[luau] Year in Review

[R.Scott Belford]

HOSEF was informally started two years ago.  2003 marked the first full 
year of its existence.  It is time to take a look back and where we 
have been and look ahead to where we want to go.  In general, it is 
fair to say the first year was a success by virtue of the fact that we 
still exist.  Most c companies and organizations fail in the first year 
due to apathy, bickering, or just poor management.  So far we have 
withstood all of this.

Why HOSEF?

Many in the local linux community remember the early 1990’s when LUAU 
was started.  As legend has it, the community broke down over time 
because of infighting.  Thanks to the tireless devotion of Warren 
Togami, the list was reborn a few years later.  Upon arriving in Hawaii 
3.5 years ago, I eagerly embraced and relished this resource.  By 2002, 
though, it seemed that the community would benefit from a Democratic 
organization to be certain that an entity rather than individuals would 
be responsible for the sustenance of the LUAU mailing list

I incorporated HOSEF in the State of Hawaii at the end of 2002, and we 
received our Federal exemption from taxes as a 501(c)(3) organization 
in December of 2002.  We are a volunteer-driven charity devoted to 
promoting and sustaining the Open Source Community through outreach, 
education, and the donation of hardware to schools and charities.  The 
organization has been modeled as much as possible on the socially 
constructed world of OSS.

Accomplishments

The following organizations have benefitted from either the labor, the 
expertise, or the generosity of our members:
	
Kailua Redemption Academy, St., John’s Elementary, Mid-Pacific 
Institute, Liholiho Elementary, McKinley Community School for Adults, 
The Hawaii Agriculture Research Commission, Campbell High School, 
Kaneohe Elementary, The New Academy on the Big Island, UH Dept. of 
Chemistry, UH ICS Department, Fedora, and more.

This is rather remarkable, especially considering the fact that at the 
beginning of last year there was a lot of uncertainty about how well we 
would be received in the DOE following a less than positive experience 
with one.  As it turns out, the devotion of our volunteers like Ted, 
Ray, and Warren has been matched by the devotion of school Tech 
Coordinators like Kory, Michael, and Peter as well as administrators 
like Helen Hunt and Gail Awakanui.

We have had things to give to schools thanks to the outreach of our 
military community.  Cody, Jeff, and Ron are directly responsible for 
hundreds of computers and monitors coming our way.  Without the kind 
help of the good folks at Price Busters, we would have had nowhere to 
store it.  As the year ends we have an arsenal of ready-to-go hardware 
and a lot of storage space.

The request for hardware upgrades was answered by the public.  Thanks 
to the donations of many kind people to be thanked in a separate 
letter, we have a very fast and capable 4U server at UH.  It belongs to 
HOSEF, and thanks to Brian Chee, it has a welcome home at UH.

Workshops

Many people cite the lack of support as a reason to avoid Linux.  I 
determined myself to eliminate that excuse, and began twice-weekly 
workshops in 2002 to offer any one the chance to come and do anything 
Linux related.  We have spent over 400 hours this last year offering 
various levels of support to all sorts of people, all for free.  They 
have come, too, and we have, I believe, excelled at putting a friendly 
and approachable face on OSS for any and all newcomers.

When we had no newcomers, we used the workshops to refurbish the 
donated hardware.  This made it possible to deploy it with little 
anxiety about its condition.  Without the tireless work of a core group 
of individuals, we would have had nothing to give.


Education

This year we succeed in providing education opportunities for the 
public.  Some were free, and some were for a fee.  We conducted these 
at McKinley, and while we struggled to provide them with an adequate 
supply of instructors, we did succeed in a few classes.  Most 
importantly we learned what improvements to make.  Regretfully, we 
sponsored no Seminars or Lectures on specific topics that might have 
been more attractive to the Professional community.


Failures

I will mention our workshops in this category, but for reasons to be 
explained.  People like to anticipate what they can get out of an 
event, and a critical mistake of mine was to have the workshops operate 
on such an open-ended agenda.  There were days when some people wanted 
to socialize, others wanted to refurbish, and still some wanted help 
with specific issues.  Most of the time this worked, but some times it 
did not.  A clearly defined agenda, and perhaps using two different 
spaces would have corrected this and will correct it in the future.

As a leader I have failed to recruit and sustain a Steering Committee 
that could equally contribute.  As 2003 ends, I serve as Chair, 
Treasurer, and PR Officer.  This has not been in the best interests of 
our organization as I am simply not able to perform all the 
responsibilities that are required.  It has hurt us.  We churned 
through 2 chairs, 1 webmaster, and 1 PR officer.  I hold myself 
accountable for not emphasizing the commitment needed if accepting 
these positions.  In 2004 we can not have duplicate roles like this.

As a leader I have failed to rise above and diplomatically handle the 
personality issues that naturally arise when so many impassioned people 
come together to work on something that they love.  It has been 
destructive for me, as the chair and founder, to engage in some of the 
heated discussions that I have , and it will not happen again in 
public.  We live and learn.

As an organization we have failed to provide the necessary education 
and outreach.  It is not enough to just give computers away and expect 
that they will be used in a way that is beneficial to either the 
teachers or instructors.  We have learned that in our Public Schools 
there is not a devoted tech staff.  There is instead a teacher who also 
serves as an unpaid support person for the entire school.  We must 
continue to construct our organization to adapt to and improve this 
condition.  This means taking the education to the people.  It means 
holding workshops at the school we are supporting instead of expecting 
teachers and tech coordinators to come to us.  Just as OSS is a social 
construction, so must be HOSEF.  We are a bit too bureaucratic and 
rigid for that.


The Future

Weekday workshops have been taken off the calendar.  In the coming 
year, it is my belief that we will benefit from having weekend 
workshops devoted to specific tasks with a pre-announced agenda.  We 
will benefit from having them across the island to make it easier for 
other to come.  I envision hosting them at schools like Campbell where 
a group of volunteers can make a monumental difference by teaming up on 
training or installation.  It is no longer enough to give away good 
stuff; we have to perform as consultants who can help construct a 
technical solution that conforms to the social infrastructure of the 
school.  With the source code readily available, this is automatic 
(with time.)  Warren and Ray have done a lot of customizing for St. 
John’s and Liholiho

Weekend workshops will be transformed into education events and social 
gatherings.  Charles has often requested more social events,  and Don 
has suggested informal admin gatherings after work.  With a few more 
teachers, we can offer more weekday courses that could complement the 
soon to be offered RHCT course at HCC (hail to the silent astronaut 
there for helping to make it so.)

Conclusion

When IBM announces that it will migrate all of its desktops to linux by 
the end of 2005, you can be sure that change is coming.  OSS is being 
embraced by Government and Business like never before, and it is up to 
us to be certain that Hawaii does not fall behind the curve.  This will 
be done, but only if you are willing to step up and help us make a 
difference.  It has been a humbling but honorable experience leading 
HOSEF this year, and I will do all that I can to be certain that we 
keep getting better.  Let’s get on it.

aloha

R. Scott Belford
Founder/Chair/Treasurer - 2003
The Hawaii Open Source Education Foundation.