[Linux-aus] Software Freedom Day, Saturday, September 21st.

[Kim Hawtin]

On 12/09/13 16:09, Lev Lafayette wrote:
> So apart from Melbourne, Ballarat, Launceston, and Hobart, who else is
> hosting a Software Freedom Day event this year?

The good folks over at HackerSpace Adelaide are putting something 
together too. I'm not sure of all the details.

> And if not, why not?

in the spirit of taking this seriously, and because i've been involved 
in SFD here in Adelaide previously, some thoughts;

- finding and motivating people to be sociable to non-geeks is hard =P
- we network within out interest circles/clubs/tech groups/etc already

- finding a venue and PLI! is hard

- funding materials/printing/showbags/cds etc

- because peecees are irrelevant, the battleground for peoples minds has 
moved to the smart phone, some time ago.

- the market seems desperate for ease of use and minimal knowledge and 
skill required for the task as hand

- FLOSS isn't about dumbing down computing, its about learning and 
building skills. convincing people to learn is hard

- its not just one day, its a couple of months planning, for one day

- some of us have been more active in other mediums, had better ROI

- advertising to the wider public is about repetitive brand awareness. 
that means constantly in their face, one day isn't enough.

i don't want to be seen to be a road block, these issues need to be 
thought about and worked through. some of these things are harder than 
others. each community is different. some years you put a call out and 
get loads of volunteers, some years just a handful. in order to get a 
decent exposure you need a decent venue/location, sometimes that easy, 
sometimes not.

but seriously, information access, data retention and privacy is where 
the hearts and mind of geeks/techs/FLOSS folks seem to be concerned 
about at the moment. these issues are all too meta, the general public 
would rather stay oblivious...

regards,

kim
-- 
http://www.theskynet.org/