One of the things I really love about Fridays, other than they herald the weekend, is #followfriday on Twitter.  Many folks join Twitter and don’t understand what it’s all about.  Or maybe it would be more accurate to say they don’t know who to follow.  The #followfriday trend is about those who use Twitter recommending to new people, as well as long standing users, someone new to follow. 

Here is my personal list of folks and businesses that are open to open source or free software.  I’ve included in parenthesis their specialty.

ranginui / Chris Cormack- (Koha – open source ILS)

joetho / Joe Tho- (Koha – open source ILS)

wizzyrea / Liz Rea- (Koha – open source ILS)

Miromurr / Thomas Brevik- (Koha – open source ILS)

gmcharlt / Galen – (Koha – open source ILS)

magnusenger – (Koha – open source ILS)

corephp / ‘corePHP’ (PHP – scripting language that is free software)

nirak / Karin Dalziel- (Linux – open source operating system)

LinuxVoices

galaxiecruzin / Alex B – (Linux – open source operating system)

nengard / Nicole Engard – (Koha – open source ILS)**

linuxjournal

Linux

But these people are far from the only ones out there on Twitter.  You can use Twitter search directories to find other like minded people.  On WeFollow, I found 220,545 Twitters  who have used the words open source in their profile.  On Twellow, I found 89 Twitters.  On JustTweet It you can find Linux users, Joomla  (open source CMS ) Tweeters, Wordpress Tweeters, and even Drupal (open source CMS) Tweeters.

So no matter what open source avenue you want to pursue, there is probably someone on Twitter who you’d want to follow.  Great thing about the open source community, most folks are eager to lend a hand.  So ask away on Twitter, you’ll find folks happy to answer your open source question or point you in the direction of a great resource.

** nengard posted on Liblime’s Open Sesame blog other social web sites associated with Koha

When I think of Open Source, I generally think of adults who contribute to communities to build and modify software that anyone can use.  It has never really triggered the thought of kids, classrooms or education, though… until now.

Sugar Labs, a company founded by the former software president of the One Laptop Per Child project, has released a product called Sugar on a Stick.  It’s a "Linux-based learning environment" that boots from a USB drive and is designed for children’s ease of use.  All a child has to do is plug in the USB drive to any computer, boot it, and they’ll be working in the same computing environment they’re used to with all their own files. 

What does this mean?  It means that a child can go to school, work on classwork, homework, notes, etc, with the ability to complete those same exact tasks in any location.  It meants that parents will no longer be tasked with buying expensive software. It means that school systems can use older, slower computer systems and can upgrade less, which frees up money for other initiatives.  It means that same student could come to the library and work in the computing environment that they’re used to.  It means that libraries like Howard County, who are partners in education with the local school systems, could potentially further integrate and provide seamless interaction from school to the library.

It means that more resources will be available to more children.

Learn more about the role free and open source software will play in educational institutions, including libraries and schools, for years to come by reading about Sugar-on-a-Stick

Sounds delicious, no?