[TOS] how broad a mandate?

[pamela fox]

Hmm, as a former CS student, I would have found it a bit
weird/off-putting to discuss gender equity in a computing course. I'd
want to discuss computing!

I'd agree with Greg on this one -- keep the focus.

On Fri, May 1, 2009 at 4:38 AM, Greg Dekoenigsberg <gdk at redhat.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, 30 Apr 2009, Greg Wilson wrote:
>
>> [Disclaimer: I'm not trying to make trouble or raise temperatures in this,
>> just trying to get a feel for what participants in this list think is in
>> scope.]
>>
>> It's pretty clear that materials for teaching open source have to talk
>> about licensing, which I believe necessitates discussion of the wider
>> social context of copyright vs. file sharing, software patents, free
>> speech, etc.  Discussions of open source "in the large" also often touch
>> on the needs of developing countries.  Given all of that, should we also
>> cover equity issues, such as why gender ratios in open source are much
>> worse than they are in the industry as a whole (where they are in turn
>> worse than in most white collar sectors)?  Incidents such as Mike
>> Gunderloy's resignation from the Rails Activists group [1] over the
>> responses to Sarah Allen's complaints about GoGaRuCo [2] mean that
>> students are going to encounter the question; should we be trying to give
>> them context?
>
> This is why the "working group" concept is useful.
>
> My preference is to keep scope deliberately narrow, so that I can meet
> that goal.  In the end, that goal may not be necessary but not sufficient
> to achieve the larger mission -- but small goals, continually achieved,
> drive the mission forward.
>
> Now, I can see someone else with a passion leading a working group
> focusing on gender equality.  Personally, I've come to believe that HFOSS
> has it completely right in that regard.  But I'd rather not slow down any
> of the current working groups -- because I know that my own is moving
> slowly enough.  :/
>
> --g
>
> --
> Computer Science professors should be teaching open source.
> Help make it happen.   Visit http://teachingopensource.org.
>
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