[Systems] First weekly meeting and other matters...

[Kevin Cole]

As mentioned, I'm a bit "out of the loop" with regards to the recent
equipment -- as in completely out of the loop.  I didn't know we were
getting any machines, nor for what purpose.  But given that Jeff was
looking for space for them I offered to look.

On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 23:04, David Farning <dfarning at sugarlabs.org> wrote:

> Our machines at the Free Software Foundation also fit in nicely with their
> mission.  I am a little more hesitant to ask for hosting from Gallaudet
> until we can provide them with something of equal value in return.  I would
> guess the Gallaudet is not overflowing with geeks needing sysadmin
> experience.
>
> On the other hand, the improved video performance of the XO1.5 (and netbooks
> in general) opens a lot of doors for hearing impaired individuals to
> communicate via video chat.  If we could tie this in with Gallaudet's
> startigic goal of "Create infrastructure for a virtual campus to attract
> tomorrow’s visual learners and serve as a platform for greatly expanded
> offerings in online and hybrid education."  Bringing the open source world
> together with Gallaudet's emphasis on visual learning around project like
> Video Chat _would_ be a win for everyone.

I keep WANTING things to happen at Gallaudet, but your assessment is
correct... There has been a very recent change in the landscape that
MAY change the landscape but I'm hanging a lot of hopes there:
Gallaudet got a new president in January. Alan Hurwitz was an
engineer, and just finished a gig as the former president of the
National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) -- which is housed on
the campus of RIT.  He came south with another Don Beil as his chief
of staff, a former computer science professor also from Rochester. For
the past two years, I've had occasional communications with

Gurcharan S. Khanna, Ph.D.
Director of Research Computing, Office, Vice President for Research
Assistant Research Professor, GCCIS Ph.D. Program
Director, Interactive Collaboration Laboratory

regarding permanent collaborative video-conferencing between Gallaudet
and NTID -- primarily via AccessGrid and/or other FOSS  tools.  Both
he, and the new acting head of NTID, Jim DeCaro, say that the recent
change in the winds at Gallaudet blow well both for techies and much
more cooperation between DC and Rochester.  This remains to be seen,
but these guys are not mere peons. ;-)

On the other hand, one of the new president's first acts was to hand
the reins of computer power to someone I've always felt was more of an
obstructionist when it comes to open source stuff. Granted it's an
"interim" position, and given her previous high profile on campus, it
made a certain amount of sense.  And, I think she MAY slowly be seeing
the writing on the wall and opening up to different ways of doing
stuff.

So, that's the current landscape.  I can explore the possibilities, if
you'd like...

-- 
Kevin Cole
Sugar Labs DC
Washington, DC