COSI – A plan for Open Source Education.

Free and Open Source Software is becoming more and more important in the global society. Hundreds of thousands of programmers from all over the
world work together on various projects, aided by the flexibility and speed of the Internet, which overcomes geographical distance.

In the Free Software world, programming skills are build up by both the beginner and the experienced software developer alike. Many pieces of valuable software are the result of uncounted hours of labour of average and above average men and women. Sometimes these people work for the honour of being recognized by their peers, and sometimes they are getting paid by companies like IBM, Google, Facebook or Microsoft. Building software gives people empowerment, and the feeling of contributing to something usefull.

We need to stimulate the skills and the self-esteem of young students on our islands, breaking their isolation through collaborative projects. By introducing students to the Open Source community, we are building their skills in programming and software engineering, as well as teamspirit, the ability to solve complex problems, and possibilities for launching a career in the software world.

To be part of the Open Source community, one needs to develop various tools
and techinques, both in technical and communication skills. Most projects work with an intensive communication by e-mail, chat and newsgroups. Decisions are made by pre-set rules or in an organic way. Speaking your mind, collaborating with others and helping others solve problems are all essential elements of the Free Software business model.

Techncial skills include programming in various languages (like C, PHP, Ruby or Java) and running web, mail and database servers. Managerial skills include managing a wild bunch of different individuals towards a common goal, quality control, translations and release cycles.

All of these skills can be learned from books and theory – but our students may experience real-world issues while contributing to real-world projects, and getting their names listed in the source code.

This approach may well result in a Caribbean Knowledge Zone that gives those students living on our islands tools to survive – brilliantly – in a global economy. It opens up possibilities for those that are talented and ambitious without having to move to other regions. It may attract larger companies to invest in our local economies and at the same time reward their employees with sun, sand and ‘the Caribbean factor’.