[school-discuss] Software Freedom Season

["Douglas S. Blank" <dblank@cs.brynmawr.edu>]

After some discussion and many good ideas, here is a proposal for a Software
Freedom Day, Software Freedom Season, and list of resources. First, the
facts, followed by a description.

What: Software Freedom Day
Why: Kickoff of Software Freedom Season
When: March 4th, annually
More info: http://emergent.brynmawr.edu/wiki/?SoftwareFreedom

(The following is cut from the above wiki. Feel free to change/add to it
there, or discuss it on email list.)

Proposal

The Software Freedom Season will "officially" begin on Software Freedom Day,
March 4th. There is no specific end date to the season, but fades into the
following Software Freedom Season.

This day and season are meant to be an annual, international celebration of
free software sometimes referred to as open source software. This season is
meant to be a time of outreach to show what can be accomplished by the
spirit of the programming community. But this season is also a time to
celebrate this spirit, and recognize our friends in this endeavor.

Why March 4th? Any day of the Software Freedom Season would do (which means
and day of the year). But, as Jim Thomas suggested, this day cries out to
march forth in celebration of Software Freedom :)

Activities

What can I do to help?

  * Organize a show-and-tell of free/open source software in local schools,
libraries, etc.
  * Burn some CDs containing free software for students or schools
  * Host an "Open Source Users Group" meeting
  * Hug an open source programmer
  * Meet fellow Software Freedom Fighters for tea, or other beaverages

Presentations

If you have a slide show (say, in HTML, OpenOffice, or PowerPoint) please
list it here.

  * [http://www.dclug.org.uk/ossday/ Devon & Cornwall Linux Users Group]
  * http://www.haywood.k12.nc.us/oss/oss.html

Software

Software, or lists of software lists that could be useful for those
interested in finding free and open software.

  * GIMP
  * Openoffice.org
  * Mozilla
  * VNC
  * [http://richtech.ca/seul/ Simple End User Linux Software List]
  * [http://edvisor.org/ Edvisor.org Software and Advertising] - catalog of
software

Organizations

The following are links to organizations related to the Freedom of Software.

  * [http://www.fsf.org/ Free Software Foundation]
  * [http://schoolforge.net Schoolforge.net]
  * [http://freedevelopers.net/ FreeDevelopers.net]
  * [http://www.seul.org/ Simple End User Linux]
    * [http://www.seul.org/edu/ Simple End User Linux for Education]
  * [http://www.affero.com/ Affero.com] - Bringing Patronage to the Free
Exchange of Information and Support on the Internet

--------------------------

If you think that this idea appeals to you, start planning for something
that you can do in March. If you can't meet with a school, maybe you can
prepare a presentation, or write a case study. Create a logo? Or maybe work
on a slogan. Variations on:

- don't tread (thread?) on me
- let freedom ring (compile?)
- give me liberty, or give me proprietary

-- 
Douglas S. Blank,         Assistant Professor
dblank@brynmawr.edu,            (610)526-6501
Bryn Mawr College,   Computer Science Program
101 North Merion Ave,       Park Science Bld.
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010  dangermouse.brynmawr.edu