Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
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On Wed, 04 Jan 2006 11:07:38 -0500
Arthur <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I had once, for example, raised the question here whether there were
ethical issues that should be addressed in connection with the
inclusion of a particular piece of software in an educational related
Open Source distribution - issues that were unrelated to its
license. I was told pretty roughly that I was being irrelevant.
Please provide a reference to the actual incident.
Fair enough request. But I will decline to re-open the issue, since as
far as I understand it the (quite well known) software to which I refer
failed on the license issue, so that there is in the end no reason to
pursue my issues/concerns that happen to be unrelated to the issue of
license. I have no reluctance to enter controversy in the pursuit of
an end in which I believe, but here I am not unhappy with the end
result, and therefore it seems better to lay off.
More generally, I believe that the folks supporting the debian-edu
project are undertaking a solemn responsibility. Whatever else, it
seems hard to deny that implicit in the effort is a statement
supportive of a significant role of technology in education. To me, if
that statement it is to be made, it can only be made meekly, humbly, and
tentatively. There is little evidence to support it, and we cannot
pretend to understand and foresee the full implications of a good deal
of what is being rolled out on a pretty impressive scale. .If we are
technologists we are also - one hopes - scientists. It seems a little
cart before the horse - to me - to have the roll out precede the
definition of the problem, much less the collection and evaluation of
evidence. But we live in usual times. The least I can hope is that we
go forward with some nagging doubts about who is us and who is they.
Good for the soul.
Art
.
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