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Document Freedom Day 2026 - 25th of March
by Marcos Marado Nov. 25, 2025

Nov. 25, 2025

Hi friends! Document Freedom Day 2026 is going to be celebrated on the **25th of March**, in four months' time. The date was celebrated 18 years ago for the first time, but the issues it highlights are as relevant today as ever, if not more. Open Standards, Interoperability, avoiding vendor lock-in, or as it is nowadays called, "having digital sovereignty", these are daily topics more relevant to everyone, as more and more of our lives are digital lives. Do you have any plans or ideas on how are you going to celebrate the day? Do you plan to organize an event, or join an existing one? Feel free to brainstorm and share your ideas here on the mailing list, I'm looking forward to reading about what you have in mind! Best regards, -- Marcos Marado Digital Freedom Foundation

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Mascot Design Submission
by Mohamad Itaqi Nov. 10, 2025

Nov. 10, 2025

Dear Digital Freedom Foundation Team, My name is Mohamad Kamel Hafez Khaiata, from Aleppo, Syria. I’ve heard about the Huion Draw Challenge from TechnoLab Youth Team during the participation for Software Freedom Day 2025 in Aleppo, and here is my submission to the contest, with the artwork created in Procreate. I realize that it’s required to be created in a FOSS software, but I unfortunately don’t have any access to a PC to draw it on due to difficult circumstances. I sincerely apologize for the late submission as I had a power outage that held me back from submitting, I hope you consider my artwork in the judging process :) Below I attached the PNG version of the artwork, I can provide the 82 MB Procreate source file if needed too. No AI tools were used in the creation of it. Koa is a time-travellering honeybadger who travelled from the future to the early 2000s to promote the values of free and open source software: sharing knowledge and embracing innovation. He is brave, adventurous, and very passionate about his mission. Koa carries a disc and a flash drive on his waist as keychains, they act as quick access to FOSS software and grant him the ability to spread awareness regarding it more easily. He has logos of multiple iconic FOSS software splattered throughout his design—Godot on his left (robotic) arm acting as a gear to move it, Openshot as his belt, Inkspace symbol on his right shoulder, and Evince on his right leg. He carries the iconic open source symbol (the flipped “C”) on his back, and his mantle is shaped like a “C” shape. Thank you and I hope you consider it!

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Design the Software Freedom Day 2025 Mascot with Free Software – Huion Challenge now open!
by LM Nov. 10, 2025

Nov. 10, 2025

Greetings. Do you love creating with Free,Libre, Open Source Software (FLOSS)? Here’s your chance to show the world what digital freedom looks like: help us design the official Software Freedom Day (SFD) 2025 mascot--built entirely with FLOSS tools and released under CC BY-SA 4.0 or CC BY 4.0. Whether you model in Blender or paint in Krita, 2-D or 3-D is welcome. --- What’s in it for you? --- Huion is back with fantastic prizes for the top entries: 1 - Kamvas Pro 16 (4K) pen-display 2 - Kamvas Pro 12 pen-display 3 - 2 × Inspiroy Frego M tablets --- How to take part --- 1. Create your mascot in any FLOSS graphics tool (Krita, GIMP, Inkscape, Blender, MyPaint, ...). 2. Add a short back-story (≤ 1000 characters). 3. Submit both the source file (.kra/.xcf/.svg/.blend…) and a web-ready image (.png/.jpg, 1920 × 1080). 4. Make sure your work is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 or CC BY 4.0. 5. Deadline: 20 October 2025. One entry per person, worldwide. --- Need inspiration? --- Last year Janka (Hungary) soared to first prize with a Krita painting, while Deffy (USA) wowed us with a Blender animation and Yue Xin (Malaysia) lit up the canvas in Krita. Their success shows how powerful - and fun - FLOSS creativity can be! --- Why join? --- * Celebrate software freedom and show what’s possible without proprietary constraints. * Get international exposure and feedback from the FLOSS community. * Win Huion hardware to push your art even further. --- Your mission right now --- Forward this challenge to all your creative friends! More entries mean a richer, more colourful mascot showcase for everyone. Thanks for spreading the word and for championing free software creativity. Happy drawing--and good luck! Free-spirited regards, Jurgen, Jan, Chris, Mostafa, Marcos, Ruwan, Laura Digital Freedom Foundation Board

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Software Freedom Day Mascot - Huion Challenge 2025 Entry
by Benson Muite Nov. 10, 2025

Nov. 10, 2025

Possible mascot for SFD. Backstory: Hodari is a kiswahili name for a hardworking and persistent person. The mascot is a tortoise (animals known to beat hares in long races), climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to ascend to Uhuru (freedom) peak. The design has been created using Inkscape. Available under CC-BY 4.0. Benson

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Mascot - Faruk
by luisdaniel＠tuta.io Nov. 10, 2025

Nov. 10, 2025

Hi, I'm lapis, here is my submission for the mascot contest: Faruk. Please read the included TXT file. Attached: 4 files: TXT, SVG with original artwork, SVG original artwork with description, PNG with the Artwork (including description). Hope you like it as much as I do. Luis D Louro (lapis) -- Protegido com Tuta Mail: https://tuta.com/free-email

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Huion Mascot Design Contest Quesion
by Mohamad Itaqi Nov. 9, 2025

Nov. 9, 2025

Hello! My name is Kamel, a contestant from Syria. I would absolutely love to take part of the contest and I have already designed a mascot out of love for the idea, but I don’t have access to any laptop therefore I had to paint it on Procreate-not free nor open source-as I know someone I borrowed an iPad from to paint it. May I still participate in the competition despite the mascot being design in a paid app? Sincerely,

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Mascot contest
by LM Nov. 9, 2025

Nov. 9, 2025

Just a reminder, today November 9th is the last day to enter if you want to win a prize in the Huion Mascot challenge: https://digitalfreedoms.org/en/sfd/blog/sfd-mascot-huion-challenge-2025

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Happy Halloween
by LM Oct. 31, 2025

Oct. 31, 2025

Wanted to wish those who celebrate it a fun and Happy Halloween. Here are some FLOSS resources for Halloween: https://www.libhunt.com/topic/halloween https://github.blog/open-source/gaming/hackable-halloween-games-mmxxiii/ https://github.blog/open-source/gaming/thirteen-tiny-terrific-and-terrifyin… https://identicalsoftware.com/everythingattacks/ Public domain media for Halloween: https://publicdomainvectors.org/en/tag/halloween https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/autumn-and-halloween/ There are more FLOSS, public domain and CC resources listed on our Halloween thread on Mastodon: https://fosstodon.org/@dff I also have an older blog post I made that lists FLOSS to create your own which-way style adventures: https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/17224.html It includes a link to my Halloween Holiday Tour which has some more suggestions for public domain Halloween resources at the end of it. If you have any FLOSS, CC or public domain resources, you'd like to share, please post about them. Hope you enjoy the day.

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WSIS +20 Zero Draft feedback by Global South Actors : Call for Endorsements
by 'Kayode Akanni Oct. 19, 2025

Oct. 19, 2025

Dear Colleagues, We hope this email finds you well. We are contacting you to ask whether you could be interested in participating in the endorsement of a policy making process of WSIS +20 review this contains some elements in policy-making that will eventually help the implementation of the AI and digital public infrastructure. The deadline for submissions for various inputs of stakeholders into WSIS Zero draft review has been extended to October 3, 2025. Please take some time to go through the document and sign on. You can access the document here:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IjmMPxa9bJJx9tiHy_E6QqtWOVhs3PpWIm… The document is open for sign-ons until October 3 at 7 pm GM+1. Please share this invitation with the appropriate representatives that could be interested in participating in our endorsement. 'Kayode Akanni,Executive Director,Knowledge House Akanni,Olukayode,https://www.about.me/kayodeakanni "Help and have account"DesignIT

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SFD 2025 Aleppo Success – 250+ Attendees! Verification & Next Steps?
by Fares Alkhaled Oct. 13, 2025

Oct. 13, 2025

Dear SFD Community, I’m Fares from Aleppo, Syria, and I’m thrilled to share that our first major Software Freedom Day 2025 event, hosted at the University of Aleppo, was a huge success! Over 250 participants—students, developers, and locals—joined us for a day of open-source celebration, organized by Sanad Youth with Digital Freedom Foundation support. Your advice on program design, local impact, and venue flexibility was instrumental, and I’m deeply grateful. *Event Highlights* - *Talks*: Mohammed Babelly’s “Contributing to Open Source” and Dr. Fadi Farha’s “Open Source in IoT” inspired action with practical insights. - *Activities*: Our InstallFest, interactive FOSS exhibition, and mini hackathon (3–4 challenges) empowered attendees with hands-on skills. - *Impact*: Many installed Linux/FOSS tools, joined our new Telegram group, and connected with Aleppo’s growing tech scene. (See more: https://digitalfreedoms.org/en/sfd/events/software-freedom-day-2025-aleppo ) *Questions for You* As we wrap up, I’d love your expertise: 1. *Verification*: Is submitting the DFF post-event report (with photos/feedback) enough to “verify” our event? Any tips for a strong submission? 2. *SFD Branding*: We used some SFD logos on posters—is this optional, or should we lean in more for future events? 3. *Next Steps*: What have you done post-SFD to sustain momentum (e.g., meetups, press)? We’re launching a local FOSS group—any advice or resources? We’re excited to keep building Syria’s FOSS community and share our report soon. Thank you for inspiring us—let’s stay connected! Best, Fares

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