- SFD-announce - lists.mailman3.com

SFD08 shirts for sale!
by Pia Waugh Sept. 7, 2008

Sept. 7, 2008

Hi all, please purchase your sfd08 shirts here: http://sfd.openfreeway.org/ Sales only open for another few days so get in soon! All proceeds go to supporting teams around the world with goodies for their events. Cheers, Pia -- Software Freedom Day 2007 http://softwarefreedomday.org/

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Re: [SFD-announce] [Info] Registration is open for Software Freedom Day 2008!
by Pia Waugh June 19, 2008

June 19, 2008

Hi Paul, <quote who="Paul Bartell"> > Well I got responses form Ahmed and Fred Morris. Im looking forward to > doing something more than a table this year, and im thinking a public > education event would be a great way to reach out. Since the word Free > scares so many people, i think we should take the approach Mozilla > recently took, and call it Organic Software. I think this would go > over much easier if we put adds in the PCC paper or other seattle > progressive magazines etc. If you think im completely insane, please > say so. "Socially responsible software" is another option :) Cheers, Pia

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Registration is open for Software Freedom Day 2008!
by Pia Waugh June 1, 2008

June 1, 2008

Hi everyone, SFD2008 is around the corner - Saturday 20 September - and team registrations are now open! The first 300 teams registered before the 15th July will receive a SFD team pack including SFD 2008 tshirts, button pins, stickers and balloons, as well some useful resource CDs including some OpenEducation Discs (http://www.theopendisc.com/education/) a resource DVD with artwork, documentation, presentation templates and video material, and the option for some Ubuntu CDs. Additional T-shirts will also be available to purchase via our online store, which will be open soon. You can register by visiting our registration page but don't forget that you need to make your team page (or update your old page) *before* registering. There is more information about how to form a team and how to register on the teams page on our wiki: http://cgi.softwarefreedomday.org/register.html http://softwarefreedomday.org/teams Check out who has already registered on our new interactive world map! http://cgi.softwarefreedomday.org/map.shtml We wanted to change how people find teams so it was directly through the map rather than by continent and then country due to your excellent feedback last year, so teams can simply be softwarefreedomday.org/team rather than a really long url. If you already have a team page you can create a new page and shift all your data to the new page, or you can just link to your old events from your new page. We will also be ensuring team packages are sent much earlier this year so you get them on time. We had about 20 packages returned to us last year from teams who put the incorrect address or didn't pick up their packages so please ensure your address is 100% correct as we can't check it! Also try to ensure your address on the map is the actual address of your event so people can zoom in and go to it easily :) Good luck with your SFD 2008 preparations, and don't forget to pass the message around and get more teams involved! We had over 330 teams last year and are anticipating over 500 this year! Thank you all for helping take software freedom to the streets and make a better world for everyone! After all, freedom isn't just for us geeks :) Cheers and happy planning! Pia and the SFI team -- OLPC Australia http://olpc.org.au/ Linux Australia http://linux.org.au/ Open Source Industry Australia http://osia.net.au/ Software Freedom Day http://softwarefreedomday.org/ "Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains." - Jean Jacques Rosseau

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Can you help us out with the SFD website?
by Robert Schumann April 28, 2008

April 28, 2008

Hi SFD'ers, We're looking for a volunteer to help overhaul the look-and-feel of the Software Freedom Day website <http://softwarefreedomday.org/>. The website is looking a little dated (yes, I know, the date still says 2007 for reasons beyond our control at the moment) but we're hoping to change that in the very near future, to coincide with the launch of registrations this year (currently scheduled for sometime in the first half of May). The person we're looking for will have one or more of the following - familiarity with Moin wiki, and particularly with designing themes for Moin - skill with CSS, including making pages that are standards-compliant, internationalised, accessible and (if that wasn't enough) cross-browser - enough time to complete this task within the next ten days Note that we are not aiming to re-invent the wheel; our first task will be to identify an existing Moin theme that we can adapt to our purposes (but still make it look distinctive). We already have someone who can produce whatever size or shape logos and related SFD graphics you require - your remit will be the CSS (plus a little python/HTML). And your reward will be fame within the community of Software Freedom Day! Feel free to reply on- or off-list (depending on the relevance of your reply to the rest of the world). Thanks, Robert.

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Software Freedom Day 2008!
by Pia Waugh April 13, 2008

April 13, 2008

Hi everyone! The time has come to start planning your Software Freedom Day event for 2008! We will be opening registrations in mid May and increasing the number of team packs (shirts, CDs, balloons and such) to 300, so make sure you keep an eye out and register as soon as you can! We have a new board with new members (details at http://softwarefreedomday.org/sfi) A warm welcome to Fred and Peter! This years event will be September 20th, 2008 (please ignore the header of the website, it will be changed as soon as possible). Last years event ================ Last year we had an amazing event, with over 330 teams from over 90 countries. There were around 3000 participants reaching over 40,000 members of the public. Around 40,000 FOSS CDs were handed out, including Ubuntu, the Open CD, Mandriva, Fedora, Kubuntu, Debian, Suse, Knoppix, and more! The SFD events including installations of FOSS, demonstrations, conferences, presentations, radio, courses, some even used the day to collect food for disadvantaged families! The three events that won "best 2007 SFD event" were FOSS Nepal Community, SFD Nicaragua 2007 Team & Beijing Software Freedom Day (China). Congratulations all! Their event reports can be found here http://softwarefreedomday.org/Competition2007/Winners. Last year a lot of universities participated, however some schools also got involved, which was great to see. Loads of user groups always get involved to help get the word out about Software Freedom. There was excellent media coverage from many teams in many languages so great job everyone! Planning ======== The Software Freedom International team have been getting everything on track for Software Freedom Day 2008. Firstly thank you to you all for your great ideas and feedback from last year. It has helped us create a plan for this year which should see Software Freedom Day grow even more, particularly in the education sector. We will be providing more resources to teams, including a DVD with video and presentation content that teams can use or mashup on the day. We'll also be providing the OpenDisc (the new Open CD project) and more resources to teams such as artwork, templates and other useful resources. We hope that you all put stuff on the wiki to share with other teams and start emailing the list with your ideas and lessons learnt. We are hoping to have over 500 teams participate in Software Freedom Day 2008, and we should all try to reach a grand total of 100,000 members of the public! Start thinking about what is the most appropriate way to take Software Freedom to your community. Perhaps it is a stall at a festival, perhaps a computer literacy course using FOSS, perhaps some presentations at a local school or university. Get ideas for your SFD event planning from the Start Guide here http://softwarefreedomday.org/StartGuide. As per an email late last year, we are keen to get more translations of SFD content and information. We are in the process of setting up some infrastructure to facilitate this so stay tuned for more information about translations. New infrastructure ================== We are in the process of setting up new infrastructure as we migrate to a new hosting environment donated by Linode (http://linode.com/) This will increase our control over the SFD website and mailing lists such that we can avoid downtime, and also add new functionality. In the short term we will be doing a site redesign, a moin moin upgrade (the wiki), and some mailing list migration. We'll make sure this is as seamless as possible for you all. We are going to make reporting and registering much easier this year, with a few changes including a world map as the mechanism to find events rather than a list by continent. This will mean team pages will be http://softwarefreedomday.org/<teamname> rather than a really long URL as has been the case in the past. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions on this! We'll also be adding a "planet" to SFD, to aggregate blogs from our community, a new online shop and more to be announced soon. Thanks ====== Thank you to last years sponsors, to the rest of the SFI board, and finally, thank you to you all for helping take Software Freedom to the world! We are looking forward to seeing what teams come up with for next year, and we will be supporting you all as much as we can! Cheers, Pia -- Software Freedom Day 2007 http://softwarefreedomday.org/

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Document Freedom Day: 26 March 2008
by Robert Schumann March 8, 2008

March 8, 2008

Hi all SFD enthusiasts, Below is a press release from the organisers of Document Freedom Day, which is happening on 26 March. DFD is organised by a different organisation from SFD, but we're happy to support their message and encourage people to get out on the streets in support of open information exchange! Robert. ------------------------------------------------------------------- [ http://documentfreedom.org/News/20080220 ] Introducing Document Freedom Day 26 March: A global day for document liberation Sign up your DFD team today! The Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for Document Liberation with grassroots action for promotion of Free Document Formats and Open Standards in general. The DFD was initiated and is supported by a group of organisations and companies, including, but not limited to, the Free Software Foundation Europe, ODF Alliance, OpenForum Europe, IBM, Red Hat and Sun Microsystems, Inc. On 26 March 2008, the Document Freedom Day will provide a global rallying point for Document Liberation and Open Standards. It will literally give teams around the world the chance to "hoist the flag": A "DFD Starter Pack" containing a flag, t-shirt, leaflets and stickers is in preparation and is planned to be sent out in the first weeks of March to the first 100 teams that sign up. Sixteen teams already signed up during the preparation phase of the DFD prior to this release. Sign your team up now! "We're proud to support this global effort to encourage open and inclusive information exchange," said Marino Marcich, Managing Director, Open Document Format Alliance. "Document freedom means creating, exchanging, and preserving your electronic documents without having to buy software from a particular vendor." "Data lock-in and subsequent vendor lock-in are some of the most severe issues users are facing today," says FSFE president Georg Greve. "Yet most people only realise this connection when it is too late and they have effectively lost control over their own data. We are supporting the Document Freedom Day to help raise awareness for this issue by starting with something that affects pretty much all users of computers: text documents, spreadsheets and presentations." "Free document formats and open standards are important elements in the continued expansion of the global open source community," said Tom Rabon, executive vice president, Corporate Affairs at Red Hat. "Red Hat strongly supports Document Freedom Day and encourages participation by all who look forward to the day when documents are controlled by those who own them, not necessarily by those who create the technology to access those documents." Simon Phipps, Chief Open Source Officer, Sun Microsystems stated, "As I explained in my paper "Freedom to Leave<http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhb29vwq_3dzb2cs>", it's fundamental in the emerging market for people to be free to use any software they desire tohandle their data. I fully support the goals of Document Freedom ." Alexandre Oliva of the Free Software Foundation Latin America (FSFLA) comments: "When you save your documents using a Free Open Standard format such as ODF, you're also saving your own future, ensuring your continued ability to access, decode and convert their contents." Graham Taylor Director of OpenForum Europe: "OpenForum Europe applauds the announcement of Document Freedom Day. The whole essence of 'openness' is captured by the right of users, citizens, governments... to be able to freely access and exchange documents todayand in the future. Nothing gives greater meaning to the prevalent danger of lock-in to proprietary solutions, and for the need for Government to act now." About Document Freedom Day: The Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for Document Liberation. It is a day of grassroots effort around the world to promote and build awareness for the relevance of Free Document Formats in particular and Open Standards in general. The DFD is supported by a large group of organisations and individuals, including, but not limited to Ars Aperta, COSS, Esoma, Free Software Foundations Europe and Latin America, IBM, NLnet, ODF Alliance, OpenForum Europe, OSL, iMatix, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, Inc., The Open Learning Centre, Opentia, Estandares Abiertos. The list of DFD supporting groups can be found at http://documentfreedom.org/Who The list of DFD teams is available at http://documentfreedom.org/Category:Teams Further information: http://documentfreedom.org Contact: contact(a)documentfreedom.org Graham Taylor graham(a)openforumeurope.org Ivan Jelic jelic(a)fsfeurope.org Kerri Catallozzi kcatallo(a)redhat.com Marino Marcich mmarcich(a)odfalliance.org Marko Milenovic milenovic(a)fsfeurope.org Terri Molini terri.molini(a)sun.com FSFLA info(a)fsfla.org

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SFD 2007 Competition Winners!
by Robert Schumann Dec. 1, 2007

Dec. 1, 2007

Hi all, We are very pleased to announce the results of the SFD Competition 2007! Many thanks to all the entrants, we saw some excellent examples of how to take software freedom to local communities, and we were inspired, as you all will be to see some of the outcomes and reports. http://softwarefreedomday.org/Competition2007/Winners We have three winners, who will each receive an OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) computer. All winners, highly commended and entries of note will also receive a certificate for their excellent submissions. I want to extend a warm congratulations in particular to the three winners (in no particular order): - FOSS Nepal Community - SFD Nicaragua 2007 Team - Beijing Software Freedom Day (China) And the two highly commended entries: - Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society - SFD Tunisia Read more about the entries along with their reports at the website above. Cheers, Robert (on behalf of Pia Waugh, SFI President)

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Tell us about your SFD 2007 event!
by Robert Schumann Sept. 16, 2007

Sept. 16, 2007

Hi team leaders and other SFD enthusiasts, I hope you all had a good Software Freedom Day, and managed to spread the message. After months of navigating towards 15 September via my computer screen and a few telephone calls, it felt really good to be out on the street, talking to people and telling them about how software freedom affects them. And we had a lovely sunny day in Cambridge too! We'd like to hear about how your SFD 2007 event went, in particular with respect to * (approximately) how many members of the public were reached through your event * how many team members were involved in running your event - both beforehand and on the day * how many hours your event lasted * how many Ubuntu CDs you handed out Head over to http://cgi.softwarefreedomday.org/event_report.html and fill in a few little pieces of information. You'll need to fill in the same email address that you originally used to register your SFD team. Thanks for taking the time to help us out with this - and don't forget that, aside from the information we're looking for here, you're also welcome to write a bit more about your event and post some photos on your team's wiki page. By visiting our reporting page, you will also get the chance to let us have any feedback regarding how you think SFD has gone, and what could be done to make it even bigger and better next year. Don't forget that there are also some "One Laptop Per Child" laptops available to win in our competition [1] - so don't forget to gather any news reports about your event and put together a good set of photos for us to look at! More details about the competition will be in a later email. Thanks to all the teams for making SFD 2007 the biggest yet! Robert Software Freedom International [1] Note that information submitted for our reporting purposes will not used in judging the competition.

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Software Freedom Day: time to rock!
by Robert Schumann Sept. 14, 2007

Sept. 14, 2007

Dear SFD teams, Software Freedom Day 2007 is almost upon us, and there's just enough time for us to get in a last "Thank you!" and "Good luck!". From all of us here at SFI central, we hope you have a great day and reach out with the message of software freedom to as many people as you can. In order to achieve a measure of the global impact of Software Freedom Day, we'd very much appreciate if you could try to keep track of the following data for your event: * (approximately) how many members of the public were reached through your event * how many team members were involved in running your event - both beforehand and on the day * how many hours your event lasted * how many Ubuntu and Open CDs you handed out We'll publish details of how to submit this information within the next few days. Thanks to the efforts and participation of all our teams, we've had an unprecedented response to Software Freedom Day this year: * new sponsors Google, MindTouch, Zenoss and the Free Software Foundation have joined our long-standing supporters, Canonical/Ubuntu and the Danish Unix User Group * we currently have 320 teams registered, up from just under 200 last year * we've had a full-page advert in the Linux Magazine * with help from ZacWare we were able to operate an online shop for CDs and SFD T-shirts this year * the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project has come on board by offering "$100 laptops" as prizes for our competition * IOSN, a UN-affiliated project, has supported our activities in Asia * we've been listed on digg.com [1] and slashdot.org [2] * ...and as a result of all this, we're now receiving over 3000 hits on our website every day And one last reminder, to turn all of these positives into a great SFD: please take a look at the Code of Conduct [3], and make your team members aware of this code - this helps us to set the ground rules and present a positive image of Software Freedom to the public. Also keep in mind some of the Dos and Don'ts listed in our Start Guide: # DO present the capabilities and practical benefits of FOSS. # DO NOT pretend that FOSS is perfect for everyone or everything. # DO have the ability to present FOSS ideology clearly and concisely to interested people. # DO NOT beat uninterested people over the head with ideology; this will confuse and intimidate them. Instead... # DO let the quality of the software speak for itself and its ideology. # DO have demo machines present if possible. # DO your best to connect people with a local FOSS community. # DO provide contact information for your SFD team so people can subsequently contact you for more information. # DO get contact information from interested and willing people, so you can proactively follow-up with them later. # DO proactively follow-up with people who attend your SFD event. # DO find and cooperate with other SFD teams in your area. # DO start other SFD teams in your area - this is cooperation, not competition! # DO NOT -- seriously -- DO NOT bash Microsoft or SCO or any other false Great Satan. Software Freedom Day is not about any individual companies or people; Software Freedom Day is a positive community celebration of Software Freedom. Lastly, we'd just like to let those teams that registered in time to receive team supplies know about the status of their supplies. Many of you have already received (in separate shipments) your Ubuntu and Open CDs, SFD T-shirts, and a small pack of stickers and balloons. We have been made aware of some problems outside our control with shirt and CD shipments (notably customs duties: the nine CD shipments for which payment was requested from us totalled almost US$1000 in taxes!), as well as a few addresses that were incorrect and thus could not be delivered. The vast majority of shipments have however reached their destinations in time. If your team is one of those that has not received your supplies, we hope that you will still have a great Software Freedom Day! Good luck, and thanks for making SFD2007 our biggest and best event yet. Robert. Board member, Software Freedom International [1] http://digg.com/linux_unix/15_September_is_Software_Freedom_Day [2] http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=286933 [3] http://softwarefreedomday.org/CodeOfConduct

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SFD team supplies: shipping update
by Robert Schumann Aug. 29, 2007

Aug. 29, 2007

Hi Software Freedom Days teams, This email is to let you all know that all supplies have now been dispatched to teams that registered before the deadline and within the first 200 teams. This year we've been ambitious and multinational in our distribution: * T-shirts to Asian teams have been dispatched from Quezon City, Philippines (last week) * T-shirts to Australia and New Zealand have been dispatched from Sydney, Australia (yesterday) * T-shirts to teams in the Americas were sent courtesy of the Free Software Foundation in Boston, USA (two weeks ago) * T-shirts to African and European teams were dispatched from Abingdon, UK (last week) All these shipments have been via normal postage, and apparently some teams have already received their packages. We hope you like the T-shirts! Balloons and stickers are being sent from Sydney, Australia, today. In addition, CDs have been shipped via courier from the Netherlands this week. Mine were dispatched yesterday and arrived today! This weekend we will be sending out emails to all teams that registered in time to qualify for supplies, to let you know how many T-shirts and CDs you'll be receiving. I'd like to thank all teams for their patience with the various problems we've been having over the last few weeks with our shipments, website and mailing lists. And many thanks also go to John Sullivan and the rest of the team at the Free Software Foundation, who have partnered with us to ease some of our distribution problems by shipping supplies to all teams in North, South and Central America. Their contribution has been invaluable to making SFD a success this year. Happy SFDing, Robert.

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