Rename Open source social networking software options

This information comes from a presentation at the 2010 FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference)

Presenters were: Randy Orwin, former science teacher and tech director; now independent consultant

Benoit St-Andre from RevolutionLinux

This presentation is available online.

Open source (OS) is license cost free, but you still need to support, train and maintain etc. Recommendation was to shift license fee budget to training budgets for both techs and staff. In the long run, you will see a savings, but don't expect to see any immediately.

Doing OS install on a large scale (to 1,000+ students) may be difficult and presenters recommended getting assistance from knowledgeable technicians.

Web2.0-the read/write web is not the same as open source. Understand the difference between open content (Google) vs. open source (i.e. Moodle--the "recipe" for the software is still there, no matter what happens to the company) Open source: can use in any instance, by anyone, in any way, you can edit, modify change at will-with the understanding that you share the info back with the OS community.

The "medium" often gets confused with the "message:"

microblogging, not Twitter

word processing, not Word

creating a presentation, not PowerPoint

Top 10 Free and Open Source Software packages:

These packages lead the way in open source software due to their high rate of usage and their strong functionality.

You will find here different lists of "Top 10 Free and Open Source Software", based on industry and usage profile.

New lists can be added from time to time.

These options for social networking can all be run within your own network cloud. Can have users log in with the same username and password to all the various OS tools you might want to install.

NOTE: important to develop policy around using these tools.

Jabber: Instant messaging  http://www.jabber.org 

http://Status.net: Microblogging 

Elgg: Social Networking Platform

One stop shop with FaceBook like options--you can turn options on and off as you wish.  Very stable; being used in lots of school districts

Mahara.org: ePortfolio and Social Networking together-focus is on the portfolio, but students can control who they share the portfolio with (within your cloud)    

Wordpress.org: Blogging platform (you can blog in Elgg and Mahara as well, but this tool is just specific for blog.) If you want to host 100's of blogs, install WordPressMU (multi-user)

www.Mediawiki.org: wiki engine (the same tool that is being used to run Wikipedia) wikia.com uses mediawiki

Scuttle and SemanticScuttle: social bookmarking

related: Getboo

Drupal: CMS (content management system)

A framework to build stuff on allows you to integrate lots of the above-mentioned features; often used by large school districts who often hire consultants to develop/customize the Drupal install. If you have the technical expertise, you can certainly do it yourself.

Open Source as it Intersects with Art

Presentation at Learning Without Frontiers Handheld Learning Conference, Jan. 2011