Document Freedom Day

Freedom – the  rallying cry for revolution, is  the absence of restraint of various forms.  Freedom of expression  , or the ability to   seek, receive and impart  information or ideas, through various media, is a characteristic of  a free society. 

 

Free your documents 

 

Documents play a key role in the construction of social reality (Searle, 1996) . Throughout centuries, documents were seen as valuable sources of information that  shape our understanding  of  the evolution of  human society and culture.  For example, cave drawings, hieroglyphics, scrolls of sheepskin, sheets of papyrus, ink on paper, magnetic tape and electronic files are all documents that provide historians , researchers and academics with valuable clues as to how our ancestors lived their lives. 

 

The  social aspects of documents arise from their historically unchanging character, or its  immutability with respect to oral forms of communication. 

 

Documents store  records that will be considered authoritative in the future, particularly with respect to government. For example,   receipts, titles, and deeds provide proof of ownership, while  passports or driver’s licenses serve  as proof of identity.

 

Canadian philosopher  Marshall McLuhan, in 1964 declared , “The medium is the message.” It   means that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a “symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived, creating subtle change over time”.   The written word,  such as a document, is a form of media that impart  the principles of uniformity, continuity, and linearity.  He   explains that  a medium is  “any extension of ourselves”, or more broadly, “any new technology”. Thus, the document,  as an extension of ourselves, deserves to be free. 

 

Liberate your country

 

“Document Freedom Day (DFD) is the global day for document liberation.  It will be a day of grassroots effort to educate the public about the importance of Free Document Formats and Open Standards in general”, according to the Document Freedom  website.

 

The first celebration of Document Freedom Day happens on the last Wednesday in March, 2008.  It focuses on facilitating community action ,  promotion and adoption of free document formats and open standards, and making a global network.  

 

The event  complements the Software Freedom Day, an annual worldwide celebration of free/open-source software that aims to educate the public on the  virtues of free/open-source software and encourages its use. 

 

DFD is  a collaborative and volunteer driven effort that goes back to discussions between various participants in the ODF Alliance. The following groups have declared their support for Document Freedom Day: Ars Aperta, COSS, Esoma , Free Software Foundation Europe, Google, IBM , Nlnet , ODF Alliance, Open Forum Europe, OSL , iMatix , Red Hat , Sun and The Open Learning Centre.

 

Organizers are seeking  local teams from all over the world to organize events. Interested parties can register at http://www.documentfreedom.org/.

Curriki- open sourcing education

The worsening state of education in this country is undeniable.  As the parent of a child who is currently enrolled at a public school, I understand what the limitations of the school are in terms of teachers, resources, and facilities.  Nonetheless, I had one simple expectation– quality learning for my kids.  If public schools can not ensure that, then the educational system is all pointless.  

 

I was surprised to learn that some of my friends who had kids in posh private schools had dilemmas the same as mine. The main concern – inexperienced or unmotivated teachers, who often assign pages and pages of homework from workbooks they haven’t even covered in class, thus expecting parents to pick up where they slacked off.  Because of this, I am seriously considering homeschooling. 

 

As I researched online about educational resources that I could use if and when I decide to take my kids’ education into my own hands, I found quite a number of websites . Most notable is the Curriki website, a global education learning community  that  provides  free curricula and instructional materials for students from kindergarten until high school.  It is a community of educators, parents and students who work together to develop interesting, creative and effective educational materials for everybody to use.  

 

Curriki is a play on the words ‘curriculum’ and ‘wiki’ , which is the technology it uses to make education universally accessible. It is a nonprofit organization originally created by the founders of Sun Microsystems in 2004.   It was conceived from the idea that technology can play a crucial role in breaking down the barriers of the Education Divide – the division of inequality that prevents children worldwide from having access to quality education. Curriki’s mission is to make learning possible for anyone, anywhere in the world. 

 

Its initial focus is on  curricula in the areas of mathematics, science, technology, reading and language arts.  Users can search the repository by keyword,  subject, file type, level and instructional type.  It provides lesson plans, videos,  notes, slides and  reviews  of the course materials.   Anyone can download   as well as upload   educational materials.  These materials are reviewed for content by the community. Some materials are  reviewed by a department of education or university and  labeled as premium content.

 

Curriki applies the open source process to education to  empower educational professionals to become active contributors  in the creation of world-class curricula.  As such, Curriki is a focal point for the “open sourcing” of education.  It provides educators and students with  access to a platform that is specifically designed to provide the educational support needed to develop open source curricula.  

 

Indeed, delivering  open content in a cost effective and sustainable fashion is critical to success in eliminating the Education Divide.    

 

Curriki continues to gain prominence among educators. It recently won the  2007 UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize  for the use of  information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance learning, teaching and overall educational performance.    UNESCO is an active supporter of open source communities.

 

“It is clear that open source methodologies have been essential to the Internet revolution  and to the explosion in technological advancement. … Curriki will be a digital crossroads for those who want to teach and those who  want to learn.  Together we can eliminate the Education Divide.  Freely sharing through community is the right thing to do for educating an increasingly interdependent global population in the Participation Age.”  Dr. Barbara – Bobbi – Kurshan, Executive Director of Curriki.

 

I am not alone in my belief that our educational system fails to provide quality learning to our kids.  Maybe technology can  improve the way parents and teachers impart knowledge to our most valuable resource.

Corrupt countries are more likely to vote “yes” to OOXML

The more corrupted a country is, the more likely it is to vote for approval of the OOXML standard proposal.  This was the conclusion of  Electronic Frontier Finland , which studied the relationship   between   corruption levels and  the voting behaviours of  countries who participated in the voting process on the  ISO (International Organization for Standardization )  standardization of OOXML . 

 

Office Open XML ( OOXML) is an XML-based file format specification for electronic documents such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents. Developed by Microsoft,  it is a successor to its binary Microsoft Office file formats .  The specification failed to  get sufficient approval from ISO/IEC national body members   as a full International Standard during the voting process that took place in September 2007.  

 

EFF used data from Transparency International’s  2006 CPI index (Corruption Perceptions Index) as basis for measuring corruption levels among participating countries. The CPI index is a number between 1 and 10.  It indicates the degree of public sector corruption as perceived by business people and country analysts.  A small CPI index means that the country is perceived to be very corrupt , while a large CPI index means that the country is perceived to have little corruption.

 

Among the  70 votes received by the ISO in September 2007,  77 %  (23 countries)   of countries with CPI indices less than 3.95 voted for approval  or approval with comments while only 23 %  (7 countries) voted for disapproval.  Countries which voted for approval include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh,  Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Congo, Côte-d’Ivoire,  Jamaica,   Kazakhstan and  Lebanon.  Among countries with CPI indices more than 3.95 (least corrupted ), 54% (13 countries) voted for approval and  46%  voted for disapproval  or abstained.   The conclusion was that  the corrupted countries were more likely to vote for approval of OOXML.

 

The study is limited to  finding the  correlation between corruption indices and voting behaviours. Thus,  although there is a strong  correlation between the two variables, there could be a number of other unexplored variables affecting voting behaviour.  To get more closer to the truth, one needs to look beyond quantitative data and take a look at the bigger picture.  For example,  consider that Microsoft  allegedly ”convinced” Swedish representatives into voting “yes” during the voting process, causing controversy that eventually caused its vote to be  disregarded.  

 

What about accusations of  ” ballot box stuffing” ?  ISO membership had reportedly grown   before the vote , and suddenly the room was overcrowded with  Microsoft ‘yes’ men.  Special interest groups were also allegedly   formed by Microsoft in Europe and  in other countries to speed up the approval process.

 

It is interesting to note  that the Philippines , with a low CPI of 2.5, voted against the approval of OOXML. Based on the study cited above, this is uncharacteristic of a country with high perceived corruption levels. This leads me to conclude that the   Department of Trade and Industry,   the National Computer Center,  and other decision makers have been quite judicious despite mounting pressure from those  who stand to gain from the approval of OOXML. My hope is that the  Philippines will continue to vote with integrity and act to the best interests of the country when OOXML  undergoes a final and definitive voting  in  March 2008.  

Intelligent Teaching and Learning with Computers (iTALC)

 

Whether you are  computer teacher  or someone who simply utilizes a networked computer lab for instruction purposes, you’d be glad to know that there’s a  new, open source teaching and learning tool  that could make teaching much easier for you.   iTALC, or Intelligent Teaching and Learning with Computers, is a didactical software program  that is designed for use  in networked  learning environments. It offers a lot of possibilities  :

 

1. Teachers can monitor  and control each student’s computer   from his/her is own computer during  classes using  remote desktop control features .  This saves the teacher the labor of  running around the lab to check out each student’s progress.

2. The student can  learn new procedures by viewing the  teacher’s actions on his/her computer screen rather than through a projector.  To make a demonstration  , the teacher can get into demo mode , which  displays the teacher’s screen on a pop-up window on all connected computers . The demo can be in full screen mode, to prevent students from simultaneously using the computer for other tasks. Students can  also show a demo to the teacher , but can’t broadcast their screens to all other students in the class.

3. iTALC can  lock students’ input devices  so that they are unable to use the computer  when they must pay attention to the teacher.

4. Teachers can send new instructions to all active users through the ”Text message” window .

5. Teachers  can set  up virtual classrooms by  grouping student computers  using the classroom manager .

6. With the proper settings and hardware, teachers can power on/off and reboot  computers from the master (teacher) computer. The teacher can also   execute arbitrary commands/scripts remotely.

7. Students can join lessons from their own homes  via VPN-connections just by installing iTALC client on their home computers.

 

Network admins could also use iTALC as a network management tool.  By installing  iTALC clients on all the computers in the  network ,  systems could be administered remotely.  The downside for the client, however , is that network admins will have full control over computers on the network , thus allowing them to  snoop into  the activities of all users  on the network without the client’s knowledge.

 

iTALC can be installed on several Linux distributions, including Debian, Ubuntu, SUSE, Fedora and Gentoo. It can even manage clients running other Linux distributions and Windows XP.

 

It has very modest hardware requirements  :  512MB RAM and 1GHz processor and a graphics card on the master (teacher) computer.   iTALC must be installed on all client (student) computers as well.  A user manual is available on the iTALC wiki at  http://italc.sourceforge.net/wiki/

One of the best things about iTALC is that it is free.  It is also open source, so that users can customize  the software to meet individual requirements as long as   the terms of iTALC’s license (GNU General Public License) is respected.

 

You can download iTALC at http://italc.sourceforge.net/.

Open Source Software alternatives for business

Small businesses are often tight on cash. When times are rough, the first thing that small business owners do is to rethink its spending. One expense item that would probably catch their attention is the spending on software licensing and upgrades – money  that could have been spent on more important investments like employee trainings,  facility improvements , or marketing.  Your business will benefit from substituting free, open-source applications for those expensive software.

 

The transition is not as difficult as you might think. Several open source software   support not only Mac and Linux machines, but also Windows machines.  Thus, you do not have to give up your current operating system. In many cases, the software user interface are  similar. Thus, you should not expect a steep learning curve for open source software.  Here are some suggested open source software substitutes for  commonly used proprietary software:

 

1) Open Office.org for Microsoft Office

OpenOffice.org is a free, open-source office suite which is a good substitute for  MS Office. The suite includes a word processor, spreadsheet , equation editor, visual database, presentation   and drawing application. But just because it costs nothing, it does not mean that Open Office.org is an inferior product. It has many of the features of MS Word . In fact, some users claim that  OpenOffice.org Writer (word processor) actually bests MS Word in a number of areas, including page layout, lists, headers, footers and endnotes.   Writer even offers more, such as the capability to export documents to    PDF format, the Navigator, which provides easy navigability within documents, and the Stylist, which automatically updates document styles and formats.

 

Even if your current files are in MS Word format (.doc), you can open these files with OpenOffice.org and have the option of saving them as .doc or as .odt, the OpenOffice.org word processing document format. However, note that some layout features may be lost during export, depending on the complexity of the document formats.  MS Excel and Powerpoint files can be exported as well.

 

2) Firefox for Internet Explorer

 

Firefox  web browser is  an extremely popular alternative to Internet Explorer.   One Firefox feature that users will appreciate is “ tabbed browsing”, which  lets you open  multiple pages within a single browser window using tabs . Thus you do not have to open several windows to access several webpages at the same time.  Shifting to  Firefox will not require any major shift in your daily browsing habits. It can import your favorites automatically.  In addition, Firefox can block  popups  that often appear when browsing unknown sites.  

 

3) Mozilla Thunderbird for Microsoft Outlook

 

Mozilla Thunderbird is a full-featured messaging client that works on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It provides  support for POP and IMAP e-mail, NNTP newsgroups, and RSS feeds. You can add calendaring features  with the Lightning extension, which you can share through WebDAV servers . It is also compatible with Apple iCal. However,  it does not communicate with Exchange servers for access to Outlook calendars.   You might otherwise consider Yahoo  Zimbra, which supports both Outlook and its own free open clients.  However, it requires the installation of server software.

 

 

4)  GIMP for Adobe Photoshop

Undoubtedly, Adobe Photoshop is a superior product that is  the de facto standard for image editing software. If your business relies hugely on image editing ,  there’s no better alternative than Photoshop.  However,   if your business will survive without the power of Photoshop, a free yet high quality alternative is GIMP  (“GNU Image Manipulation Program”) , which boasts of similar capabilities and tools.  A modified version of GIMP, GIMPshop,  offers a Photoshop-like interface . GIMP can be used on Linux, Mac and  Windows. 

 

5) Amanda for Windows’ built-in data backup tools
You can use   more sophisticated free and open source solutions like Amanda  (Advanced Maryland Automated Network Disk Archiver) Open Source Backup software .  It has the capability to protect  servers and desktops running various versions of Linux, UNIX, BSD, Mac OS-X and Microsoft Windows operating systems.  Amanda supports common tape drives and other backup devices . It can compress software either on the client system, where the data to be backed up lives, or on the backup server. It can  perform full and incremental backups, automatically selecting an incremental level based on its specified configuration parameters. It even  provides protection against accidental media overwriting.

 

 

6) UltraVNC  for Microsoft’s Remote Desktop

Not all Windows licenses include the Remote desktop server even if it includes the client terminal.   UltraVNC  is an open source  remote desktop client and server application for the Microsoft Windows operating system that uses the VNC protocol to control another computer’s screen remotely. 

Live Content 2.0 – open content made more accessible

Access  text, images, audio, video, software and  educational resources   instantly when you install  LiveContent 2.0.   

 

Live Content 2.0 is a comprehensive collection of open source content , neatly organized and compiled into a small 2.3 GB package .  It will introduce you to the concept of open source, and the great  possibilities brought about by Creative Commons licenses .  It will also allow you to explore non-proprietary software and dip into alternative media.  What’s even more remarkable about   Live Content is that it allows you to take your operating system with you and use it in any computer. 

 

You can download   Live Content 2.0 at the Fedora website ( http://spins.fedoraproject.org/ ) and then torrent the files using a torrent client .  When you boot the Live DVD,   a Creative Commons boot screen appears, which then boots up a Fedora desktop.

 

The Desktop

The desktop contains audio, educational, image, text, and video folders , as well as the following applications: TuxPaint (image editor for kids), Mozilla Firefox browser , Open Office ( office suite), Totem (media player  for the GNOME desktop environment), Jokosher (audio editor and mixer), Inkscape (vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator), Gimp (  photo editor similar to Adobe Photoshop)

 

Audio

The audio folder on the desktop consists of music samplers from various artists sourced from Jamendo.com, a website that features free music , and Simuze, a   Netherlands based company that distributes licensed music. The audio folder in Firefox also contains bookmarked music sites.

 

Education

The Education folder  contains documents from MIT’s Open Courseware, which include subjects such as  Single Variable Calculus, Physics 1, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, and Linear Algebra. The Firefox browser contains bookmarks to  other open educational resources that  you might find useful. These include  Open Source Movies, Open of Course, and other websites that contain lesson plans or open educational content.

 

Images

The Image folder features an extensive collection of JPEG images under various CC licenses from Flickr and Wikimedia Commons. Likewise, the Image folder in the  Firefox browser   contains useful links to image resources,  such as  Yotophoto, Zorger and Open Photo.   Other valuable  resources are  Open Clip Art.org, which features a collection of vector clip art , and  Design Reaction , which features cause oriented posters available to non-profits to use in their efforts.   

 

Text

The  text folder in the desktop contains several books, including those that revolve around open source concepts like “Free Culture,” by Lawrence Lessig and “Freedom of Expression – Over Zealous Copyright Bozos and Other Enemies of Creativity,” by Kembrew McLeod , “Producing Open Source Software,” by Karl Fogel . There are also books on other topics like  “Weird Shorts,” by Ginae B. McDonald and Katie Maud Stephan, as well as a science fiction piece entitled, “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom,” by Cory Doctorow. 

 

As you might have guessed, the text bookmark folder in Firefox contains links to reading resources. These include IntraText , a digital library for research,  humanities and religions , and Public Library of Science, a resource  for medical and scientific literature.  For some light reading, there’s also  Blast Magazine and Good Magazine – online magazines that center on subjects such as  culture/fashion, society, sports, technology, politics and gaming. There’s also Unearth Travel,  a free, editable travel guide.

 

 

Video

The video folder  contains videos on   open source and free content. The video tab on Firefox contains  open source video sites like Revver, Newteevee, Lulu TV, and BlipTV.  

 

 

Share, Remix, Reuse — Legally

Creative commons licenses allow creators like  authors, scientists, artists, and educators  to   mark their creative work with the freedoms they find appropriate for them.  Unlike traditional copyright, which is more restrictive, Creative Commons licenses restrict only certain rights (or none) of the work. Creators waive some or certain rights to their work so that other creators can remix and reuse it legally.  Thus,  CC lets you change your copyright terms from “All Rights Reserved” to “Some Rights Reserved.” 

Each of the   files contained in the Live 2.0 CD has a CC license associated with them, which tells you how you can use the content.   You can search for media based  on the six Creative Commons licenses available. (For more on this, visit: http://creativecommons.org/)  

 

Moral Rebuilding and Open Source

“No Restitution, no Absolution. In the words of Jesus: with Restitution, there is Salvation. (Luke 19:9). An authentic conversion demands willingness to restore what has been stolen and the resolve not to steal again.” This was part of  the pastoral letter read by Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, the archbishop of Manila, on March 14, 2008.

 

The Catholic church’s call to moral rebuilding begins with ourselves as individuals.  Taking to heart the  mandate of the Seventh Commandment , “Thou shalt not steal” , is a good start.  This day and age, there’s a commodity that too many people are guilty of getting their hands on illegally, and sadly,  often without any sense of moral dilemma . The commodity:  licensed software .  I challenge all pirates out there to turn away from  pirated software, deinstall them from their computers, and take the guilt-free road to open source software heaven.

Are you one of them?

 

According to  the International Intellectual Property Alliance Report 2007,  the Philippines suffered an estimated $35 million in trade losses due to pirated business  software in 2006.  Plainly, that’s  economic sabotage brought upon by the collective efforts of millions of Filipino pirates across the country.

 

The figure was lower than in previous years,  not necessarily because people have regained their sense of morality,  but probably because  more people are  getting penalized  for the illegal use of software   – thanks to intense anti-piracy efforts by the Business Software Alliance, Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team  , the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police.

 

Open Source and Freedom

 

If we teach our kids that taking something without permission is alright simply because we can’t afford it  , then we are not being good role models .  After all,  stealing in any form, however miniscule the amount, is still stealing. 

 

But why steal when you can have it for free? Whether you are a business or an individual , you will find that open source software , indeed is a great alternative to proprietary software. It’s cost-free and guilt-free at the same time.

 

The process of cleansing your computer system from illegally acquired software may seem like a  daunting task. The truth is that it’s  much easier than you think.  For example,  downloading free and open source operating system, Edubuntu Linux is easy as pie.

 

Just head on to http://www.edubuntu.org/Download then select a mirror site , which will be your source. Then select an image.  The Desktop CD, for example,  lets you   try Edubuntu without changing your computer. After you download it, copy it to a blank CD, insert the CD into your CD drive, then restart your computer.  Try it out for a few days then if you are convinced that this is a good alternative for you, then you can install it permanently . Edubuntu Linux is only one of several Linux distributions you can try out.  

 

You will be surprised to find that free software is not inferior to proprietary software. In fact, it is sometimes even more powerful.  Linux is known to be a very robust operating system, highly secure against computer viruses and less prone to crashing than most  proprietary operating systems.  

 

Once you get comfortable with free and open source software, you will be tempted to google for more free software. You will be amazed at the multitude of  guilt-free downloads  you can access on the Internet.  More important than  benefitting from free software, you will get sucked into a culture of sharing that is the very foundation of  open source .  Unlike proprietary software companies, who are out to squeeze every peso out of your miserable pockets,  open source communities give away many things for free –   tutorials, support, software, extensions, upgrades, etc.

 

Using open source software may be a miniscule step towards moral rebuilding .  Nonetheless, teaching our kids that stealing is not a good thing will go a long way in rebuilding this nation from its so-called  moral ruins.

Some cool extensions for OpenOffice.org Impress

OpenOffice.org  Impress, the presentation application of OpenOffice.org, has a few cool, new extensions that you might find very useful. If you’ve been using  proprietary presentation applications and find  OpenOffice.org Impress lacking in the  bells and whistles that you used to enjoy , I am sure you will find these extensions helpful in closing that functionality gap.

 

eVoice

 

eVoice 1.0.0 is an extension that lets users   add  sound clips to each slide.   While it is ideal  for adding narration,  you can also use it to record sound clips directly from a sound system or MP3 player.   All you need is a   microphone and  sound card , and  a two-way jack to input the music.  Once you install eVoice, the  eVoice item appears on the top level of menus. To use it,  select Insert . A dialog box appears  with options to Record, Stop, Play, and Pause.  

 

Recordings are represented by  a gray object that can be  dragged and dropped around the slide as you   design your slide layouts.  When you run the slide show, the gray object becomes invisible . The limitation with adding sound files is that eVoice only allows  one sound clip per slide.  Adding  a second  sound clip will delete the first. 

 

eVoice  will work on  OpenOffice.org 2.1 and   StarOffice 8 Update 5 or higher running on Windows and  Linux operating systems. Its filesize is less than 200 KB.

 

Sun Presentation Minimizer

 

Sun Presentation Minimizer by Sun Microsystems, Inc. reduces the size of a presentation. Minimizing the file size results in maximizing the speed of your slide show . It also  makes your presentation easier to upload onto a web site and faster to download.

 

When you install Sun Presentation Manager, you will find an item on the Tool menu which you can access easily. When you click on this option, a wizard appears, which provides   step by step directions for   reducing the size of your slide show. Files are compressed by   removing unnecessary items, such as unused master files or hidden files and the cropped areas of photos. It  reduces the resolution of images and graphics and converts OLE objects into  static images , which makes them uneditable.

 

You have the option of specifying  which of these file-reducing measures to implement. There are also pre-set options from the first slide from which you can choose. You can even   save your own current options as a pre-set.

 

Generally, the Sun PPT minimizer  is most effective on slide shows that are packed with embedded objects and graphics.  The sizes of  presentations can be reduced from   15-75% of the original size, depending on the contents of the original slide show. The amount of space you are saving is indicated in the wizard.  It  saves the reduced file under a different filename so you do not accidentally overwrite the original.

 

It is compatible with OpenOffice.org 2.3 and StarOffice 8 Update 8. The file sizes vary from 300 KB to 1 MB depending on the operating system .

 

One more thing- the Sun Presentation Minimizer  also works on Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

 

PhotoAlbum

 

PhotoAlbum 0.4.0 lets users  convert a set of photos saved onto a folder into a simple slide show in  just four clicks.

 

To begin using it,  download the extension, open the PhotoAlbumInstaller_1-2.sxc file, and press the Install button. The Photo Album menu is added by  default as Top Menu ‘Photo Album’ . Then restart OpenOffice.org. If the Photo Album menu doesn’t appear, quit OpenOffice.org and the Quickstarter, then launch them again. 

 

Make sure that   the images you plan to include in the slide show are saved  into a separate directory.   Images are embedded  in numeric then in alphabetical order so ensure that you arrange the images accordingly (e.g., in numerical order such as 1.jpg, 2.jpg,…and so on  or according to  alphabetical order , such as a.jpg, b.jpg,…..and so  on. )

 

Access  OpenOffice.org then go to Photo Album- Create Photo Album. Note that the “Photo Album” menu appears on all OpenOffice,org applications – not just Impress.  Select the  directory where you saved your images. The extension automatically  creates an album for you on Impress with one image per slide, and filling the entire slide. 

 

Slide transitions are set to display random transitions and is set to loop constantly by default.  Nonetheless, you can edit these settings after you create the album. Slide transitions are set from Slide Show – Slide Transitions, and the loopback from Slide Show – Slide Show Settings – Type.

 

PhotoAlbum makes it easy for you add multiple  images to a presentation. Thus, it saves you the trouble of having to  select Insert – Picture-From File for each and every image.   Photo Album is system independent and is only 5.88 KB.

 

OpenOffice.org extensions can be downloaded from the OpenOffice.org extensions repository at:

http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/

TuxPaint – Open Source Drawing Software for Kids

Some argue that computers and kids are a bad combination. In fact, 4 years ago , I myself did not allow my then 6 year old daughter to use it . But when I found some educational applications that I knew would help with her schooling, I knew it was time to let her try .

It can not be denied that kids are fascinated with computers. The best thing we parents can do for these fascinated kids is to moderate its use and to choose a suitable application for them .

One open source software that can develop your children’s creativity is a drawing application called Tux Paint. Tux Paint is designed for kids from 3 to 12 years old. It received many positive reviews since it was released in 2004, and had won several awards . It just keeps getting better!

Tux Paint has a very simple, very intuitive user interface. It is very entertaining too. It plays a catchy tune every time you open the application. My 3 year old daughter runs to the room whenever she hears this. It also has amusing sounds effects that are activated at the stroke of the paintbrush. A smaller paintbrush sounds off a high pitch while a thick paintbrush gives a low pitch.

It has some fun tools like the Stamp tool, a set of rubber stamps or stickers that lets you paste pre-drawn or photographic images like a picture of a butterfly, banana, or a spaceship in your picture. The Magic tool contains a set of special tools that change the way your drawing looks by adding effects or objects like grass. bricks, rainbow and sparkles.

The Main Screen is divided into the following sections: the toolbar (left) , selector (right) , canvas (middle) , color bar (bottom), help area (beneath the color bar).

The toolbar contains the tools you need to draw and edit. The selector contains options based on the toolbar. For example, when you select the Paint Brush tool on the toolbar, the different kinds of paint brushes appear on the selector.

The canvas is where you draw. The color bar, you guessed it, changes the color of the brush, stamps, and other tools. Below the color bar is where you will find Tux, the Linux Penguin, who provides some useful tips and information as you draw.

Loading and saving files is easy too. Kids do not have to specify a filename and a path, which often confuses young kids. Once the kids click the Save button and reaffirms the action by clicking on a check mark (for yes, I want to save it) or an x mark (for no, I do not want to save it), the drawing is saved. When the child clicks the “open” button, the thumbnails of previously saved photos appears. Kids just double click on the thumbnail to open it.

The canvas also has a predetermined size, so the kid doesn’t have to adjust the window size . There are no dialog boxes either, except for the check and x mark options when saving.

Printing a picture only takes two clicks. You can even disable printing or to allow printing once every few minutes. This is a great feature because it prevents kids from accidentally printing the drawing or prevents them from printing too often, when they get over excited with seeing their drawings on paper. Without it, you just might end up with mounds of colored drawings scattered all over the floor!

Another great feature is that you can run it in full screen mode. This prevents your kid from accidentally deleting or opening files on your desktop when he / she moves that mouse off the edge of the window. The quit button can also be disabled, so your kid won’t end up in tears after losing the work of art that he/she invested his efforts on.

Based on my opinion, Tux Paint is definitely the best drawing application for children. I mean, forget about awards. My kids love it, I do too. On top of that, it’s free. The latest release , Tux Paint 0.9.18 can be downloaded from

http://www.tuxpaint.org/download/

The requirements:

● any of the following operating systems: Linux, Mac (Intel and PPC), Windows (Windows95 through Vista) . It also runs on handheld devices like Sharp Zaurus PDAs that display 640 X 480 graphics and Nokia 770/800 packages
● an essential requirement : a kid in the house , or an adult with similar disposition.

Edubuntu: Linux for Young Human Beings

“Ubuntu” is an ancient African word, meaning “humanity to others”. The Edubuntu Linux distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to schools, through its customised school environment. The current version of Edubuntu is aimed at classroom use, and future versions of Edubuntu will expand to other educational usage, such as university use. This is what the Edubuntu website (http://www.edubuntu.org) says about its operating system.

The Desktop
Edubuntu uses the GNOME Desktop Environment. It has file managers, network browsers, menus, and system tools. It even comes with a selection of programs that you can download at the click of a button. No need to search the Internet for educational programs. Just choose the program from a built in application called Synaptic and the computer automatically downloads the application for you, provided you have an Internet connection. The desktop is fun and easy to use. You can choose from three different theme setups for the desktop: ‘young’, for younger users, ‘plain’ for a clean desktop setup, and ‘default’, which is a general purpose theme setup. The latest release , Edubuntu 7.10, was codenamed “Gutsy Gibbon”.

(insert desktop.jpg here)

KDE Edutainment Suite

KDE is a graphical environment and serves as an application framework for KDE Edutainment Suite, a collection of educational software for Language, Mathematics, Science, Keyboarding, Geography and other subjects. The latest version of the KDE Edutainment software is included in Edubuntu.
An example of a Science application, Kalzium is a small and quick database for the elements. It shows the symbol for the element , the element number , the most important oxidation-stages , the elemental weight, , the atomic shells, orbital structure, density , etc. Some elements have information about their isotopes.
See more screenshots of KDE software at :
http://edu.kde.org/

(insert kalzium.tiff here)

GCompris
Gcompris is a collection of educational activities for kindergarden for basic computer use, basic maths, reading , logic, experiential activities and others . It’s so easy to use, my 3 year old daughter uses it with minimal supervision.

See more screenshots of GCompris at :
http://gcompris.net/

(insert gcomprisreading.tiff here)

Tux4Kids
Software such as TuxPaint, TuxMaths and TuxTyping are software for developing graphics, math and keyboarding .

(insert tux.tiff here)

See screenshots at : http://www.tuxpaint.org/

OpenOffice.org Office Suite
Edubuntu includes OpenOffice.org version 2. OpenOffice.org components include a word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, simple vector drawing and web authoring.
See screenshots at : http://www.openoffice.org/

Easy to install
Edubuntu is easy to download and install. Just access this website.

http://www.edubuntu.org/Download

You can try Edubuntu before installing it on your computer permanently. Choose the appropriate platform on the “Desktop CD ” option. Your computer will start to download a file named “edubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso” for Intel computers ( or edubuntu-7.10-desktop-amd64.iso for AMD)

Once the download is complete, burn the iso file to a CD, insert the CD in your CD drive then follow the instructions that appear. ( If you simply click on the downloaded file from your hard drive, the computer mounts the iso file but will not execute.)

You do not have to uninstall Windows to use Edubuntu.

Time to switch

If your school is thinking about upgrading to Windows Vista , think again. Why spend hundreds of thousands of pesos on proprietary software when you can have a high quality software made specifically for schools at no cost?

Schools have all to gain from making the switch from proprietary software like Windows to Edubuntu Linux. A major reason for this is the hardware requirement.

Proprietary software upgrades occasionally require hardware upgrades too. This requires money that schools are reluctant to shell out for due to budget constraints. Edubuntu Linux and open source alternatives do not require frequent hardware upgrades. In fact, will run on a computer with 500 MHz x86 processor,192 MB of system memory (RAM), 8 GB of disk space (although only 4 GB is required), Graphics card capable of 1024×768 resolution, Sound card (optional) , a network or Internet connection. If I had know this twenty years ago, I would have kept my i386 computer rather than let it waste away in the basement.

‘No Hardware left behind,’ was how an open source advocate describes Edubuntu’s hardware requirements. It will run well even on older machines that can not run Windows Vista. Schools are faced with a decision : stick to proprietary software, which requires hardware upgrades, or switch to open source, which runs on their old machines or those donated to them .

Even if your school has the budget, that money can be channeled to other areas of the education process, such as faculty incentives, facility improvements and training.

It is about time that school administrators shifted their attention to more viable alternatives such as Edubuntu Linux.