Open source conference under way

14-November-2005

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[ people , Open stories , Open Source ]
A quick report on the Open Source for Education in Europe conference, which started on Monday in the Netherlands.

The conference on Open Source for Education in Europe, organized by the SIGOSSEE and JOIN projects, in conjunction with the Open University of the Netherlands, got underway Monday morning.

I got to Heerlen yesterday afternoon. Fred de Vries and his team from the Open University had organised everything perfectly, but we felt the need to be here for the non existent last minute preparations for the conference. Went to the pub and has a pleasant afternoon with Ray and alexandra and the rest of the gang.

Last night has a very fine meal in a castle near here. Talked a bit with Stephen Downes who is one of the key note speakers for the conference.

I must admit to being nervous this morning. Despite having some 130 delegates enrolled a horrible number had not paid before the final deadline. In reality my fears were (reasonably groundless) with over 100 turning up by lunchtime. Great work by Marina on the conference organisation desk.

The morning discussion was given over to four key note presentations, myself, Alexandra Toedt, Colin Tatersall and Stephen Downes. I will post more on the content and discussions. If you would like to catch up with the presentations we are trying to get them all posted on the conference website.

A copy of my presentation - entitled 'Learning with Open Source' is attached below.

Heerlen

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Graham Attwell; 14-November-2005 12:22:59; forum (1) help

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1 Interaction is a social process

As interaction is a social process, you argued in your keynote-speech, interaction cannot take place between humans and computers. I disagree.
I do not disagree with the "truth" of the premise, I too believe that real interaction is a social process. But why can't there be a social relationship between user and medium and therefore real interaction? Here are THE characteristics of a social relationship according to a sociologist (Ellen Berscheid): ``At the hard core of the term is the notion that two entities are in a relationship to the extent that they have an {emph{impact}} on each other, or are {emph{interdependent}} with each other in that a change in the state of one causes a change in the state of the other''. So, the real question is: what does "social" mean, does it just concern living beings? Or does it mean that there is mutual trust (... not love ...), mutual respect (if it is a compatible relationship), mutual dependence? Actually, the current talk of "user-centered technology" and "eLearning2.0" (even idealiter) seems to me lop-sided: how can a relationship work if only one of the partners is taken as a partner, the other one as a machine which has to be controlled. The control for a learner over her learning scenario should not be confused with the control for a learner over the medium. I don't want cyborgs, but I do want a good business partner interaction (a SOCIAL interaction) with software. I would love to hear what others think about this.
Andrea Kohlhase, 17-November-2005 09:31:10 forum / discussion

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