- SFD-discuss - lists.mailman3.com

Re: WSIS +20 Zero Draft feedback by Global South Actors : Call for Endorsements

by 'Kayode Akanni

Dear colleagues,Sometimes ago, I requested for inputs and endorsement of inputs into WSIS global process. All written inputs to the Zero Draft for the WSIS+20 Review by the UN General Assembly are now available. Interested stakeholders can access the written inputs here.https://publicadministration.desa.un.org/wsis20/zerodraft Please check under civil society for input from the Global South Organisation.Have a nice week ahead 'Kayode Akanni.. Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android On Thu, 2 Oct 2025 at 5:45, 'Kayode Akanni<kayodeakanni(a)yahoo.com> wrote: WSIS +20 Zero Draft feedback by Global South Actors : Call for Endorsements 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 United Nations' WSIS +20 review this contains some elements in policy-making that will eventually help the implementation of use of free and Open source software, open standards ,etc globally. It was part of our programme SFD celebration this year as it was stated on our SFD 2025 Team page. So Please do well by reading,editing and endorse. 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 2 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

Oct. 19, 2025

Re: SFD 2025 Aleppo Success – 250+ Attendees! Verification & Next Steps?

by Fares Alkhaled

😍 Fares Alkhaled reacted via Gmail <https://www.google.com/gmail/about/?utm_source=gmail-in-product&utm_medium=…> On Mon, Oct 13, 2025 at 12:10 AM Jurgen Gaeremyn <jurgen(a)gaeremyn.be> wrote: > Hello Fares, > > thank you for your feedback and congratulations on a successful event! > > I will look to answer inside your mail... > Op 12/10/2025 om 21:18 schreef Fares Alkhaled: > > 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 > ) > > That's great! Don't hesitate to update the event page and share > information you would like to share with the global community (be it > photos, recordings, slides, testimonials, ... - don't forget to have > permission of the people in the images) > > > > *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? > > Software Freedom Day is a grassroots event - the strength of the event is > in the local community. There is not much value to be won from frauding > about organising an event. So no matter if the event is big or small, > technical or amical, if you celebrate software freedom, and want to call it > Software Freedom Day - you can. You are encouraged to register it on the > map. The more communities organize events, the more we (literally and > proverbially) put software freedom on the map. > > So if you register the event on our website, we will believe you. > > > 1. *SFD Branding*: We used some SFD logos on posters—is this optional, > or should we lean in more for future events? > > This is most certainly encouraged. But given it's a grassroots movement - > and we basically try to collect like minded people - you are free to > incorporate this as much as you see fit. > > > 1. *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 have some social media accounts (see top right on the website for > links) where we share event stories. We encourage local communities to also > invite political leaders and/or reach out in your local communities. > Setting up a local FOSS group feels like a great outcome of the event! > > > > We’re excited to keep building Syria’s FOSS community and share our report > soon. Thank you for inspiring us—let’s stay connected! > > Let's stay connected! Looking forward to see impressions of your event! > > Best, Fares > > _______________________________________________ > SFD-discuss mailing list -- sfd-discuss(a)mailman3.com > To unsubscribe send an email to sfd-discuss-leave(a)mailman3.com > >

Oct. 13, 2025

Re: SFD 2025 Aleppo Success – 250+ Attendees! Verification & Next Steps?

by Jurgen Gaeremyn

Hello Fares, thank you for your feedback and congratulations on a successful event! I will look to answer inside your mail... Op 12/10/2025 om 21:18 schreef Fares Alkhaled: > > 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) > That's great! Don't hesitate to update the event page and share information you would like to share with the global community (be it photos, recordings, slides, testimonials, ... - don't forget to have permission of the people in the images) > > *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? > Software Freedom Day is a grassroots event - the strength of the event is in the local community. There is not much value to be won from frauding about organising an event. So no matter if the event is big or small, technical or amical, if you celebrate software freedom, and want to call it Software Freedom Day - you can. You are encouraged to register it on the map. The more communities organize events, the more we (literally and proverbially) put software freedom on the map. So if you register the event on our website, we will believe you. > 1. *SFD Branding*: We used some SFD logos on posters—is this > optional, or should we lean in more for future events? > This is most certainly encouraged. But given it's a grassroots movement - and we basically try to collect like minded people - you are free to incorporate this as much as you see fit. > > 1. *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 have some social media accounts (see top right on the website for links) where we share event stories. We encourage local communities to also invite political leaders and/or reach out in your local communities. Setting up a local FOSS group feels like a great outcome of the event! > > We’re excited to keep building Syria’s FOSS community and share our > report soon. Thank you for inspiring us—let’s stay connected! > Let's stay connected! Looking forward to see impressions of your event! > > Best, Fares > > > _______________________________________________ > SFD-discuss mailing list --sfd-discuss(a)mailman3.com > To unsubscribe send an email tosfd-discuss-leave(a)mailman3.com

Oct. 12, 2025

SFD 2025 Aleppo Success – 250+ Attendees! Verification & Next Steps?

by Fares Alkhaled

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

Oct. 12, 2025

SFD2025 goal surpassed

by LM

Thanks to Linux Italia https://www.linuxday.it/2025/ combining their events with ours and to all the others groups that participated in Software Freedom Day 2025, and to everyone on this mailing list, we have surpassed our goal of 100 events: https://digitalfreedoms.org/en/sfd/archive We have not reached the end of 2025 so there's still time to put a new event on the map and join us in celebrating if you haven't yet. Don't forget the Huion Challenge https://digitalfreedoms.org/en/sfd/blog/sfd-mascot-huion-challenge-2025 has been extended to November 9, 2025. There's a good chance of winning if you want to participate. Please join us next year for #SoftwareFreedomDay2026 and #DocumentFreedomDay2026. We hope to reach even more people and locations in 2026.

Oct. 11, 2025

Writing Month

by LM

Want an alternative to National Novel Writing Month that lets you write whatever length project you want? Check out Writing Month 2025: https://writingmonth.org/ Plus, the site is FOSS with a GPL license. November could be a great month to add to the Creative Commons or share some FOSS related blog posts. Hope you'll let people know about this FOSS and Creative Commons friendly project.

Oct. 11, 2025

Huion Challenge - There's Still Time to Enter

by LM

Haven't created your #SFD2025 mascot submission for the Huion Challenge? Great news! The deadline has been extended to November 9th. I hope you'll consider creating a submission. There are good chances for winning. https://digitalfreedoms.org/en/sfd/blog/sfd-mascot-huion-challenge-2025

Oct. 7, 2025

Re: WSIS +20 Zero Draft feedback by Global South Actors : Call for Endorsements

by 'Kayode Akanni

WSIS +20 Zero Draft feedback by Global South Actors : Call for Endorsements 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 United Nations' WSIS +20 review this contains some elements in policy-making that will eventually help the implementation of use of free and Open source software, open standards ,etc globally. It was part of our programme SFD celebration this year as it was stated on our SFD 2025 Team page. So Please do well by reading,editing and endorse. 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 2 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

Oct. 2, 2025

WSIS +20 Zero Draft feedback by Global South Actors : Call for Endorsements

by 'Kayode Akanni

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

Oct. 2, 2025

Re: Seeking Advice for Organizing SFD in Syria (Aleppo)

by Maren Hachmann

Hi Fares, I'm Maren from Kiel, Germany - so our conditions here are likely also very different from yours, but perhaps some of our ideas from Kielux (2.5 day Linux and Open Source conference in Kiel) can still be useful. Tech talks, an exhibition, a support corner are also parts of our event here. Q1: For keeping up a good energy throughout the event: Food / beverages: We have / had multiple kinds of those: 1. Sale of stuff we bought in advance (disadvantage: you need to have the money for that and you need to know how many will come) 2. Food stalls / food trucks: advantage: it's the owners' risk whether they will sell something; and there may be a larger choice (disadvantage: in our case, the food we bought to sell did not sell well, but also, it turned out that the food truck's food was not good - but it looked better at first, so people bought that, rather than ours) 3. Having a barbecue and also a breakfast together. Everyone brings something, and we have fun as a community, chatting away about open source things. Some things, like bread rolls, were provided by us, but other food, like salads and fruit and marmalade, were brought by the community. A fun event: What we had was an 'active break', meaning that there was an offer of taking part in a fun sports routine in the lunch break. Some of us dressed up as penguins, and everyone was invited to do some light kickboxing. We were all sweating and laughing. Games: We put some computers there where people could play Tuxracer / Supertuxcart. A riddle: One of us designed a multi-part riddle for people to solve, and we bought prizes for the winners A raffle: As our event is sponsored, we are lucky to have our sponsors provide prizes that we can give to participants. Merch sale: (may be out of scope for your event at the current stage) T-Shirts, penguins, mousepads, ... Q2: For the local impact: Jobwall: allowing local businesses to find their next IT person via a small poster on a pinboard Check out whether open source is being used in schools / governmental institutions near you and invite them to talk about it. In the past, we also had LPI exams. Offer some kind of maker thing that is useful to people in your area. Or offer a course for children/adolescents to learn programming (e.g. with Scratch). Q3: venue This is difficult for us, too. We're cooperating with a local startup center, which has a presentation room for the talks, and meeting rooms for workshops and a large hallway for the exhibition. But it's always too small, and one of the rooms we had was really difficult to find, because it's only reachable via multiple stairs and hallways and bridges in a different building...We also have a tent, but haven't used that, because it often rains in September and we have no place to let the thing dry afterwards, so it won't smell / mould. Maybe a school or a part of the university could be used in Aleppo? If you do your event at a time when there's no school, it could work. If you're really running out of options, maybe even something like a shopping gallery or a market hall could work? For the shopping places, it could even be useful if there are more people around... although that may make the talks really difficult. Or perhaps you know someone (who knows someone) who has a café / restaurant? --- For our support corner, we've 'dressed that up' as a doctor's office, which is kind of fun. A penguin figure with a bandaged wing, some lab coats, a stethoscope, and then some printed decorations.(Let me know if you'd like a printable penguin skeleton or an eye test poster with fish instead of letters/symbols... ). We also printed flyers that were meant to help people install Linux on their computer. What also really helps is having a good team of people who organize it, so if you can get some of your most enthusiastic friends to help (even family), that will be good. Wishing you good luck and lots of fun with your event! Maren Am 25.09.25 um 10:57 schrieb Fares Alkhaled: > Hello SFD Community, > > My name is Fares, I’m based in Aleppo, Syria, and I’m currently working > on coordinating a Software Freedom Day event here. This will be one of > the first SFD events of its kind in Aleppo, and I’m really excited about > the opportunity to bring people together around free and open-source > software. > > The event is planned to include four main activities: > > 1. > > *Technical Talks* – on digital freedom, open-source software, and > their role in developing both the technical and civil society sectors. > > 2. > > *Interactive Exhibition* – showcasing open-source software across > different sectors. > > 3. > > *Support Corner* – offering technical help to install FOSS software > from the exhibition and providing guidance for visitors. > > 4. > > *Hackathon* – where young people can participate in solving 3–4 > technical challenges using open-source tools, with clear > participation rules. > > Right now, the main challenge I’m facing is finding a suitable venue. > I’ve been looking for theaters or halls that can host the event, but so > far it’s been difficult. Because of this, I may need to push the date to > October 2nd instead of the official day. > > I’d love to hear your advice on: > > 1. > > *Program design* – What have you found most effective in engaging > participants and keeping the energy high across multiple activities > in a single-day event? > > 2. > > *Maximizing local impact* – From your experience, what strategies > can help make SFD more meaningful in regions where the FOSS > community is still in its early stages? > > 3. > > *Flexibility* – If I cannot secure a large hall, what creative > approaches (smaller venues, hybrid formats, outdoor spaces, etc.) > have worked for you? > > I want this to be a strong and inspiring start for the FOSS community in > Syria, and I’d be grateful to learn from your experiences. > > Thank you in advance for your support and guidance. > > Best regards, > Fares > Aleppo, Syria > > > _______________________________________________ > SFD-discuss mailing list -- sfd-discuss(a)mailman3.com > To unsubscribe send an email to sfd-discuss-leave(a)mailman3.com

Sept. 30, 2025