Dear learners,

We have a whole week of ice breaking sessions intended to build bonding between members of the camp. As you would have noticed our methods are learner-centered and learner-directed. We use discussions and debates to make you think about various topics. We believe that self-directed learning can be accelerated when we facilitate building the motivation to learn in a learner.

On our website we wrote "Free Software Camp is a mentorship programme for bringing more people to Free Software with strong focus on philosophy." It is the philosophy of Free Software that attracts people from varied fields to it. You would have already noticed that we have people from fields like Mathematics, Health, Social Science, Library Science, Education, Physics, different branches of Engineering and so on in the camp and not just Software Engineers. This diversity of interests and backgrounds is not artificially created. Ideas like freedom resonate with everyone and that is what brings them to Free Software. Contrast this with programmes which only focus on doing specific things or acquiring specific skills, where you might find people who are all working in the same job or same industry. We hope by the end of the camp, learners will imbibe the philosophy of Free Software and appreciate the multitude of reasons behind contributing to Free Software.

Building a strong community of people who understand, appreciate, and advocate Free Software even after the camp is what we hope to achieve through the camp. As clarified in the opening session,

Expect from the camp:

Mentorship Guidance Access to discussion groups Opportunity to work on real world projects

Do not expect:

Prize money/stipend Certificate T-shirt Stickers Job placement

If this is not what you expected from the camp and you find the philosophy difficult to relate with, you might be feeling a sense of disappointment or discomfort. But all growth comes with some pain. Try to attend all sessions sincerely and be an active participant of the camp. By doing so, you just might find the reason why we are all so excited about Free Software. And we can't wait to share that excitement with you.

Having said that, do not hesitate to contact us if something is bothering you. We know that the success of the camp is dependent on actively engaging with all the participants, addressing all their concerns and taking their suggestions into consideration.

* * *

Freedom can be understood as the presence of certain freedoms. But freedom can also be understood from the other side, by looking at absence of certain freedoms. In the next camp activity (which is 5-days long), we will be looking at freedom from the latter side, i.e. the lack of it. Learners will be exploring, analyzing, critiquing, and responding to different controls/restrictions in the current society to develop a wider perspective on freedom.

More details will be shared in the session today.

The organizing team, Free Software Camp