[tlug] Corona and schools in Japan

[Christian Horn <chorn@example.com>]

Hi tlug,

some tlug'ers have children who go (usually) to school.

Judging from the stories I heard from a cram school,
Japanese schools are as unprepared to move learning to
virtual, as many traditional Japanese companies.

I wonder if this is a good time to consider offering
advice, like in the times of Linux install parties.

I think advice is needed in multiple areas:
- method wise: I want to do X, which software 
  approaches could solve that?
  Example: "I want video chat, one face needs to be
  seen by 30 clients"
  Example: "I need to share a blackboard, 30 clients
  need to be able to edit it at the same time"
- software wise: I know what I need, which software
  can do it?  For example, which video conference
  software can be used?
- Administrating/running own hosted software, for
  example nextcloud for file exchange, or jitsi

The cram school I mentioned is likely to simply try
out all video software which exists, and will stick
with the first one which works reasonably well.
There is no awareness of having to pay for the ser-
vice with ones own data, in watching ads and so on.

I fear that vendors of proprietary software will
"generously make software available for free", 
especially if they also have clouds to host server
parts for example for video conferencing, with the
goal of binding the kids to their "free" stuff.
In europe there are generous licenses for 
universities and schools.

Anybody having a deeper insight into how schools
in Japan are doing?  Would also others be willing
to contribute time into such things?

Chris