Edubuntu Council also fails solving the issue, then it'll be escalated to the Community Council. |
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| == Edubuntu Development == === Seed Management === The lists of packages that are a part of the Ubuntu Education CD and education meta-packages are defined in the Edubuntu [[https://launchpad.net/ubuntu-seeds|seeds]]. The seeds maintained in bzr branches and may be modified by any Ubuntu Core Developer. The relevant branches are: * [[https://code.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-core-dev/ubuntu-seeds/edubuntu.jaunty|Jaunty]] * [[https://code.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-core-dev/ubuntu-seeds/edubuntu.intrepid|Intrepid]] * [[https://code.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-core-dev/ubuntu-seeds/edubuntu.hardy|Hardy]] === Package Maintenance === The Edubuntu development team strives to maintain all applications within the Edubuntu seeds. Maintenance is primarily done by bug triage and forwarding, syncing and merging packages from Debian, updating software versions, and enhancing communication with upstream software developers to advocate for our users. === Application Bundles === Education is a such a broad category of interest with many sub-categories that Edubuntu seeks to provide its users with helpful application "bundles" which group together related packages for easy installation by users. The application bundles will be maintained as metapackages installable via Add/Remove (gnome-app-install). The current applications bundles are: * {{{ubuntu-edu-preschool}}} - Canonical-supported applications for preschool children. * {{{ubuntu-edu-primary}}} - Canonical-supported applications for primary education * {{{ubuntu-edu-secondary}}} - Canonical-supported applications for secondary education * {{{ubuntu-edu-tertiary}}} - Canonical-supported applications for tertiary education * {{{edubuntu-preschool}}} - Community-supported applications for preschool children. * {{{edubuntu-primary}}} - Community-supported applications for primary education. * {{{edubuntu-secondary}}} - Community-supported applications for secondary education. * {{{edubuntu-tertiary}}} - Community-supported applications for tertiary education. === Ubuntu Education CD === As a convenience to our users, we produce a CD that contains the Canonical-supported educational software Edubuntu maintains. The Ubuntu Education CD is not an independent installation CD but relies on an existing Ubuntu desktop installation, and so allows the user to add on an educational "layer" of applications. === Edubuntu-specific Applications === Edubuntu exists to maintain and integrate educational software in Ubuntu and does not primary develop software itself. At times however, when a particular need is found and there is an interested developer, Edubuntu will take on a application development project. The goal of such projects should be to eventually create a free-standing, independent project. Where possible Edubuntu development should be done upstream rather than creating new edubuntu-specific problems. === Relationship with Ubuntu and Upstreams === Edubuntu is a part of the Ubuntu project and Free/Libre/Open Source Source (FLOSS) software landscape. We strive to maintain friendly and open communication with upstream developers and leverage the knowledge/expertise/skills of other Ubuntu teams for our users. == Misc. == === WINFLOSS Edubuntu === To give teachers and school admins a better idea of what Edubuntu is all about, and most of these users are currently windows users, it should be possible to test/install educational packages via WUBI or some similar approach. Though this should be a secondary focus, being implemented where time permits. === Branding === In the past the cd-rom containing the educational packages used to be called the Ubuntu educational add-on (Hardy and Intrepid). This will no longer be the case starting with Jaunty, instead edubuntu will be used again as it used to prior to Hardy. So, the project and the cd-rom containing the educational packages will be called Edubuntu but the educational part of the main Ubuntu website will remain "Ubuntu in Education". The IRC channel will remain: #edubuntu on freenode and the website www.edubuntu.org === Branding & Naming === ==== Ubuntu Education Edition ==== * "Ubuntu Education Edition" will be dropped as a brand name ==== Edubuntu ==== * "Edubuntu" will be retained as the name for the: * Ubuntu Education Community * Ubuntu Education Project ==== Ubuntu in Education ==== * "Ubuntu in Education" will be retained as: * a information area / marketing portal on the Ubuntu web site * where it represents a shorthand term for Ubuntu in (the) Education (sector) === Facilities & Hosting === 1. Ubuntu website http://www.ubuntu.com/education * general high level marketing / introducing people to Ubuntu Education benefits * providing an overview of the Edubuntu project and associated resources {***} see below * providing an overview of the download / installation process {***} see below 2. Edubuntu website http://www.edubuntu.org * used for: * Edubuntu documentation * {***} providing detail of the Edubuntu project and associated resources * {***} providing detailed instructions for the download / installation process 3. Edubuntu IRC channel #edubuntu * unchanged: * Community channel for users / developers / support and meetings 4. Edubuntu mailing lists edubuntu-users / edubuntu-devel * unchanged: * Mailing lists for users / developers see: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Edubuntu/BrandingAndNaming for discussion behind these decisions |
Introduction
Edubuntu is a community project within Ubuntu whose mission is to bring the philosophy, passions, and commitments of Ubuntu to educational environments. Edubuntu aims to deliver the best that the open software world has to offer by focusing on educational applications, integration of software, usability, and strong relationships with all role players which include our users, maintainers and upstream projects.
This document outlines the objectives, governance, team structures and code of conduct of the Edubuntu project.
Objectives
Education - To bring an education focus to Ubuntu. To package and maintain administration, learning, teaching and content targeted at education. Edubuntu strives to make it simple to install and use educational software. It aims to be inclusive of all ages, subjects, languages and ability levels.
Integration - To integrate educational applications and tools with the rest of the Ubuntu system. To Integrate with popular desktop environments such as Gnome, KDE, Xfce and LXDE. Integration is a consideration with all new features that are implemented for Edubuntu. Integration is the process of ensuring that features are packaged, accessible with and consistent with the rest of the system.
Usability - To provide a highly usable interface for both students and teachers. Applications, themes, menus, and desktop environment will be tested and enhanced where possible specifically for children and learning environments.
Development
Reaching Goals
Education
- maintain core educational software
- package new educational software
- respond to educational user feedback and needs
Integration
Integration is not only integrating Educational apps into Ubuntu but also integrating Ubuntu into educational environments
- test educational software within supported desktop environments
- make sure educational applications integrate with the rest of the Ubuntu OS
- make sure that Ubuntu functionality fits into educational environments
Usability
- seek feedback on making Ubuntu and Edubuntu easier to use in educational settings
- provide educationally-minded themes and artwork
- make Edubuntu and educational software easy to install and use
Upstream Projects
Edubuntu aims to have well working relationships with the various upstream projects working on the educational software included in Edubuntu. These relationships include working on releases together so that Edubuntu doesn't ship with obsolete versions of the software. Co-operation on the coordination on bug reporting and bug fixing is also facilitated.
Application Bundles
Education is a broad field with many sub-categories. Edubuntu aims to provide its users with useful application bundles which group together related packages for easy installation by users. The application bundles will be maintained as meta-packages installable via Add/Remove (gnome-app-install). Current categories include ubuntu-edu-preschool, ubuntu-edu-primary, ubuntu-edu-secondary, ubuntu-edu-tertiary, edubuntu-preschool, edubuntu-primary, edubuntu-secondary, edubuntu-tertiary.
Installation Media
Edubuntu is currently distributed on CD-ROM as an add-on to Ubuntu. Future versions of Edubuntu may be distributed on DVD-ROM or USB Flash disk image as the demand for a larger selection of software, translations or content increases. Releasing Edubuntu as a full install distribution would also require a move from CD to DVD.
Community Organization & Governance
Edubuntu Teams
Edubuntu Members
The Edubuntu Members are people who have demonstrated a significant and sustained contribution to Edubuntu and education in Ubuntu. Edubuntu Membership gives an @edubuntu.org email alias and Ubuntu Membership. Edubuntu members may aggregate their blogs to Planet Ubuntu.
Edubuntu Council
The Edubuntu Council are people elected by the Edubuntu Members to oversee the Edubuntu community and approve Edubuntu Membership applications. The Edubuntu Council also acts as the release team for Edubuntu and so takes technical decisions for the release to come, work on release announcements and update the website.
Edubuntu Developers
The Edubuntu Developers are Edubuntu Members who desire to work on packaging and have shown that they are unlikely to cause problems with any of the Edubuntu packages. They collaboratively work on the packaging of Edubuntu's software with other members but do not necessarily have upload permission.
Edubuntu Bugsquad
The Edubuntu Bugsquad is a bug triage and tracking team. Members of this team help to ensure that bugs have enough information to act on and are given proper priorities and are automatically subscribed to Edubuntu bugs. This is an entry-level working team that all interested parties are welcome to join.
Edubuntu Documentation
The Edubuntu Documentation team works on the documentation relating to Edubuntu. This covers several different areas including system documentation, Help Wiki and Team Wiki. This team is a member of the larger Ubuntu Documentation Project Team. The Edubuntu Documentation team is also responsible for the Edubuntu website.
Edubuntu Artwork
Edubuntu's artwork is done through the Ubuntu Artwork team. (So do we need this team then? -LaserJock)
Communication
Edubuntu has four primary means of communication for development:
Mailing Lists - the edubuntu-users and edubuntu-devel mailing lists are support and development-related mailing lists. Official information regarding Edubuntu are sent to both mailing lists.
IRC - the #edubuntu channel on irc.freenode.net network. Real-time Edubuntu development and support chat.
- Wiki - the Edubuntu team wiki is used for task tracking, development documentation, and long term organization.
- Launchpad - Launchpad is used to communicate to users and other developers about bugs via bug report comments.
Code of Conduct & Dispute Resolution
As a sub-project of Ubuntu, Edubuntu adheres to the Ubuntu Code of Conduct. Edubuntu leaders are likewise expected to adhere to the Ubuntu Leadership Code of Conduct. While disputes are rare, they do happen. If a dispute between Edubuntu community members can not be resolved privately, one or both of the parties may appeal to the Edubuntu Council for resolution, if the Edubuntu Council also fails solving the issue, then it'll be escalated to the Community Council.
Edubuntu/Strategy (last edited 2009-10-14 18:48:27 by 95)