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draft declaration at Kozhikode
by Nagarjuna G 12 Sep '10

12 Sep '10

==This is a Draft Declaration== We request all those who read this to suggest any changes before Monday 13th September 2010, so that the declaration can be released sooner than later. ==The Role of ICT and Education in Social Inclusion== Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the most powerful technologies ever developed by humankind. It has drastically changed the way we do things, the way we communicate and even the way we think. Education is one of the spheres of human activity that is being strongly influenced by ICT. While the teaching of ICT has been incorporated at the school-level, ICT itself is being used in the classroom and outside for teaching and learning more effectively. However, access to ICT is not universal due to various reasons, including obscurity and the high cost of proprietary software. Education is a basic requirement for a comfortable life in today's society. In view of this, some countries, including India, have made it a fundamental right. This is certainly a move in the right direction. Education in ICT and ICT-enabled education are also becoming wide-spread. Part of the reason for this is the rapid decline in the cost of hardware. At the same time, the high cost of software is acting as a hurdle for further progress. Another factor that prevents more wide-spread use of ICT is the fact that the interface is not available in many languages, which bothers a lot of people. Obscurity stops people and especially students to learn how things work, software in particular. The right to use, know, change and share technical knowledge about modern artefacts is an essential human right in knowledge societies. ==Why Software Freedom is essential?== Proprietary software does not allow community participation in shaping the ICT to be used for education, and is not suitable for education since their solutions treat students as consumers. Free software community (sometimes called free and open source software community) on the other hand produced GNU/Linux operating system and a comprehensive stack of collaborative workspaces that enable students during the last 25 years. Most of the free software workspaces are made accessible for speakers of all languages of the world, including physically challenged students. The software freedom granted to the people (1. to use the software for any purpose; 2. to study how it works; 3. to modify it and 4. to distribute the modified software) is unquestionably the core source of the free software revolution that is being witnessed. Any software that grants these four freedoms is called Free Software. These freedoms are essential for students to learn how things work, and to share their experience, knowledge and collaborate with others without legal encumbrances. The software freedom makes it eminently suitable for any purpose, especially for education. The software used in education has to be freely available and accessible to all because education has to be universal. Moreover, the software has to be available in the language used by the community in that part of the world, however small the community may be. This is normally not possible with proprietary software because some communities could be too small to satisfy the commercial interests of the company. But the situation is different with Free Software. Since the source code is available for study and modification by anyone, students of computer science and software engineering are able to see code written by master programmers and learn from them, just as students of literature learn from works of great writers, or students of art or cinema learn from the works of great artists and movie makers. This is obviously not possible with proprietary software. Any community that has people with reasonable software skills can customise the interface to show the menu and other items in their own language. They can also create fonts for the language if they are not available. And they can localise applications to suit their culture and environment. Finally, the students who have computers in their homes can use the same software they use in their educational institutions without either breaking the law and using illegal software, or spending a lot of money to buy the same software. Thus, Free Software is undeniably the most ideal for use in all educational institutions at all levels; for primary, secondary or higher education. Proprietary software keeps people divided and helpless, while Free Software empowers them. Free software nurtures the much needed creativity by encouraging us to critical thinking and reasoning while proprietary software forces us to consume what they package. It is important for the graduating students to become entrepreneurs or join the various agencies for employment. Considering this requirement it is essential that the syllabus in educational institutions focuses on skills and not include any specific branded applications produced by a commercial company. Therefore, the syllabus should be neutral and not mention any particular brand. Just as the software requires to be free, it is essential that learning and teaching resources including documentation, books, journals, and other media should be released with a license (such as Creative Commons by Share Alike) which grands similar freedoms for other resources. All these resources must also be encoded in an open standard so that the exchanged documents are decodable in all platforms ensuring interoperability. ==Therefore== considering all the reasons mentioned above, we, the undersigned, call on all educational institutions, policy makers, students, teachers in all corners of the world to discard all proprietary software and use exclusively Free Software.

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Fwd: [fosscomm] Obituary to Our Friend & FOSS Activist Shyam Karanat
by Nagarjuna G 04 Sep '10

04 Sep '10

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Anivar Aravind <anivar.aravind(a)gmail.com> Date: Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 11:56 AM Subject: [fosscomm] Obituary to Our Friend & FOSS Activist Shyam Karanat To: Fosscom Network <network(a)fosscom.in> Dear All, Our Friend, and member of This List Shyam Karanatt ended his life himself yesterday afternoon. Still most of his friends are still shocked and not recovered from the pain of this news. Shyam was a very active Free Software advocate and Activist. I like to recall his major contributions to Free Software Movement in India He was known to me initially through Google Summer of Code candiate for Swathanthra Malayalam Computing , for building the prototype for Malayalam Speech Recognition system. and he started that with a project named sharika based on CMU-SPINX library. He become an active volunteer of Swathanthra Malayalam Computing and part of various other LUGS like Swathanthra Software Users Group Malappuram, Foss Group in MES, FSUG- Thrissur etc. He become the project admin for Translating GNU.ORG webpages to Malayalam, and made a lot of progress with that work . He involved with Organising Various FOSS programmes in his college and varouos cities in Kerala . Shyam initiated the Syllabus Review page in FCI Wikia http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Syllabus_Review and compiled most of the data, in association with Venkiy . Which become a major intervention too later. He took a major role on realising the idea of GNU labs and implimenting the first functioning GNU lab in MES kuttippuram http://gnulabs.org/ Shyam was a good speaker in various FOSS conferences like FOSS.IN , Mukth.in etc and associate with Various FOSS Groups like IndLinux, SMC, FSUG-Thrissur, FSUG-Calicut, SSUG Malappurm etc His funeral is at Ramapuram, Pala, Kottayam District today Shyam's Photo From Niyam's collection http://www.flickr.com/photos/niyam/2399712870/ ~ in the memory of a good friend Anivar -- "[It is not] possible to distinguish between 'numerical' and 'nonnumerical' algorithms, as if numbers were somehow different from other kinds of precise information." - Donald Knuth _______________________________________________ network mailing list network(a)lists.fosscom.in http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in

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RMS at ISI Delhi
by Raj Mathur (राज माथुर) 01 Sep '10

01 Sep '10

Hi, RMS gave a short, unplanned talk on software freedom at the Indian Statistical Institute today (2010-09-01) just before lunch. Students and some faculty were present. Photos at: http://images.kandalaya.org/gallery2/v/raju/rms-isid-20100901/ Regards, -- Raj -- 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

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Stallman speaking in Kozhikode
by V. Sasi Kumar 01 Sep '10

01 Sep '10

Richard Stallman will be speaking in the inaugural session of the National Conference on Free Software and Education in Kozhikode on September 10, 2010. Giving the keynote address, he will speak on "Free Software: Computing in Freedom". The conference will have speakers from India like Prof. Nagarjuna and Prof. Kannan Moudgalya. There will also be speakers from abroad like Marco Ciurcina (Professor of Law in Italy) and Diego Saravia (Professor, UNSa-CONICET. Argentina) who will speak through video conferencing. Those who desire to participate, please register quickly. Travel support available to a limited number of participants. Conference site: http://c11.space-kerala.org/fsinedu Best -- Dr. V. Sasi Kumar Society for the Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment C-11, Elankom Gardens, Vellayambalam, Thiruvananthapuram 695010, Kerala Ph: 0471 2318997

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[OT] [X-Post] Delhi-Mumbai courier for RMS
by Raj Mathur (राज माथुर) 01 Sep '10

01 Sep '10

Hi, Richard Stallman (RMS) has left a small package weighing about 10KG at my place that needs to be taken to Mumbai. Request you to contact me if you're going Delhi-Mumbai in the next few days and can carry it with you. Thanks, -- Raj -- 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

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[X-Post][Jobs] Project positions open at IIT Bombay
by Puneeth Chaganti 31 Aug '10

31 Aug '10

1 Announcement ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Project positions are open at IIT Bombay for an MHRD funded project, Free and Open source Software for Science and Engineering Education (FOSSEE). You may obtain further info about the project from the project site: [http://fossee.in] 2 Keywords ~~~~~~~~~~~ Python, Science, Engineering, Education, Scientific computing, IIT-B, FOSS Awareness, Instruction Design, Documentation, Teaching, Graphic Design, Editing, Copy writing, SciPy, NumPy, Sage. 3 Project Description ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The current major activities of the team are - - Course design and content generation for courses on Python (specifically Python for Scientific Computing), LaTeX, Version Control Systems and other FOSS tools. This involves applying the concepts of Instruction Design to design courses and generation of a significant amount of documentation in the form of written material, presentations, spoken tutorials and video lectures. - Generation of supplementary material in the form of code and documentation for Engineering and Science courses being taught at IIT-Bombay. - Delivery of workshops and courses at various levels and locations across the country on the topics mentioned in content generation. - Co-ordination and Organization of conferences like SciPy.in and Sage Days. - Creating a customized distribution that has all the relevant packages to use Python for scientific computing. - We also intend to work and improve upon a tiny implementation of Python to make it suitable to be used on a Low Cost Access Device, being developed by another team from IIT-Bombay. 4 Open Positions & Description ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + Content Generators + Writers/Editors + Event Manager + Project Manager + Instructional Designer + Graphic Designer + tiny Python champion 4.1 Content Generators ======================= + Qualifications Educational Qualifications: - Preferably a Bachelors degree in Engineering OR - Post Graduate degree in Science Applicants are expected to possess the following qualities/skills: - Willingness to learn - Good programming skills - Knowledge of Python programming language - Passion for FOSS - Experience with using FOSS - Good math and science skills One or more of the following skills would be a plus: - Knowledge of or experience in Instructional Design and/or content generation. - Experience of working on a FOSS project. - Experience with customizing Linux distributions. + Remuneration The pay will be in the range Rs. 10000 to 30000 depending on the qualifications and experience. For extra-ordinary people the upper limit is flexible. 4.2 Writers/Editors ==================== + Qualifications Educational Qualifications: - A Bachelors degree, preferably in English Applicants are expected to possess the following qualities/skills: - Demonstrated skill and Experience of writing technical documents. - Should be able to write/produce an error free, high quality document (with instruction design principles applied) of about 1200-1500 words in a day. - Good communication skills One or more of the following skills would be a plus: - Knowledge of LaTeX or ReST. - Use of version control systems. - Knowledge of Instruction Design - Experience with using FOSS and a passion for FOSS. + Remuneration The pay will be in the range Rs. 10000 to 30000 depending on the qualifications and experience. For extra-ordinary people the upper limit is flexible. 4.3 Event Manager ================== + Qualifications Educational Qualifications: - At least a 3 year diploma or a Bachelors degree Applicants are expected to possess the following qualities/skills: - Experience in organizing, co-ordinating and conducting events involving anything between 50 to 300 participants. - Good communication skills One or more of the following skills would be a plus: - Experience of organizing a FOSS event. - Experience with using FOSS. - Passion for FOSS. + Remuneration The pay will be in the range Rs. 10000 to 30000 depending on the qualifications and experience. For extra-ordinary people the upper limit is flexible. 4.4 Project Manager ==================== + Qualifications Educational Qualifications: - At least a Bachelors/Masters degree and relevant experience. Applicants are expected to possess the following qualities/skills: - Experience in managing a team of 10-12 people - Good programming skills - Good communication skills - Passion for FOSS - Familiarity with FOSS culture and development One or more of the following skills would be a plus: - Knowledge of Python programming language - Experience in managing a team contributing to FOSS + Remuneration The pay will be in the range Rs. 30000 to 60000 depending on the qualifications and experience. For extra-ordinary people the upper limit is flexible. 4.5 Instructional Designer =========================== + Qualifications Educational Qualifications: - A bachelors/masters degree Applicants are expected to possess the following qualities/skills: - A good amount of experience in Instruction Design - Good communication skills One or more of the following skills would be a plus: - Knowledge of and Passion for FOSS. - Experience with designing content for FOSS courses. + Remuneration The pay will be in the range Rs. 10000 to 30000 depending on the qualifications and experience. For extra-ordinary people the upper limit is flexible. 4.6 Graphic Designer ===================== + Qualifications Educational Qualifications: - At least a 3 year diploma or a bachelors degree in any field Applicants are expected to possess the following qualities/skills: - Good sense of aesthetics, color and design - Excellent design skills - Good communication skills - Experience in designing web-sites, posters, logos, t-shirts, and other promotional material. One or more of the following skills would be a plus: - Experience with using FOSS. - Passion for FOSS. + Remuneration The pay will be in the range Rs. 10000 to 30000 depending on the qualifications and experience. For extra-ordinary people the upper limit is flexible. 4.7 tiny Python champion ========================= + Qualifications Educational Qualifications: - Preferably a Bachelors degree or higher Applicants are expected to possess the following qualities/skills: - Good programming skills - Willingness to learn - Knowledge of Python programming language - Experience with micro-controller/processor programming - Passion for FOSS - Experience with using FOSS One or more of the following skills would be a plus: - Knowledge of Python internals - Experience of working on a FOSS project. + Remuneration The pay will be in the range Rs. 10000 to 30000 depending on the qualifications and experience. For extra-ordinary people the upper limit is flexible. 5 Why you should apply ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - You get paid to improve and write FOSS. - You get to do really meaningful work -- your work will influence generations of future students all over India and potentially elsewhere. - You get to work on some of the most important projects that will influence the future of science and engineering. - You get to meet and work with the authors of various important packages like Numpy, Scipy, matplotlib, Mayavi and Sage. - You will be at IIT Bombay and will have best of both worlds -- good pay and an academic environment. 6 How to Apply ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The positions are for a maximum duration of 2 years. The initial appointment will be for a period of 3 months which will be extended based on performance. Applicants may email their resumes along with a one page writeup on why they think they are well suited for the project to: jobs[at]fossee.in -- Puneeth Chaganti FOSSEE, IIT-Bombay

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Invitation for Richard M Stallman's talk
by Swathanthra Public Relations 31 Aug '10

31 Aug '10

Dear Sir/Madam, Swathanthra, the free software users group of St. Joseph's College of Engineering & Technology is organizing a one day Free Software Fest named ‘Swathanthra 1.0’. I am privileged to inform you that Mr. Richard M. Stallman, will give a talk on “Free Software and Your Freedom”, answer questions, and inaugurate the Free Software Users’ Group of the College at 10:30 am on September 09, 2010. I invite you to kindly visit us and participate in the function which, I am sure, shall benefit all those present. More details about the event are available in our official website www.swathanthra.in and those who are interested need to register at the website. The registration for the event would be closed on 7th September. The entry for the event would be free. With warm regards, Yours sincerely, Krishnalal G +91 9497171117

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[Fsf-friends] virtual-global-conference-on-blended-and-distributed-education
by Vikram Vincent 22 Aug '10

22 Aug '10

Live streaming http://www.ustream.tv/channel/virtual-global-conference-on-blended-and-dist… In a world where students have access to technology, there is increasing need to incorporate systems wherein the focus is on the learner than the teacher. Technology has a huge role to play in this paradigm shift. In order that the teachers as facilitators grasp the huge untapped potential of technology, TQMS is organizing a virtual global conference in educational technology titled “Technology for Blended and Distributed Education” from August 18-20, 2010 wherein the speakers address the participants over virtual mode through video conferencing and webinars. The objective is manifold to tap the potential of technology, to bring world renowned and distinguished speakers in specialized domains in ICT advancements in education and address emerging concepts, technology based administrative deployment practices, strategies and possibilities to share their experiences with a select audience from their home location from any part of the world. The sessions would be scheduled to take into consideration the various location of speakers from different time zones. While participants of the conference will assemble at Christ University, the venue for conference proceedings, the robustness of the conference will also be built around high quality peer reviewed papers for a few face to face presentation as ‘interlude conference plug-in sessions’ at the physical location of the conference on all the days of the conference. It is intended that the conference will also reinforce the supplementary and complementary nature of technology wherein the facilitator plays a very important role. -- Vikram Vincent +919448810822 080 4012 9072 It's 'Free' as in Swatantra.

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National Conference on Free Software and Education
by V. Sasi Kumar 18 Aug '10

18 Aug '10

FSF India, SPACE and the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, Kerala, is organising a National Conference on Free Software and Education at Kozhikode (formerly Calicut) during September 10-12. Faculty members from some of the eminent institutes in India and abroad will speak on the need for using Free Software in education and demonstrate Free Software useful for science and engineering education. The inaugural session would be on 10th evening at the Tagore Centenary Hall, Kozhikode, and the main conference at the NIT campus. Further details are available at http://c11.space-kerala.org/fsinedu Depending on availability of funds we will try to provide travel support and accommodation to a few participants. Best Sasi -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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Debian Workout day on 21st Saturday as a follow up to Mini DebConf
by Praveen A 18 Aug '10

18 Aug '10

Hi, I hope you already went through http://wiki.debian.org/DebianIndia/MiniDebConf2010#After-event More details about the Workout is at http://wiki.debian.org/DebianIndia/DebianWorkout2010Aug21 It will be an informal session where we will work together on specific packages and bugs. See if you find an interesting package on wnpp.debian.net before you come. Also for those who could not get their gpg keys signed, come prepared with print outs and photo ids. For those of you who cannot make it in person, we will keep our irc channel open ie, #debian-in on irc://irc.oftc.net You can use mibbit.com if you have problems connecting using an irc client. Thanks Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ You have to keep reminding your government that you don't get your rights from them; you give them permission to rule, only so long as they follow the rules: laws and constitution.

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