Shuttleworth Foundation
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South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth established the Shuttleworth Foundation [1] in 2001, with the aim of driving social innovation in the field of education. The Foundation is built with the belief that education is the key to unlocking the creative and intellectual potential of the youth, inspiring them to believe that “anything is possible”.
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[edit] Goals
Their goal is to invest in projects that offer unique and innovative solutions to educational challenges faced by the developing world. They have identified specific subject areas (Science, Technology, Entrepreneurship and Mathematics (STEM) as well as leadership in education) that they believe are critical to youth development. By piloting projects that push the boundaries of innovation in these subject areas they hope to create successful working models that can be showcased and turned into global phenomena.
Technology will play a crucial role in finding and implementing innovative education solutions. They have already experienced the impact that technology has through their extensive use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) as a cost effective vehicle for curriculum delivery to learners.
Utilisation of FOSS does not end with implementing software to enhance STEM and leadership projects, they also adhere to the FOSS philosophy of transparency in all that they do. They strongly believe that it is the sharing of knowledge that will ultimately drive global development in education.
[edit] Vision - Transforming lives through innovation
- Keep the highest possible level of integrity in everything that they do
- Be a driving force behind people growth and development
- Find workable solutions through innovation
- Promote accountability - take ownership and responsibility for their actions
- Be inspired by the future
- Umuntu ngumuntu Ngabantu (I am because you are)
[edit] Objectives
- Increase the number of learners successfully completing studies in the STM learning areas
- Reduce the barrier to entry for technology in education
- Be a role model for innovation in STEM and Leadership development in education
- Promote entrepreneurship as a viable career option
- Promote accountability and transparency in all learning organisations
- Provide access to STEM content and information for all learners and educators
- Inspire learners and educators to be leaders
[edit] HIP2B²
HIP2B² is their social responsibility brand aimed at the youth market. The main aim of this brand is to bring across the message that education can be “cool”.
HIP2B² came about whilst planning for the First African in Space Road Show (inspired and funded after Mark Shuttleworth came back from Space) that was due to visit a number of schools around the country. But the decision to go ahead and launch it as a social responsibility brand was actually only taken after the Road Show was completed.
So HIP2B² become the fun expression of the Foundation’s message, interacting with the youth market from primary to secondary level. HIP2B² aims to stimulate the enquiring minds of the SA youth, inspiring them to realise that it’s "cool" and smart to get an education and to use STM as the tools to achieve a brighter future, and ultimately to realise their dreams.
As the HIP2B² brand has grown it has been associated with a number of different products and initiatives. They started off with a range of clothing and digital accessories, then launched a television program and have just launched a magazine. All are branded HIP2B² and all intended to build the brand in the consciousness of the youth.
[edit] Projects
[edit] tuXlabs [2]
The Shuttleworth Foundation's tuXlab project was initiated in-house in 2002 with the purpose of establishing eighty open source software-based computer labs in schools in the Western Cape. Since then the project has expanded to a point where they have successfully installed more than 130 labs in 3 provinces.
The primary objective of the tuXlab project is to create an innovative and replicable model for establishing cost-effective computing labs that can be utilised as a medium for delivering educational curriculum to the learners.
The Foundation is working towards ensuring that the tuXlab project is sustainable by empowering teachers, learners and volunteers; encouraging them to participate in every aspect of the lab installation. By doing this, they transfer skills to everyone involved and thereby build capacity within the schools so that future maintenance or expansion is easily managed by them.
The project also seeks to develop a robust and sustainable open source volunteer community which will not only be able to service the existing tuXlab installations and provide momentum for new installations, but will also serve to broaden and deepen the open source software skills pool in the region. It is their hope that the volunteer group will one day be empowered enough to assume full control of the day-to-day running of the project.
The Foundation is in the process of expanding this project nationally. The first steps towards this were taken in 2005 with establishment of a tuXlab presence in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo provinces.
The tuXlab project uses the skills and manpower of the Schools Linux User Group (SLUG) to install their tuXlabs. SLUG is a group of volunteers and was founded by Léhane Boonzaaier, Chandré de Wet, Gerald Webber and Wesley Breytenbach in order to facilitate the implementation of the tuXlab project.
[edit] The Freedom Toaster [3]
The Internet has been hailed as a “great equalizer” (Brynjolfsson and Smith 2000) of developing and developed nations. There are however, “great disparities in opportunity to access the Internet, the information and the educational/business opportunities tied to this” (wikipedia.org, 07.10.05).
Billions of people live with restrictive telecommunications environments that make it difficult and costly to access digital products such as software and educational content. The Freedom Toaster project was started in 2004 by the Shuttleworth Foundation as a way to overcome these problems.
Freedom Toasters are conveniently located, self-contained, computer-based 'Bring 'n Burn' facilities that distribute open-source software. Like vending machines, preloaded to dispense confectionery, Freedom Toasters are preloaded to dispense free digital products.
Obtaining a product is as simple as 1, 2, 3:
- Bring writable CD or DVD to the Freedom Toaster;
- Insert into the Freedom Toasters' CD/DVD drive;
- Select the product to duplicate.
Unlike the vending machine, where people pay to obtain perishable products, Freedom Toasters dispense new information, communication technologies, software and content that act as a catalyst for increasing people’s knowledge, leading to greater freedom.
Whilst a chocolate bar is consumed by one person, Freedom Toaster wares carry no restrictions. In fact, people are encouraged to make further copies and to distribute them, enabling the whole community to benefit.
It's as easy as toast!
[edit] SOCKS – Shuttleworth Open Content for Knowledge Sharing [4]
The delivery of effective, curriculum aligned content is a problem in South Africa. While many projects focus on delivering computers to schools, little attention is paid to the development of free, platform independent curriculum content.
The Foundation is currently sourcing curriculum aligned open content to host online in a central content repository for free access and use by educators, learners and the public. As the scope of this project is huge, they have adopted a phased approach and are focusing on delivering a set of curriculum areas at a time, gathering content from a wide variety of available sources. The ultimate goal is to compile an inclusive, platform independent curriculum content repository which could be used by anyone with an interest in education in South Africa. Anyone who would like to contribute content to this project is welcome to contact the Foundation.
