about me/this site

Present

I’m Peter Rock and this is where I put thought chunks. I’m married with one child and teach high school IT and economics. I’m currently doing so alongside my partner (a math teacher/secondary school principal) at an international school in Taiwan. I can be found on Identi.ca as petrock. I’m also petrock on Twitter.

Past

I taught in Cameroon, Lebanon, Canada and Egypt. Before that, I studied education at a Canadian university majoring in drama so at the very least, I could act like I know how to teach. My minor was in social studies. My interest in computer technology started as a child by assembling an Apple II computer with my father after buying the bare motherboard, chips and soldering iron. As a teenager, I spent a lot of time on local BBSs until university life when the World Wide Web went mainstream.

Free Software

At the turn of the century, I discovered GNU/Linux and have come to agree with many that free software is important. I’m fortunate enough to be a contributing member of the Free Software Foundation. I have given talks to fellow educators on free software in education and feel that it, in contrast to most proprietary software, better aligns itself with desirable core educational values (e.g. freedom of inquiry, community, sharing, cooperation, collaboration, trust).

This Site’s Name

Credit to Austin M., a high school student of mine in a social technology class a few years back. He blurted “GNUosphere!” out as the class discussed the Internet, the noosphere, and the GNU Project. It sounded catchy so I adopted it.

The original GNUosphere can be found here. If you find what I write here to be lame, then definitely don’t bother with the older material. It’s worse.