Free EDEM2004 Interview_Coudoin Gcompris

Describe FreeEDEM2004Interview_CoudoinGcompris here.

Thank you.

---

FREEEDEM: First and traditional question, to let our readers know you better. Please present yourself ...

On the profesional side, I am a software engineer. Beside this, I am maried and I have two children.

FREEEDEM: What is your main (free) project about ?

My main free project is gcompris. gcompris is all about kids. It provides educational content for kids from 3 to 10 years old. What I use to say is that with a computer, we do not want to replace paper and pen but to complement traditional way of learning. Gcompris does it's best to use the dynamic and interactive aspect of the computer to enhance or provide an alternate way of learning a concept. If the kid don't get it on paper, perhaps the computer may let him understand the concept.

FREEDEM: Who are your main users ?

Main user are kids of course but I consider parents and teachers as users also because they do install the software, select the best activities for the kids and monitor their progress.

FREEDEM: Who are your main supporters ?

The Ofset organisation is my main source of support. Recently, gcompris got an an award as the best libre educational software at the free software trophy. It's always very pleasant to be rewarded for our efforts.

FREEDEM: How many users are there who interact with you ?

It's hard to say. Like in other project, users tend to come to us only when thing goes wrong (install issues or bugs). I can say that the gcompris mailing list is active and beside me several person are developing, maintaining, documenting and promoting gcompris. I could estimate the core team to about 5 persons.

FREEDEM: What comments would you like to get from your users ? From supporters ? From contributors ?

I like to ear when gcompris is used in school, especialy when it's part of a more important project. I am aware of several places where gcompris as been a major factor when switching a school or even a district to GNU/Linux. I can say that already gcompris is used in schools all over the world and that very good for the free software community.

FREEDEM: Which kind of support would you most like to receive, from the community or users ?

Gcompris is a large application and at each release, I cannot run a complete test because it requires manual interventions. I appreciate bug reports, comments and feature request because it makes us focus on our user base. I am not a teacher so what we did in gcompris is what we can call 'common sense' but sometimes, an educational expert can really help.

FREEEDEM: Could you introduce in few words what you're going to talk about during your presentation ...

I will give an overall presentation of gcompris as a framework for developping dedicated activities for kids. I will then present some of the current activities kids can use. Then a discussion session will take place where I expect to get feedback that will help us define where will will focus next.

FREEEDEM: What is lacking most in you project ?

Currently reporting is lacking. We just started to implement it and it will be part of the presentation. We need more activity to be developped. We are missing content especially in the musical area. I'd like also to have more activities like the 'canal lock' or the 'water cycle'. I'd like to see gcompris on some aspect act as a dynamic encyclopedia where the kid can not only read about a system but also action it.

FREEEDEM: What are you expecting from your talk at FREEEDEM from the interactions with users and other developers present at the event ?

Beside usual user feedback, some discussions will take place between developers to coordinate our efforts and define long term strategy.