Fsf-friends July 2009

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

14 participants
15 discussions

by Raj Mathur

Hi, Can someone point me to a comprehensive collection of materials used for training in Free Software in schools in Kerala? Any and all of these would be appreciated: - Teachers' training material - Teachers' training curricula and time frames - Ditto for the Train the Trainers programme - School curricula on and using FS - Accompanying textbooks, training guides, etc. Anything else that is available apart from this would be great. Thanks, -- Raju -- Raj Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F PsyTrance & Chill: http://schizoid.in/ || It is the mind that moves

13 years, 5 months

Fwd: [en] Caracas Declaration

by Nagarjuna G.

-- Nagarjuna G. gnowledge lab, HBCSE, TIFR. India.

13 years, 7 months

Microsoft, Yahoo agree on ad partnership

by justin joseph

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Microsoft-Yahoo-agree-on-ad-rb-909225241.html… "SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc have agreed to an online search and advertising partnership, in an attempt to rival Google Inc, that will be announced within 24 hours, a source familiar with the situation said on Thursday."

13 years, 7 months

FSMK-News Letter2

by naveen mudunuru

Dear all, We welcome all the members, sympathizers and critics of FSMK to the second edition of our News Letter. This edition discusses different topics that ranges from technical, philosophical, free software politics and activism in depth and breadth. Please find the News Letter at the Below Link. http://fsmk.org/sites/default/files/FSMK%20Newsletter%20Volume%202.pdf http://fsmk.org/node/39 With warm regards, Naveen Mudunuru FSMK Editorial Board -- regards naveen Be Free, Speak Free, Work Free. Advocate "FREE SOFTWARE", FREE as in FREE SPEECH, not as in FREE BEER

13 years, 7 months

Fwd: [Fsmk-discuss] FSMK Newsletter Volume 2

by Vikram Vincent

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Rameez Thonnakkal <ssrameez(a)gmail.com> Date: 2009/7/25 Subject: [Fsmk-discuss] FSMK Newsletter Volume 2 Hi All, Presenting the second edition of FSMK News Letter. FSMK News Letter Volume 2 <http://fsmk.org/node/39> Thanks a lot for accepting the first news letter and letting us know your valuables suggestions and criticisms. We have tried our best to improve based on those inputs. Improvement is a continuous process and we assure you the same with our current News Letter. We discuss everything related to free software. It includes technology, news, free-software politics, philosophy,etc.. We are sure that this is a stepping stone to get well equipped on free software movement. Through this News letter, Know about the Free Software Movement Karnataka and Join the Movement... We are expecting your valuable comments.. Write to us editor(a)fsmk.org. Regards, FSMK Editorial Board _______________________________________________ fsmk-discuss mailing list fsmk-discuss(a)lists.fsmk.in http://lists.fsmk.in/listinfo.cgi/fsmk-discuss-fsmk.in -- Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://swatantra.org/ http://fsmk.org/

13 years, 7 months

Article on Free Software Workshop for Govt. School Teachers - 2

by Vikram Vincent

First they ignore you Then they laugh at you Then they they fight you Then you win - Gandhi Neat quote on the FSMK T-shirt! :) "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi With this message a few geeks at Free Software Movement Karnataka (FSMK) have been working on popularizing the open source software in the government schools and offices. "Karnataka Government decided to use free software for 8th 9th and 10th standards as a part of their ICT@Schools project(Information and Communication Technology). As of now It is vendor controlled project (Educom, EVeron, etc are implementing it) under BOOT (Build Operate Own & Transfer)scheme. For making it more accessible to teachers & students(IT enabled learning), we are initiating this training as a pilot project in bangalore. This is organised by DSERT and a Consortium of Free Software Organisations in Bangalore (FSUG Bangalore, Sampada, FSMK, ITfC, DeepRoot Linux, IT4Change & Moving Republic are the organisations associated.)", said Naveen Mudunuru, an active volunteer with FSMK. 1. A session on FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open Source Software) philosophy. 2. Basic usage of the desktop explaining the various hardware components. 3. Use of Open Office. 4. Educational games on the distro. 5. Use of Internet. The team comprised of volunteers from various groups typically software techies from various companies some of who have moved to social sector for good. The hall was packed with almost every system occupied with about 25 teachers. The teachers very pretty enthusiastic about the training and sat patiently for the long sessions absorbing as much as they could. One teacher in particular didn't mind delayed lunch as they were in middle of something. The first day was mostly basic stuff covering the different components like mouse (why it is so called?), CPU, etc. Many teachers were curious about typing and use of kannada. Ktouch, gtypist, gcompris, etc were suggested to the them. The afternoon session Naveen introduced the teachers to the concept of FLOSS. Naveen used the analogy of a bike. When someone buys a bike (s)he expects to use it the way (s)he wishes. If a neighbor is in need and comes ask for the bike for some work (s)he is free to lend the bike which may not be the cased with a product from Microsoft or Apple or such. If it has some problem one would like to have a look at the bike himself or herself first and only then goto a shop. Even if (s)he has to goto a shop the person is free to go to a local shop and doesn't have to go to the same vendor who sold the bike. This 'freedom' is not there in closed source software. There was a mention of how Einstein was able to come up with concepts like theory of relativity as Newton, who said, "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.", didn't keep his knowledge to himself. The way to go ahead in technology is to share and exchange knowledge. Reminds one of the words from George Bernard Shaw - "If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." The second day was entirely spent on Open Office where equivalents of Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. People who were familiar with the office suite asked how they could do certain things they did in the MS counterparts. The sessions were exhaustive and covered most of the things the teachers would need. The day ended in a presentation on a one of the schools made by the Teacher from that school. Looked pretty well done. The teachers were briefly introduced to the use of Kannada - the idea was to encourage them to use English. The detailed coverage on the same is planned in the subsequent sessions. The third day was devoted to the Internet. The teachers were also requested to work in groups to infuse in them idea of sharing and helping each other which is the basis for most development in FLOSS. The idea behind the sessions was to equip the teachers to help themselves by looking for help on the net. They were introduced to checking emails, google, wikipedia, youtbue, etc. An email was created for each teacher and also a mailing list containing all of them for future queries and discussions. The teachers expressed their heart felt gratitude. If this initiative interests you please get in touch with Naveen: naveenmudunuru(a)gmail.com 998640 3928 Vikram: vincentvikram(a)gmail.com 94488 10822 Software _must_ be accessible to people who could use it to bring about a positive change in their lives. Such programs are only making this a reality by touching the needier sections. -- Mayank Rungta -- article released under creative commons

13 years, 8 months

Article on Free Software Workshop for Govt. School Teachers - 1

by Vikram Vincent

We,the FSMK(Free Software Movement Karnataka) volunteers cum trainers, along with members from few other organizations trained Government School teachers to use and get comfortable with Free Software,in a step towards scaling a steep task of setting the binary knowledge free. These training sessions happened on the 16th, 17th and 18th of July,2009. I was expecting reluctance,hesitation,mild levels of ego and confusion from the participants...But all that emerged out of these teachers was an extremely high level of enthusiasm, an equaling curiosity and tireless efforts for the first two days...Witnessing this in person and being a part all three days has been all together a new kind of an experience.... We were able to break the dogma of The Cyberphobia (Fear of working with computers) from these people the very first day....The joy they subsequently found working on the basics which we taught them was just heart warming.... The ultimate goal of this workshop has been making the teachers self sufficient in handling computers for basic purposes, so that the kids are benefited. The second day was more about trying to make them feel more independent. The interest and the curiosity levels in the teachers remained still the same, while the extent of apprehension and inhibitions from their side were mellowing down. The third day was to introduce them to an entirely new world, as seen by them, through Internet and the various possibilities using it like mailing, searching, browsing useful sites, copying content from net, file downloads etc... The Internet really hooked them on,making most of them pledge that they would want to use it more even after the sessions. But,the kind of awe they were in, while undergoing these sessions puts a big question about the IT revolution India is supposedly going through...In a city where all the major IT players of the world have at least one establishment is ridiculously unbalanced. Its own teachers are literally scared to work with computers... Blaming the Government is something which is eternal...And we've got used to it... The question is what each of us can do? I genuinely feel that we as a literate community have a lot to do with a sense of sincere concern towards the society we are a part of.... If you feel that you can do your part in bridging the divide, join us at fsmk.org. - Raghavendra S Volunteer FSMK ( fsmk.org)

13 years, 8 months

MSME is also pushing IPR?

by renuka prasad

i do not know whether i am sharing a very old news or a new one , but could not stop me sharing this link http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/schemes/ipr.htm with regards renuka prasad

13 years, 8 months

Fwd: Blog about the Teachers workshop

by Vikram Vincent

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Raghavendra S Date: 2009/7/17 Subject:Blog about the Teachers workshop Dear all, read thru the post on my blog abt the first 2 days of the workshop.... http://ideasareimmortal.blogspot.com/2009/07/free-software-workshop-for.html -- Raghavendra S http://ideasareimmortal.blogspot.com/ http://fsmk.org/

13 years, 8 months

Two day Python workshop at CDEEP

by Puneeth Chaganti

Hello, As part of the MHRD funded open source mission at IITB, Asokan and I are planning a 2 day Python workshop: Topic: Programming with Python Date: 25, 26th July 2009 (weekend) Time: 1400 hrs to 1800 hrs Venue: CDEEP seminar hall Instructors: Asokan P and Prabhu Ramachandran This is targeted at students of engineering who will be able to use Python as their core language for scientific and engineering computing. The course will be done at CDEEP and will be broadcast live via EDUSAT and also webcast (http://www.cdeep.iitb.ac.in/). Attendees are strongly encouraged to bring along laptops since the instruction is entirely hands on. We will be able to provide some extra laptops for use but the numbers will be limited. Please send: Kadambari Devarajan <kadambari.devarajan(a)gmail.com> a confirmation email regarding your participation and she will get back to you on what you need to install, prerequisites etc. Please forward this to any others who may be interested. regards, -- Prabhu Ramachandran http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/~prabhu

13 years, 8 months

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Fsf-friends July 2009