Open Video Chat for One Laptop Per Child Emerges from Red Hat and Rochester Institute of Technology Partnership
“Red Hat congratulates Justin Lewis, Fran Rogers, Taylor Rose and the entire open source community at RIT on their work to harness the power of open source in the classroom and apply it to the world around them to effect positive change,” said Jim Whitehurst, president and CEO, Red Hat.
Red Hat announced today its partnership with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) as three students—Justin Lewis, Fran Rogers and Taylor Rose— from RIT (RIT student team) are using open source technology to help improve the lives of hearing impaired children in developing countries.
The RIT student team developed a proof of concept for Open Video Chat for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO laptop. This student team created an XO-based open source prototype video chat package able to produce the quality of video required for smooth, signed communication previously unavailable on the XO. The Open Video Chat on XO has the potential to greatly impact children living in poor and developing countries with limited access to quality education and who are facing a physical handicap in an environment where the financial resources aren't available to purchase tools to assist with their disability.
Justin Lewis, Fran Rogers and Taylor Rose attended a Red Hat sponsored POSSE (Profesors' Open Source Summer Experience) workshop last summer. It was through this workshop where students polished their open source skills that enabled the the Open Video Chat project to emerge from a partnership between RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf's Center on Access Technology (NTID) and FOSS@RIT.
More information on this the Open Video Chat project and Red Hat's Partnership with RIT can be found in the press release.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
![Learn More](https://www.linux-magazine.com/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux-magazine-eng-us/images/misc/learn-more/834592-1-eng-US/Learn-More_medium.png)
News
-
Canonical Offers 12-Year LTS for Open Source Docker Images
Canonical is expanding its LTS offering to reach beyond the DEB packages with a new distro-less Docker image.
-
Plasma Desktop 6.1 Released with Several Enhancements
If you're a fan of Plasma Desktop, you should be excited about this new point release.
-
SUSE Offers CentOS 7 Support with Liberty Linux Lite
SUSE's Liberty Linux support offering now includes CentOS 7, which means businesses won't be forced to migrate those servers for some time.
-
Ubuntu's App Center Finally Supports Local Installs Again
If you regularly download .deb files and would prefer a GUI method of installing, Ubuntu has your back.
-
AlmaLinux Now Supports Raspberry Pi 5
If you're looking to create with the Raspberry Pi 5 and want to use AlmaLinux as your OS, you're in luck because it's now possible.
-
Kubuntu Focus Releases New Iterations of Ir14 and Ir16 Laptops
If you're a fan of the Kubuntu Focus laptops or have been waiting for the right time to purchase one, that time might be now.
-
NixOS 24.05 Is Ready for Prime Time
The latest release of NixOS (Uakari) has arrived and offers its usual reproducible, declarative, and reliable goodness.
-
Linux Lite 7.0 Officially Released
Based on Ubuntu 24.04 and kernel 6.8, Linux Lite version 7 now offers more options than ever.
-
KaOS Linux 2024.05 Adds Bcachfs Support and More
With updates all around, KaOS Linux now includes support for the bcachefs file system.
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils New Iteration of the Stellaris Laptop Line
The Stellaris Slim 15 is the 6th generation and includes either an AMD or Intel CPU