Difference between revisions of "LiveContent"

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*Researching 3 libraries in Putnam County, N.Y. in upscale districts, the 3 libraries had Openoffice.org, Firefox and Gimp installed. Further research in under privileged areas will be done. Visited private library which relies on Donations in Cold Springs, NY. Had no FOSS installed and where extremely receptive to the CD idea.
 
*Researching 3 libraries in Putnam County, N.Y. in upscale districts, the 3 libraries had Openoffice.org, Firefox and Gimp installed. Further research in under privileged areas will be done. Visited private library which relies on Donations in Cold Springs, NY. Had no FOSS installed and where extremely receptive to the CD idea.
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 +
*how can we expand the idea to more libraries, and which are the best to target
 +
*school integration? k-12, universities?

Revision as of 19:56, 13 July 2007


The idea of LiveContent is based upon LiveDistro, a live instance of an operating system that can be booted from a CD or other type of media without needing to install the actual software on a machine. However, whereas LiveDistro relies on static media, LiveContent works to provide a platform to engage with dynamically-built software, applications and constantly-changing user generated content communities.

LiveContent is an umbrella idea which aims to connect and expand Creative Commons and open source communities. LiveContent works to identify creators and content providers working to share their creations more easily with others. LiveContent works to support developers and others who build better technology to distribute these works.

Contribute!

Creative Commons encourages others to provide ideas, feedback, comments and connections to other projects on this wiki page. There are many ways to contribute:

  1. Sign up for an account on this wiki and begin adding to the community - your knowledge, ideas and contributions are welcome
  2. IRC - Channel #CC at http://irc.freenode.net - general chatter from CC-ers, affiliates, guests - http://wiki.creativecommons.org/IRC
  3. cc-devel listserv - Creative Commons developers email list - http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Mailing_Lists

Formats

USB

The LiveContent could also be made to fit onto a usb stick so that it can be plugged into computers and boot straight into linux and/or have Creative Commons licensed content on this thumbdrive.

DVD

The Free Me project has already produced a live DVD with almost exactly the same ideas behind it. More than willing to lend a hand with this :D. Contact me at jonathan.roberts.uk@googlemail.com if you think I could be of use.

LiveCD

Gnome has one. So does Mono. Why not Creative Commons? We're currently working on creating an ISO image for a bootable system that would be filled with free open source software (FOSS) and CC-licensed content. Creative Commons will team with Red Hat, Worldlabel.com and OpenOffice in order to produce a LiveCD that can be presented to libraries throughout the US as an example of free open source software, open document formats and Creative Commons-licensed content. Worldlabel is supporting the development and distribution of the LiveCD.

Rationale

We believe that the LiveContent CD can be a gateway distribution device to test the waters of using free open source software within library settings. It will also help to spread the message about Creative Commons and provide examples of different media that has been licensed under Creative Commons. We wish to promote network effects for open source in general - get more people involved with supporting FOSS, CC.

Target

Our first LiveContent CD will be created for librarians to test for public terminals at libraries. The object is to get as many libraries to install Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) on their current systems. We will be aiming the implementation at librarians and library administrators.

We strongly believe that libraries are a great way to plant seeds in the community to help the FOSS movement expand. This project will help bring more awareness to open source by providing an example of an operating system and free open source applications that could be implemented on library patron terminals. If the ideas can catch on, the long-range effects might be that libraries would begin to implement free open source software on machines permanently, thus providing a wealth of benefits both to patrons in terms of a more free computing environment and severing the long-standing ties between libraries and proprietary software license fees.

At this time, it seems that CDs provide the best media format that is accessible to most library computer terminals.

possible benefits
  • libraries
    • save money on proprietary software licensing - total cost of ownership (tco) is less
    • libraries can be seen as cutting edge in adoption of open source
    • more control over computing environment
    • can test on machines without installing
    • can also install directly from a desktop image
    • most productivity and creativity applications have a free open source counterpart
    • increase services to user by offering more software
one current example of a library computing environment
  • at San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) main branch, there are two types of computer terminals:
    • those that are used solely for card catalog lookup - no other features provided
    • those where patrons can access the internet (via internet explorer) and use the Microsoft Office 2003 suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) - there are no other applications that are accessible through the tailored, limited-view interface

Proposed LiveCD Contents

Redhat Fedora 7

Fedora 7 is the Linux operating system that will be running live from the CD. Fedora 7 can be customized by creating "spins." Spins are custom builds of the CD with applications and features that meet the users' needs. A specific spin can be documented by including a "build date" on the CD and its packaging. Any user who has installed Fedora on their machine can spin custom LiveCDs.

Documentation at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraLiveCD/

There are differnt ways to create LiveCDs with Fedora:

  • Graphical User Interface (GUI) - Revisor (comes loaded in Fedora)
  • Command Line Interface (CLI) - livecd-creator (creates liveCDs), Pungi (creates installation disks)


  • testing notes:
    • fedora 7 LiveCD Gnome runs extremely slow on a 256MB test machine
    • note - productivity and creativity apps cannot be installed at terminals without first installing Fedora - aka liveCD doesn't support application installs before full OS install
FOSS Productivity/creativity/entertainment apps
  • Openoffice - Complete version (same as from OOo site)
  • OOo Wikipedia plugin, links on page and CD to: OO, Support page, OOoforums, Documentation Project
  • FireFox - web browser
  • Gimp - raster graphics editor
  • Inkscape - vector graphics editor
  • Collection of clipart from Open Clip Art Library?
  • Worldlabel.com Blank Opendocument Format Label Templates and collection of Pre-designed label templates: address, shipping, filing, CD
  • Information and documentation on Opendocument Format from http://opendocumentfellowship.org/ included i
  • other appropriate documentation for apps
  • PDF Viewer. Possible PDF editor, Openoffice has excellent PDF export
  • SVG Viewer - this is handled with Gimp


  • note that all these FOSS applications are also available for installation on machines running proprietary operating systems (windows, osx), not just linux machines
Creative Commons-licensed content

We want to provide examples from each category (audio, video, text, image, education) to showcase on the LiveContent CD. We will develop a system that can automatically pull top content from the sites that we choose (and these sites can change as well).

We'll feature one website/service/cc-content provider from each of the 5 categories for this initial run. We should provide examples of cc-licensed materials from each. don't know how many--we'll see how much room is left on the cd:

  • what about cc-videos?
  • possible inclusion of a CC plugin pre-installed in Openoffice.org
  • inclusion of CC plug-in for Firefox?
Documentation

Interface and Display Options

Themeing
  • Red Hat. CC has provided desktop wallpaper svgs.
Initial Pop-up Screen

This screen will be loaded upon booting the CD to welcome users and give an overview of the LiveCD.

Some things to include:

  • what is a LiveCD
  • what is on the cd
    • pointer to Fedora docs
    • pointer to App docs
    • pointer to CC docs
  • instructions about how to open applications
  • what is FOSS - pointers
  • how to save
  • how to quit
CC control panel
  • how do we best display the CC-licensed content from our categories?
    • custom app - ruled out-- too much work at this point
    • webpage - preconfigure firefox to open the files in the correct applications
    • customized nautilus window - custom background image to the folder
  • utilize icons for the content categories (audio, video, text, image, education) - we have some icons from the website but maybe a bit too old?

Distribution Options

We will investigate options for getting the CDs into the hands of the libraries we wish to target. While we wish to provide a quality LiveContent CD to the most libraries we can, we realize that mass mailing may not be the best way to accomplish this distribution goal, especially since this may be considered a type of spamming. Ideas other than mailing include hosting the contents online and doing outreach to libraries and other interested parties through a widespread press release, listservs, hand out at events, or get an in through professional organizations like the American Library Association.

While we are working towards a deliverable LiveContent CD by August 8, further exploration of a dynamic, automated system should be examined. This type of system could be automated to pull updated content from various sources , current application versions and OS patches and build a CD extremely easily. In this way, users could download the most current build at any time.

During development, we hope to provide preliminary builds and demos that we can send to various organization and libraries so that they can review the LiveContent CD and provide input for further development. Later reviews hopefully will be published in numerous ALA publications. Reviews could be sent with the CD in the mailing so that there is neutral positive influence behind the CD.

Potential Issues

  • public libraries vs academic libraries - public libraries have less resources, less staff time to examine new products and test out - at the same time FOSS might most benefit small public libraries, especially rural
  • academic libraries are often equipped for more research, and might be better geared towards having the resources for testing and future development
  • what kinds of agreements do libraries have with software providers now, if any?
  • make the cds very intuitive, well-labeled, good supporting documentation - fedora has a lot of good documentation, +/- of liveCD
  • will we only make spins for i386? - probably the architecture of most library terminal machines, unless some use older macs - ppc
  • how do we distribute without spamming?
  • will libraries trust what we send to them?
  • will libraries notice it or have time to look at it?
  • less to do with the software and more to do with presentation and documentation
  • focus on low income areas, rural?
  • will CC put on material that covers all the different licenses? or least restrictive? - attribution only
  • different libraries have different budgets which allow for a vast range in hardware and training
  • The mailing will have a mail back questionaire asking did they install software and other general questions. - rethink this idea due to spamming/response issues? - think about other ways to gather feedback
  • what about adding the CDs to library collections? - might be a good way for people to install or use at home, but doesn't align too well with the applications and content becoming obsolete
  • accessibility

Timeline

June 11
  • Brainstorming "best-of" CC-licensed content to include with the LiveCD
  • Connect with other organizations - ALA, LITA, FOSS
  • blog post about the project
June 18
  • (DONE) talk to scott about helping us with builds with the correct sizing
  • trying out different spins (tvol)
  • bug jon to get test computer (tvol)
June 25
  • figure out packaging of physical CD (cardboard insert/cd burns/how many/how long it will take to get manufactured/how much) (tvol + alex))
    • (DONE) need to schedule meeting with alex for this week (Monday)
    • Explaining CC on the packaging
  • make public web page requirements on the wiki (tvol)
    • (live.creativecommons.org or creativecommons.org/livecontent or creativecommons.org/live ... maybe for now just redirect to wiki page) (tvol)
    • NOTECH: just clean up this wiki page (tvol)
  • get the automated fedora build system working! (tannewt)
July 2
  • Have daily builds running on redhat infrastructure (tannewt)
  • planning what docs we need to collect for documentation for Fedora, apps, CC-licenses (tvol)
    • pull from documentation on sites--don't reinvent the wheel, utilize wikis, but try to distill important info, especially for new users
    • we want the most of these to be present as documentation within the cd, not in print
  • conceptualize how to have auto-curated packages (pick one package in each media) (tannewt/tvol) - LiveContent takes off
    • what are the top Content Curators to have, one each for audio, video, image, and text, education. (tvol)
    • develop icons for each of these categories? (alex?)
July 9
  • have basic liveCD build completed (tannewt)
July 16
  • Have all top auto-curated packages building on redhat infrastructure (tannewt)
  • Test out auto-curated packages and communicate with tannewt (tvol)
July 23
  • (HIGH PRIORITY) Send off CD for printing early week
  • build up steam for the release
  • library distribution options
    • how many will get sent out?
    • which libraries?
July 30
  • press release about the project -work with worldlabel, redhat
August 6
  • LiveCD rollout at Linuxworld - San Francisco
August 8th
  • LiveCD rollout CC Salon - San Francisco

Resources

Groups
People
  • Jack Aboutboul - Redhat mailto:jaa@redhat.com - Redhat will provide the themeing and customized builds of the CDs containing the OS, open source apps, Worldlabel documentation, CC content
  • Mr. Alex Choong of Innotech Resources Pte Ltd (worldlabel.com.sg) will cover the cost of duplication of master Library CD. 8000 to 10000pcs with jewel box or sleedve. He wants will also implement a program in Singapore and Malaysia to distribute the CD to libraries. He mentioned wanting reference to this in press releases.


  • Simon Spero at Sun in North Carolina, who might be willing to provide server space to maintain a dynamic build system
Reading
LiveCD Examples
LiveCD Resources

future

  • Researching 3 libraries in Putnam County, N.Y. in upscale districts, the 3 libraries had Openoffice.org, Firefox and Gimp installed. Further research in under privileged areas will be done. Visited private library which relies on Donations in Cold Springs, NY. Had no FOSS installed and where extremely receptive to the CD idea.
  • how can we expand the idea to more libraries, and which are the best to target
  • school integration? k-12, universities?
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