We would like to invite you and your user group to join this network of grassroot marketing for Free/Libre and Open Source Software! Looking forward to having you with us on September 10, 2005 in whatever way you would like to mark the event! -FN (Frederick Noronha)
Introducing Software Freedom Day 2005!
Mark September 10th 2005 on your calendar! It is the second annual Software Freedom Day. We will be staging a range of events around the world to raise public awareness of Free and Open Source Software.
This is a global grassroots effort, and we invite the Free and Open Source Software community around the world to join in the celebration and help spread the word! Over 70 teams joined the celebration in 2004, organising a range of events at schools, universities and public places. This year, we have every opportunity to grow and make an even greater impact on community awareness.
What will happen?
You may celebrate the day locally however you would like, but we encourage you to engage in some sort of outreach activity to spread the FOSS message in your community. For example, you could organise a seminar or an installfest or simply invite people to meet up in the park for a picnic.
If you want to participate, please stop by the SFD website (http://softwarefreedomday.org/) and register a team so that others in your area can find you and hook up. Our website and wiki have pictures and reports from some of the SFD2004 events, so you can get an idea of what worked well. If you participated last year, please join us again, and please share your experiences with the new teams.
How does it work?
As last year, we will prepare special promotional materials for distribution by the SFD teams. In 2004 this included ISO images of a custom version of TheOpenCD and a custom version of Knoppix along with some printed materials. Due to our budget constraints we were only able to produce CD covers while the local teams did a great job of burning their own CDs and copying materials.
This year we have funding for up to 15.000 of our custom CDs shipped out to 150 teams world-wide. Be sure to sign up (http://softwarefreedomday.org/) for supplies before the July 1st deadline! In addition, other supplies (such as t-shirts and balloons) will be available, but the quantities and distribution process of these items is not yet determined.
What can I do?
The best way to participate is to start forming a SFD team and make sure you register with us http://softwarefreedomday.org/index.php?option=com_mosforms&mosform=1&am... and apply for sponsorship (http://softwarefreedomday.org/). We also need help with lots of things on the global level:
* Writing
* We would appreciate well-written articles about SFD or about FOSS in general that can be submitted to local media or distributed on the day. Form letters that can be sent to schools, businesses government organisation, etc. will also be useful.
* Material Design
* We have some artwork already, but we need designs for the SFD2005 CD labels and covers, as well as T-shirts, balloons, stickers, or even temporary tattoos! If you or your friends have some artistic inclinations feel free to pop into the SFD Forums (http://softwarefreedomday.org/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=47) to share your ideas and your work.
* Donations:
* SFD funds cover the costs of material and logistics support that we provide. Any surplus funds can be used for advertising in the week before the event. You can Donate Online http://softwarefreedomday.org/index.php?option=com_static&static file=donate.html&Itemid=51 if you would like.
http://maitri.ubuntu.com/softwarefreedomday/wiki/index.php/LaunchDoc