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March 2009

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Open documents in support of software freedom
by Robert Schumann March 19, 2009

March 19, 2009

Software Freedom International, the worldwide organizer of the annual Software Freedom Day, encourages all SFD teams to support the Document Freedom Day 2009 (DFD 2009) celebration (http://documentfreedom.org/) on 25 March 2009. DFD 2009 aims to raise awareness on the importance of accessible document formats and open standards in everyone's day to day activities. Open standards are agreed document definitions which are available to the public to review and use. They cannot depend on formats or protocols that are not open standards themselves. The definitions of these open standards are free from legal and technical restrictions that limit their use, and can be easily implemented in multiple environments - so they can be used on PCs, iPods, Playstations and whatever computing environments we'll be using in 50 years time. Open standards protect governments, businesses and the wider community of computer users from vendor and data lock-ins. Such lock-ins obstruct users from exercising their full freedom in software and the information they access. Computers have only become part of daily life in the last twenty or thirty years, and yet already there are documents that, due to closed formats, we are unable to easily access using modern software. Software freedom will not be complete without open standards and open document formats. Together, they ensure that free and open source software can be created and developed to implement open standards to benefit millions of users worldwide. The Software Freedom Day and Document Freedom Day teams are united in advancing information and software freedom for everyone. Find out where your closest DFD 2009 team is by visiting the website ( http://documentfreedom.org/) - and if there isn't one, why not plan your own event? REFERENCE: Rick Bahague rick(a)cp-union.com Publicity officer, Software Freedom International

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Software Freedom Day needs your technical expertise
by Robert Schumann March 16, 2009

March 16, 2009

Software Freedom Day is looking for an innovative TECHNICAL STRATEGY DIRECTOR with strong IT skills to help bring software freedom to new audiences around the world. Software Freedom International (SFI), the organisation behind Software Freedom Day, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit company registered in New Hampshire, USA. We have been organising SFD since 2004 and have supported events in over 90 countries since then. The position of Technical Strategy Director offers the opportunity to serve our community of over 500 team leaders and thousands more software freedom enthusiasts, as well as gain exposure and experience in developing the online presence of Software Freedom Day. Like all positions at SFI, this is a voluntary position with no remuneration apart from reimbursement of approved costs; we may at our discretion make funds available to enable a suitable candidate to develop their technical skills or acquire relevant qualifications. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR.... The chosen candidate may be appointed to the board of SFI, but in any case will be required to join in SFI's regular board meetings (which take place every 1-2 weeks via IRC or telephone). The specific responsibilities of the role are to - arrange sysadmin of servers - hold passwords and access to domain names and other key infrastructure - implement online strategy including web and email platforms and our online shop - implement a team registration system, or upgrade the existing system - coordinate web design (in cooperation with our Media & Design officer) - enable collection of metrics including web stats, membership and mailing list subscribers - implement issue tracking (RT) system - facilitate i18n and l10n of online presence We would like the Technical Strategy Director to enable us to reach a broader community, including those without experience of programming. As such the chosen candidate should have ideas about how to use various online tools – including social networking, instant messaging, data mashups, online video and RSS – to promote SFD. The ideal candidate will have some experience of online content management systems for community development. However, we anticipate that they will work with a team (or with SFD partners) to actually execute most tasks and may therefore not need to devote time and energy to programming and web design unless they choose to do so. They will work alongside the SFI team, and particularly the President, the media and design officer and the publicity officer. The successful candidate will be invited to work with SFI at least until December 2009, and beyond that if possible. HOW TO LET US KNOW THAT YOU'RE INTERESTED... Please send a CV or summary of relevant experience to robert(a)softwarefreedomday.org, with the words "Application: SFI technical strategy" in the email subject line. Please highlight any experience that is relevant to the specific responsibilities listed above. The deadline for submissions is 22 March 2009. Any questions regarding this position should be directed to info(a)softwarefreedomday.org.

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