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Libre Planet
Last night at around 11:30 pm, as I've got a Debian Lenny business card install going on my new system and a Debian Etch netinstall going on my wife's old Sempron 2800+ I sat down to watch some anime (yes, I do that, now and then). But as I'm opening the Netflix envelope I notice under it the FSF newsletter, which has just arrived.
I quickly thumbed through it and found Joshua Gay (The FSF Campaign Manager) had an article in there discussing an idea called Libre Planet, a campaign to organize Free Software activism. He and Mitch Weidemann (of the Ithaca Free Software Association) had some excellent points. Namely:
1. You don't need a big group to do free software advocacy on a local scale. Sometimes numbers help, but most of the time 1-3 people are plenty to staff a booth, give a presentation or correspond with local people and organizations.
2. You have to know your stuff, and everyone you're working with has to have a thorough background in what free software is, and what open source is (and isn't). Luckily all of this information is availible on the gnu.org site. But anyone I plan on taking with me to an event must have their facts straight.
3. Have a one-page flyer explaining who you are, what free software is and why it's important, and how people can contact your group to get more information. Additionally, invite everyone you talk with to join your group. Hand this flyer out with every disc you give out.
4. You're running a free software group, not a "Linux" group. Therefore, everyone with an interest in free software is welcome, including Vista users, and MacOS users. Not everyone can simply switch to GNU/Linux but most can use free software.
5. Most conferences are really looking for "Linux", "open source", and "free software" representitives because it provides some real variety to their boring "vendors" line-ups. Most local conferences I've attended have provided the booth and the presentation slots to the IFSA at no cost.
What really jumps out to me is #4. This is such a simple point that I'm blown away that I hear it so little. Advocates for Free Software should advocate Freedom everywhere, including on Vista, rather than attempting to guide people into the GNU/Linux "trap". While I love the OS, I've played with OpenSolaris and BSD and find them almost equally useful. I advocate people to use Firefox over IE, why can't I take this to the next step and organize a campaign around that?
In addition to this "How To", Josh is looking for suggestions on what Libre Planet should be. What resources could the FSF provide to help encourage and support Free Software activism? I've heard suggestions of a FSUG (Free Software Users Group) Radio. A central database of FSUG's to allow individuals to find groups in their area, and to allow groups to co-ordinate events?
Anyone with ideas is encouraged to e-mail campaigns at fsf dot org with suggestions. ;)
I quickly thumbed through it and found Joshua Gay (The FSF Campaign Manager) had an article in there discussing an idea called Libre Planet, a campaign to organize Free Software activism. He and Mitch Weidemann (of the Ithaca Free Software Association) had some excellent points. Namely:
1. You don't need a big group to do free software advocacy on a local scale. Sometimes numbers help, but most of the time 1-3 people are plenty to staff a booth, give a presentation or correspond with local people and organizations.
2. You have to know your stuff, and everyone you're working with has to have a thorough background in what free software is, and what open source is (and isn't). Luckily all of this information is availible on the gnu.org site. But anyone I plan on taking with me to an event must have their facts straight.
3. Have a one-page flyer explaining who you are, what free software is and why it's important, and how people can contact your group to get more information. Additionally, invite everyone you talk with to join your group. Hand this flyer out with every disc you give out.
4. You're running a free software group, not a "Linux" group. Therefore, everyone with an interest in free software is welcome, including Vista users, and MacOS users. Not everyone can simply switch to GNU/Linux but most can use free software.
5. Most conferences are really looking for "Linux", "open source", and "free software" representitives because it provides some real variety to their boring "vendors" line-ups. Most local conferences I've attended have provided the booth and the presentation slots to the IFSA at no cost.
What really jumps out to me is #4. This is such a simple point that I'm blown away that I hear it so little. Advocates for Free Software should advocate Freedom everywhere, including on Vista, rather than attempting to guide people into the GNU/Linux "trap". While I love the OS, I've played with OpenSolaris and BSD and find them almost equally useful. I advocate people to use Firefox over IE, why can't I take this to the next step and organize a campaign around that?
In addition to this "How To", Josh is looking for suggestions on what Libre Planet should be. What resources could the FSF provide to help encourage and support Free Software activism? I've heard suggestions of a FSUG (Free Software Users Group) Radio. A central database of FSUG's to allow individuals to find groups in their area, and to allow groups to co-ordinate events?
Anyone with ideas is encouraged to e-mail campaigns at fsf dot org with suggestions. ;)
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