Demo-day
2000 Feedback form analysis
The following
is the analysis of the data collected from the feedback forms
on Linux Demo-day 2000 from 17th to 18th February.
Synopsis
This document
represents the analyzed data from the two-day event that was the
Linux Demo-day 2000. It should be noted that on the opening night
a lot of the visitors consisted of students from the host school
with some coming from other schools. There were few from the public.
By this time not most of the public was aware of this event. It
should also be noted that this is the FIRST event of its kind
in the Maldives.
It is quite
clear from the statistics that a large number of the visitors
were under the age of 20 totaling a percentage of more than 80.
Statistics
from the first night (17th February):
A total of
61 people filled out and returned the form of which 31 were male
and 30 were female. From these 58 were under the age of 20 but
above 15.
Statistics
from the second night (18th February):
A total of
50 peopled filled out and returned the feedback form of which
42 were male and 8 were female. From these 41 were below the age
of 20.
Total Statistic
(for 17th to 18th)
| Total
forms returned |
111 |
| Males |
73 |
| Females |
38 |
| Under
20 |
99 |
| Above
21 |
12 |
Break down
|
|
|
36%
said they have never heard of Linux before this event but
47% claim to have known about it before and 15% of them
are not so sure.
|
|
52%
said yes when asked if there was a future for Linux in the
business-environment in Maldives. 45% are not sure and 2%
doesn't think so.
|
|
49%
were not so sure if Linux could be used as a teaching and
learning tool in the Maldives. 8% did not agree with the
concept at all but 42% thinks that it's a great idea.
|
|
50%
thought that the event successfully demonstrated something
valuable for them but 8% disagree with them. The rest, 41%
didn't really know what they were looking at.
|
|
78%
thought that we should conduct more events such as these
in the future. 3% thought it was a lousy idea and 18% thinks
they will visit any old event whether it was about Linux
or not.
|
|
38%
thinks they know what Free Software means whereas 12% claimed,
rightfully so, that they really don't know what we were
talking about. 48% thought that Free Software was like a
free dinner or they were just not sure.
|
|
A total
of 50% thought that there should be more groups or organizations
such as the Linux Users Group in the Maldives. 18% disagree
with them with 30% not so sure.
|
|
Finally,
a staggering 83% thought that forming a Maldivian Computer
Society was a grand idea. 1% would stand to disagree and
14% thought they might as well go for a pizza and think
about it next year.
|
| |
Conclusion
As this is
the first event of its kind in the history Maldives it would be
fair to say that a large number of people took interest in what
it was all about. A lot who came in did not know there was an
operating system apart from Microsoft's Windows and were quite
surprised that something else existed at all. It is quite clear
that we, MLUG, have gained a lot of support from this event. People
do think that we should conduct more events like this and perhaps
we will in the near future.
Also note
that not invitations were sent out to all the primary and secondary
schools in Male', the capital of Maldives. And of those only two
schools participated on an official level. Special thanks to Aminiya
School and EPS School.
Interestingly
enough the concept of "Free Software" as put forward by the Free
Software Foundation was new to a large number of people visiting.
Those who said they know about it might not know about the true
concept. So only time and more events such as these will tell
us and it is to be seen how we will educate and teach the coming
generations.
End…
Special thanks
to Nazima for taking the time to enter all the data from the forms.
"Linux
Rules", said an anonymous guy looking at the Beowulf Cluster rendering
a POV ray trace in 23 seconds. Wow. "
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