LiveContent 2 0

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Vision

We believe that the LiveContent distro can provide a useful platform that allows users to test explore free and open content and test out free, open source software. The LiveContent distro provides information and documentation about Creative Commons, the FOSS movement, and demos to how users can take advantage of the media included to re-create, re-mix and re-share content.

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.

Another venue for supporting LiveContent within libraries is to add the LiveContent distro to the library collection. This would allow users to check out the disc and explore on their own on home computers. This is an especially useful option to address the vast differences in library computing environments and amount of technical support library staff can provide to patrons.

Technical Considerations

Contents

Applications and Content running on Fedora 7

Applications

  • keep most from v1.0 as base, but add more! where to find manifest of apps that can be included?
    • OpenOffice
    • Inkscape
    • The Gimp
    • Firefox
    • Totem
    • Evince
    • gThumb
  • additions - let's brainstorm on more apps to include since we'll have substantially more space!
    • expanded OO.o that includes things like math program
    • kids programs like tuxpaint?
    • audio manipulation?
    • video manpulation

CC Content

CC is working on developing a system to "autocurate" content from CC-friendly sites such as Flickr. CC tech team will take API infrastructures to be able to pull down CC-licensed content from these sites for inclusion on LiveContent 2.0 DVD. Categories may include, but not limited to:

  • Audio
  • Video
  • Text
  • Image
  • Educational resources
  • Important - how will we be able to mark these works with the appropriate CC license?

Other Open Content

Documentation

Proper documentation about LiveContent is vital to include within the DVD. Videos and illustrations are great ways to communicate information. A 3-pronged documentation outline would be great. How to deliver documentation that is informative, draws people in, is not boring or too much to digest?

  1. First Window/icon/video/comic = What is open content and Creative Commons?
  2. Second Window/icon/video/comic = What is open source software?
  3. Third Window/icon/video/comic = How do I use the LiveContent DVD?

Bootup page

  • Quick soundbytes
  • short, library focused

What is Creative Commons?

Blurb:

  • Share, Remix, Reuse — Legally
  • Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved."
  • We're a nonprofit organization. Everything we do — including the software we create — is free.


More:

  • Creative Commons provides free tools that allow you to share your creative works with the world. When you share your creativity, you're enabling people anywhere to use it, learn from it, and be inspired by it. Whenever you create something, like a song, photograph, story, drawing or film, you automatically own an "All Rights Reserved" copyright to the creative work. Copyright gives you, the artist, important rights that allow you to say how others can use the creativity. Sometimes full copyright is too restrictive--it forces others to ask your permission before they can use your creativity. If you want your work to be freely shared, used, and built upon by the rest of the world, Creative Commons is the way. Creative Commons provides free copyright licenses that let you say which parts of your copyright you're willing to give to the public. The process is easy. Go to our website and answer a few questions about how how you'd like others to be able to use your creation, and we'll give you a license that clearly communicates what people can and cannot do with your creativiyy. You don't give up your copyright, you refine it. The world of collaboration rules, and today there are millions of song, pictures, and written works that are free for you to share, reuse, and remix. Creative Commons helps build this world of open content, and you can help.

What is free, open source software (FOSS)?

Blurb:


More:

  • All the software you see on this LiveContent DVD is free and open source. While everything here looks and feels like other computers running Windows, deep down, there are some fundamental differences. The source code--the guts that make the computer run, is "free." When we speak of free, we mean "free as in free speech," not necessarily free as in price (although this is often the case too!). Free means users have the freedom to copy, the freedom to modify, and the freedom to share their creations with others.

Exploring Creative Commons Content

Blurb:

More: *Check out free, open creative content like photos, music, and videos from places like Flickr, Jamendo, and Blip.tv--all free, all at your fingertips, all ready to share, remix, reuse. Click on the desktop icons to explore content within that category. For example, click on the "Image" icon to open a collection of Flickr images released with Creative Commons licenses.

Create your own content

Blurb:

More:

  • LiveContent showcases free, open content. Because all the content here is CC-licensed, users can take the material, rip it, use it, improve it. Access the applications by clicking "Applications" in the menu at the bottom left corner of the screen. Create your own flyer using the Gimp and the CC-photos on the desktop. Draw a picture, cut up audio, view videos using free, open players. When you create, you can share it again with Creative Commons. The content is here, the tools are here--all free on the DVD.

Saving What You've Made

  • Plug in an external storage device like a USB drive to save materials to it.

Quitting out of LiveContent

  • Quit out of LiveContent by clicking "System" from the menu at the bottom of the screen. Next, click "Shut Down" and choose whether to restart the computer into the default operating system or shut down.

Thank You

Share how you use LiveContent

Design

  • icons that match apps, renaming of things like openoffice
  • GNOME accessibility for disabled?
  • sticker or revised packaging documentation for libraries
  • develop LiveContent logo
  • put content icons on the front of packaging?

Library-specific concerns

LiveContent project within library settings

  • public libraries vs academic libraries vs other 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 - need to target
  • 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 LiveContent without spamming?
  • originally we had the idea that we needed to keep the distribution of LiveContent to CDs, since they are the media that is most able to be used across the board, especially at places like libraries, which have vastly different landscape of computing power - but are DVDs possible? - can fit so much more content on a DVD
  • less to do with the software and more to do with presentation and documentation and usefulness
  • different libraries have different budgets which allow for a vast range in hardware and training
  • what about adding the CDs to library collections - ISSN numbers? - might be a good way for people or use at home, but doesn't align too well with the applications and content becoming dated
  • accessibility concerns at libraries

computing environments

San Francisco Public Library

  • 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

Ann Arbor District Library (notes from meeting with technology director)

  • thin-client public computing setup throughout the entire public district
  • no disc drives at all
  • still supporting floppy drives
  • support plug-in USB drives
  • $400 base machine running on MS terminal server (most stable environment)
  • nodes are non-writable
  • "commodity" computing - basic internet access, no high end applications, audio works but technically not supported
  • ann arbor is one of the few libraries that are doing it this way--requires lots of up front investment
  • all applications available to patrons are located on the desktop and locked down (acrobat reader, calculator, internet explorer, firefox, excel, powerpoint, word, paint, telnet ssh, wordpad)
  • public terminals are used mostly for internet access, some word processing. the other apps are infrequently used
  • 70% of the people in Ann Arbor have computers at home
  • libraries that have money can set up things like thin clients, so delivery of content through disc drives is not an option
  • libraries that have less resources like smaller rural libraries have standard machines, but less tech help
  • patrons might be confused about how to use the LiveCD/LiveDVD, especially since they are so used to working on windows machines
  • LiveDVD might be good to add to the collection so people can check out and take to home computers
  • suggestion of putting out the LiveDVD as a kit with an instructional/informational booklet

Resources

  • Webjunction
  • TechSoup
  • MaintainIT project
  • LITA
  • oss4lib
  • alatechsource
  • "Public Libraries and the Internet 2006: Study Results and findings" report available for download here - may provide some insight to landscape of public library terminal workstation metrics

Library Testing

We'd like to identify approximately 4 libraries in various areas of the country that would like to come on board to becomes testers for LiveContent 2.0. We'd like to do quick iterative versions of 2.0, starting at "Phase 0" to be built ASAP, with revisions being made at a distinct interval afterwards, with the final 2.0 release coming at Phase 3. Geographically, we're looking to involve a library from each of the following areas:

Northeast

  • New York?

Southeast

  • possibly Florida?

Midwest

  • possbily Michigan, Wisconsin, Chicago?

West Coast

  • San Francisco?


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.

Big Ideas

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