- SFD-announce - lists.mailman3.com

You're invited to the annual meeting of Software Freedom International

by Robert Schumann

Hi all, On Tuesday 1 December 2009 at 1200 UTC, Software Freedom International will be holding its annual "regular meeting" to review progress to date and elect the board for the following year. All team leaders are invited to join in this meeting, which will take place via IRC (freenode.net channel #sfd-meeting). If you'd like to become more involved in SFD, or have some comments that you'd like to offer, then you may be interested to attend the meeting and influence the way that SFI works. We will also be looking for new members to join the board of SFD. If you'd like to join us, please send me via email - a short description (one sentence, if appropriate) of your involvement with SFD to date - if you'd like to join the board of SFI, please send a paragraph describing how you would contribute to the promotion of SFD For reference, we are looking for people with some familiarity with open source software and digital rights, some interest in mobilising a global community of free software enthusiasts, and possibly contacts that might help with the production of schwag (T-shirts, CDs) or sponsorship. The main requirements are enthusiasm and vision! This information must be sent to me before 17 November 2009, and further information about the meeting will be sent to those individuals who would like to participate. The meeting will be held publicly and all are welcome to attend, but only those who have contacted me will be eligible to contribute to the meeting. If you have any questions, feel free to direct these to me or info(a)sf-day.org. In the meantime, good luck with your preparations and please do give some thought to contributing to the global organisation that goes into SFD! Regards, Robert President, Software Freedom International

Sept. 5, 2009

Countdown: two weeks for Software Freedom Day!

by Robert Schumann

Hi all SFD'ers, With two weeks to go until Software Freedom Day (19 September), I hope that all your preparations for the event are going well. Regarding shipments of T-shirts and CDs: these were shipped from two separate locations and will therefore arrive at two separate times. Unfortunately we don't have the capability of tracking shipments, so we can't tell you anything further about where these shipments have got to - but from postings to the SFD-discuss mailing list<http://mail.sf-day.org/lists/listinfo/sfd-discuss>it appears that numerous teams have already received all their goodies. As in previous years, it is possible that customs officials in various countries will decide that taxes must be paid on the items that we ship to teams. Unfortunately we have no way to influence this, and we are not able to arrange to pay these taxes. Teams will either have to pay those duties, or find some way to convince authorities that the taxes do not need to be paid. Note that you can still buy further SFD T-shirts from our online store: http://sfd.openfreeway.org/ Good luck with your last two weeks of preparations, and we hope you have a great SFD! Regards, Robert President, Software Freedom International

Sept. 5, 2009

Team supplies for Software Freedom Day

by Robert Schumann

Hello SFD'ers, Apologies for the delay since the last communication from SFD Central - unfortunately good weather during the summer (for us up in the northern hemisphere) has got in the way of getting things done. Our major news is that we have recently sent emails to all team leaders who managed to register before the team supplies shipping deadline, informing them what they'll be getting in their team supply packs. If you have received such an email (check your spam folder just in case!), that means that you should start receiving schwag any day now. If you have not received such an email, it is probably because you registered after the shipping deadline (and therefore we didn't ask for your postal address, so we have no idea where you live and can't send you anything anyway). A big vote of thanks is due to our sponsors for making the team supplies shipments possible: * Canonical <http://www.canonical.com/> (the folks who bring you Ubuntu) * Google <http://code.google.com/opensource/> * DKUUG <http://www.dkuug.dk/> (the Danish Unix User Group) * Fedora <http://fedoraproject.org/>/Red Hat with additional support from * Linux Magazine <http://www.linux-magazine.com/>, our International Media Sponsor * Linode <http://www.linode.com/>, our tech guys * Zac-ware <http://www.zac-ware.com/products/freeway/> * the Free Software Foundation<http://www.fsf.org/> You can now also join the ranks of sponsors of Software Freedom Day by buying from our online store <http://sfd.openfreeway.org/index.php?cPath=5>(provided by the guys at Zac-ware). We have SFD '09 shirts available, as well as a limited number of collectable SFD '08 shirts. Prices vary from US$9 upwards depending on how many you order. Get yours now before supplies run out! 32 days to go! Robert President, Software Freedom International

Aug. 18, 2009

Taking SFD to the government - WAS: We have over 250 SFD teams!

by Pia Waugh

Hi all, <quote who="Robert Schumann"> > We've passed the 250 registered teams mark, and we're rapidly closing in on > our shipping deadlines to get supplies to teams. I hope your preparations > for SFD are going well! That is awesome news! Looks like it will be another fantastic year! I just wanted to throw in a few thoughts. We have a lot of amazing stuff happening around the world at the moment, particularly in relation to a push and in many cases a top-level willingness for more openness and transparency in government. We are seeing many countries starting to use social networking for online engagement with citizens and in many cases struggling to figure out the best ways forward. I put to you all that the FOSS community has many important lessons we can take to the government and general community. Lessons of online collaboration, creating constructive communities, open and transparent decision making, the importance of individual empowerment to just get things done and of course the many opportunities that FOSS can directly bring. Remember, politicians and public servants are people too. If you engage in a positive, constructive and informative way, you can seed an interest which may bear the fruit of action, but only if continually nourished and not trampled on. All advocates walk a fine line, and it is even more important when dealing with the government to be diplomatic in your advocacy. I am now living in Australia's capital city and will be chatting to my local FOSS user groups about how we can take Software Freedom Day even bigger and better this year, engaging with politicians and government agencies. If any of you are seeing similar interest in "open government" or "government 2.0" in your countries, I'd suggest the time is right to take Software Freedom to the government :) Cheers, Pia

July 5, 2009

We have over 250 SFD teams!

by Robert Schumann

Hello SFD'ers, We've passed the 250 registered teams mark, and we're rapidly closing in on our shipping deadlines to get supplies to teams. I hope your preparations for SFD are going well! This email is to let you know that, although we will definitely be shipping supplies to all teams that have registered before now, any teams that register from now on will receive supplies only if we have availability. Naturally we will be trying to ship materials to as many teams as we can, so there may still be time. Note that we will send out emails to all team leaders who have registered, letting them know when shipments have been sent and whether or not they'll be receiving anything. Good luck with your preparations - and don't forget you can get in touch with the SFI team with any questions/comments by emailing us at info(a)sf-day.org. Regards, Robert. President, Software Freedom International

July 5, 2009

Software Freedom Day 2009: registration is open!

by Robert Schumann

Hi SFD'ers, The season is open on registering for Software Freedom Day, which is happening this year on 19 September 2009. Check on our map<http://cgi.softwarefreedomday.org/2009/map.shtml>[1] to see if a team is registered near you - otherwise get yours together and register <http://cgi.softwarefreedomday.org/register.html> [2]! (Don't forget that you need to make your team wiki page on http://softwarefreedomday.org/teams before registering) The first 200 teams registered *before Friday 10 July* will receive an SFD team pack including three SFD 2009 T-shirts, Ubuntu CDs, and a few other bits and pieces to support your day - we'll keep you posted on what's going into the pack. As usual, these packs are sent to teams all over the world with support from our sponsors: Canonical <http://www.ubuntu.com/> (the folks who bring you Ubuntu), Google <http://code.google.com/> and DKUUG<http://www.dkuug.dk/>(with additional help from Linode <http://www.linode.com/>, Zac-ware<http://www.zac-ware.com/products/freeway/>, Linux Magazine <http://www.linux-magazine.com/> and FSF<http://www.fsf.org/>). If you haven't taken part before, learn how to run a new event from our easy to read StartGuide <http://softwarefreedomday.org/StartGuide> [3] - and if you have any questions, just email info(a)sf-day.org. Good luck with your SFD 2009 preparations, and don't forget to pass the message around and get more teams involved. We had over 550 teams last year and are anticipating over 700 this year! Thank you for connecting, creating and sharing! Robert President, Software Freedom International [1] http://cgi.softwarefreedomday.org/2009/map.shtml [2] http://cgi.softwarefreedomday.org/register.html [3] http://softwarefreedomday.org/StartGuide

May 20, 2009

Open documents in support of software freedom

by Robert Schumann

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

March 19, 2009

Software Freedom Day needs your technical expertise

by Robert Schumann

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.

March 16, 2009

Publicity Officer required for Software Freedom International

by Robert Schumann

Hi SFD'ers, Software Freedom International (SFI), the organisation behind Software Freedom Day, is gearing up for SFD 2009 and is currently seeking the services of a Publicity Officer. The position offers the opportunity to serve a community of over 500 team leaders and thousands more software freedom enthusiasts, as well as gain exposure and experience in developing the public profile of Software Freedom Day. Like all positions at SFI, this is a voluntary position with no remuneration apart from reimbursement of approved costs. SFI 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. 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: * Manage all written publicity materials * Coordinate the SFD competition * Arrange an editorial team to develop the SFD website * Plan and manage the translation of materials into other languages * Draw up and execute a plan for promoting SFD through the web, media and other channels. The ideal candidate will have an excellent command of English and a demonstrated ability to write creative and targeted copy for press releases. They will work alongside the SFI team, and particularly with the technical director, media & design officer and the sponsorship officer. Particular sensitivity to the requirements of SFD teams - who operate across many time zones, in varying socio-economic and cultural environments, and in dozens of languages - will be essential. The successful candidate will be invited to work with SFI until December 2009 and possibly beyond that. 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 publicity officer" in the email subject line. References to previous written work or previous experience of managing publicity would be beneficial, as would evidence of managing a team. The deadline for submissions is 20 December 2008. Any questions regarding this position should be directed to info(a)softwarefreedomday.org. Robert Schumann President, Software Freedom International

Dec. 8, 2008

SFD 2008 - competition winners!

by Robert Schumann

* ***Dear SFD'ers, Following a highly successful SFD 2008 - with 50% more teams registered than in 2007 - we are pleased to announce the winners of the competition for the best event: - FOSS Nepal Community (team leader Subir Pradhanang) - team report PDF 7.4MB<http://softwarefreedomday.org/Competition2008?action=AttachFile&do=get&targ…> - SFD Nicaragua (team leader Leandro Gomez) - team report 1.6MB<http://softwarefreedomday.org/Competition2008?action=AttachFile&do=get&targ…> - DabaweGNU (team leader Holden Hao) - team report<http://www.dabawegnu.org/Members/holden/software-freedom-day-2008> Congratulations to these teams, and many thanks to Subir, Leandro and Holden for leading their events and telling the world about their how it went! Each winning team will be receiving a prize of a *pair of OLPC laptops*<http://laptop.org/> . The winning entries were selected for the scope of their SFD activities, the number of people reached (particularly from the wider, non-technical community) and the quality of the reporting. However we received many high quality entries - a total of almost fifty submissions - and special mention also goes to: - Guyana (team leader Vidyaratha Kissoon) - team report<http://softwarefreedomday.org/teams/centralandsouthamerica/guyana> - Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (Dev Anand Teelucksingh) - team report <http://www.ttcsweb.org/articles/sfd2008/index.htm> - freeIT (team leader Mylene Sereno) - team report<http://mylenesereno.blogspot.com/2008/09/software-freedomday-08-gensan.html> Thank you to all teams (over 500 teams in almost 90 countries) for their efforts in making SFD 2008 such a great success, and don't forget to put Saturday 19 Septermber 2009 in your calendars! To make sure you don't miss out on registration, make sure that you are subscribed to the SFD-announce mailing list <http://mail.sf-day.org/lists/listinfo/sfd-announce>. Robert Schumann *Vice President, Software Freedom International*

Nov. 26, 2008