Thoughts from an informal phone conversation between Max Spevack and Mel Chua (Red Hat), Greg Hislop (Drexel) and Heidi Ellis (WNEC), January 20, 2011.
--- Context: Greg and Heidi are working with Mel and Max and their team to explore a funding opportunity. This would build on POSSE to create faculty development material. And we're hoping that the effort will also be based on TOS. Given that TOS is a loose collection of individuals with a common goal, the details need to be worked out. Barrier: Faculty being able to "get to" FOSS projects. What does "get to" mean, in this context? Connect with, etc? Max is concerned about how to incentivize POSSE more so that it grows faster. From Red Hat's POV, academia is slow - from academia's POV, POSSE has already grown incredibly fast. Heidi: Yes, I think that the ROI won't be seen for a year or more. Mel: We need to predict that ROI and describe it to RHT executives - what's the "you give us $foo input, we'll give you $bar output after $time" proposition? I'm not sure I could, by myself, confidently state this now, but I think we can and should. Heidi: One aspect of all this is that while it may take time and effort to "convert" faculty to OSS, once faculty have adopted a direction, they'll stay in that direction long-term. So that while the return may not be obvious now, once the return starts to appear, it is likely to continue at a relatively steady rate for a while. Greg proposes an angle: get faculty members who are interested in teaching, and show them TOS as a way of giving their students a better, richer educational experience. Greg and Heidi are hoping to work on faculty materials at a May workshop with Mel and Sebastian and some faculty members that have either attended a past POSSE or been involved in teaching HFOSS. We'll let the TOS list know as this develops further - currently on the "should/will do, but haven't had the time to work on it yet" list for everyone. Max: [I want to take] the core of what POSSE is, and the good potential of POSSE, and [start] modifying the other parts of the POSSE program so that it can be more attractive and more useful to a SIGNIFICANTLY LARGER number of professors. Mel: Beware of overfocusing on POSSE - it's a means to an end, which is "get professors started in TOS." I see Red Hat's biggest TOS contribution as the building of an introduction pipeline into TOS - POSSE currently being a big part of this, but not necessarily 100% of it forever. Idea: Focus a bit by framing FOSS as similar to a "study abroad" experience - a cultural immersion you prepare for that complements your other schooling. This is an idea that came up in Doha when Affan, Sebastian, and I were discussing ways to describe what we're teaching faculty to do" in a way that's easier for faculty new to the concept of TOS to understand. Heidi: For students? For faculty? For both? Mel: As a student experience we are preparing faculty (and supporting materials) to support. Instead of "a semester in France," what would "a semester in FOSS" look like (instead of "which class requirements do I fulfill in France," we ask "what class requirements do I fulflil during my FOSS semester" and craft curricula for that intensive semester as a separate experience "track"), and what would students need to do to prepare for it? Next actions: continue with May workshop planning - when we pick up on this we'll let the TOs list know.
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