[Linux-aus] Request for Grant from Linux Australia for Ubertweak

[Sridhar Dhanapalan]

On Wednesday 13 September 2006 00:23, Pia Waugh <greebo at pipka.org> wrote:
> <quote who="Tim Ansell">
> > I have to admit that as a non-Christian this makes me a little uneasy.
> > I thank you for being open enough to clearly mention in the proposal
> > that you are a Christan camp.
>
> I personally feel that seeing this as a Christian camp that also happens to
> teach FOSS, that if LA were to support them to do the FOSS bit
> specifically, then that could be acceptable. I mean we support all kinds of
> groups to do great things, and not supporting this because it also happens
> to be a religious event (and explicitly mentioned, which means the people
> attending are wanting to attend a Christian event) seems a great waste.
>
> I feel the other activities of the camp are not a reason to not support
> this grant. I would however like to see a broader benefit to our community
> out of a grant to support it. For instance, most grants have some knock on
> benefit to our broader community, be it access to slides, video,
> documentation, code or whatever. What if LA supported the event with the
> expectation that there was some posters, or logos, or code developed that
> comes back to the community? Or what if the attendees were educated about
> the community, and hopefully then we (the community) could get more new
> participation in FOSS? I think that LA supporting the FOSS bits is
> acceptable, and I agree that LA should never endorse a specific religion.
> We don't endorse specific companies or distributions for similar reasons.
>
> These are my personal views and not representative of the LA ctte which is
> waiting for community feedback on this to make a decision.
>
> This is still open for discussion by the community. What do others think?

Well said, Pia. If LA were to support such an event, it should be made clear 
that the aid is for the FLOSS portion only. Support can come in other forms 
than money, for example printed materials, CDs and volunteer assistance. LA's 
part should be made prominent somehow, through posters, handouts and so on. 
The Australian FLOSS community needs to gain something from this. Continued 
community participation would be excellent. Kids can be taught that there are 
many learning and employment opportunities in FLOSS.

> PS - I am not a Christian either :)

Nether am I :)

-- 
Sridhar Dhanapalan
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"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths and how many, what day it's 
gonna happen? It's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on 
something like that?" - Barbara Bush on ABC/Good Morning America, 2003-03-18
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