[Linux-aus] Linux Australia values statement

[Russell Coker]

On Wed, 6 Apr 2011, Mike Carden <mike.carden at gmail.com> wrote:
> Open Technology
> 
> The foundations of Linux Australia are in all facets of open
> technology. By this we mean openness in source code, standards,
> formats, licences and APIs. Whether for software sources, documents,
> hardware designs, images, works of art etc, we value the use of open
> licenses to promote the creative reuse of intellectual effort.
> 
> Open source makes code available to everyone to study, modify,
> repurpose and redistribute. We value the innovation made possible by
> the sharing of openly licensed intellectual effort.

I'd like to see a mention of Creative Commons licenses.  I think that the 
values should encompass more than just software.  If nothing else there have 
been issues in the past with documentation licenses not being as free as 
software licenses so this is an important issue.

Also I think that some statement regarding patents might be useful.  It's not 
something that I would normally suggest for an organisation such as LA, but 
given the direction that you are taking it seems to fit.
 
> Freedom
> 
> We value freedom in the use and development of open technologies. This
> encompasses freedom of expression within accepted community norms,
> though not the freedom to behave in a manner disrespectful to others.
> 
> We value the freedom to license intellectual property via any license
> an author chooses, and we strongly encourage the use of open licenses.
> 
> Within legal bounds, we value the free sharing and repurposing of
> information, in particular that information held by the public sector.

Is LA limited in scope to Australia?  We have had some LCAs in NZ which seems 
to indicate a slightly broader scope.

If LA is to be focused on Australia then I think that a stronger statement 
about free formats for documentation from the public sector would be good.  
There is a heap of data on the abs.gov.au site that is in non-free formats 
which decreases it's usefulness to people who don't use MS-Windows as well as 
to people who use MS-Windows in 10 years time.

> Diversity
> 
> People of all ages, genders, nationalities, ethnicities, backgrounds,
> abilities and walks of life are part of the communities we serve. We
> respect and encourage diversity at our conferences, events, and other
> activities.

http://www.dreamwidth.org/legal/diversity

Maybe citing Dreamwidth would be a good idea.  They seem to have written a 
better diversity standard than anyone else.

-- 
My Main Blog         http://etbe.coker.com.au/
My Documents Blog    http://doc.coker.com.au/