[OS:N:] Re: Gimp V Photoshop

[Nicholas Oliver]

Gimp V Photoshop recount
I teach multimedia in a Mac OS X lab with four additional modest 1Gig
x86 machines running FC 2. When we learn about image editing we use
Photoshop because we are lucky enough to have a current licence. The
burden that this program puts on our 500mhz iMacs is pretty substantial
but everything holds together. 

In order to achieve the various competencies students must demonstrate
that they can perform a series of key operations on images repeatedly
and over a period of time. You don't get the competencies by doing it
once. While most of my instruction is done with Photoshop key operations
like selecting, transforming, saving, layers, filters, levels, colour
balance, curves etc must be done using Gimp as well. We use Gimp 1 on
the macs (soon to upgrade to the new Gimp2 since the binary was put on
the Apple web site) but the FC 2 linux boxes have version 2 and it seems
to work the same way. 

Students can take home a "TheOpenCD" disk and install on their mostly
windows machines and practise these key skills. Gimp is critical to our
teaching image editing competencies because it allows us to really
evaluate the students understanding of the principles and generic skills
involved in this knowledge domain. If the kids can load, touch-up, save
an image in Adobe Photoshop and Gimp then they can do it in any such
program. 

>From an equity and access point of view I am persuaded that Gimp is an
important tool to be teaching because it can be distributed freely. I am
not persuaded that we should be teaching "industry standard" programs
just because they are used in business, that is just playing into the
hands of industry. Using very expensive software because it is a
dominant product in the graphic arts businesses simply sells that
software to children and their families. It is incumbent on school
teachers to show children and families powerful and economical
software.  

Having said that I would recommend teaching with Adobe Photoshop because
it is a well designed and powerful editing tool. It does cost hundreds
and hundreds of Aussie dollars though and this worries me because from a
show of hands almost all of my students with PCs at home claim to have
it.They don't pay the $1000 for it, they steal it of course and then
pass them around with cracked codes. This is I believe a very great
problem and one that can in part be addressed by demonstrating the use
of FOSS and showing it being used in powerful ways. Using expensive
software in front of the children makes them want it and so naturally
because they can, they steal it. 

I can teach generic skills on both programs easily and the only
difficulty is getting the students over their frustration that the quick
clicks they learn in one don't always work in the other but that is a
minor problem. The younger they are the less this seems to matter. For
example getting to the levels controls in both programs requires the
same number of mouse clicks just to slightly different parts of the
screen. From there it is all much the same. 

Hope that helps Larry. 

Nick Oliver
Multimedia 
Lake Tuggeranong College
nick at linux.act.edu.au