A pan-European DFD activity proposal

[Heiki "Repentinus" Ojasild]

Hello,

I proposed organizing a student essay competition on Free Software and
Open Standards topics.

I would like to propose organizing an essay competition for European
high school students on Free Software and Open Standards issues. This
would have several benefits: it would encourage people to think about
Free Software and Open Standards; it would expose more young people to
the issues of Free Software and Open Standards (I am of the opinion
that educational institutions would rather advertise a student essay
competition than distribute, say, FSFE leaflets); it would popularize
Free Software; we would probably get new good texts to promote Open
Standards and Free Software; if we announced the winners on the DFD
using an Open Standard, we would celebrate it in a very suitable
fashion and would further publicize the DFD.
I am now going to propose some ideas that could be developed into
topics if you agree it is a good idea.
-> What am I going to do on the DFD to advance Open Standards and
promote Free Software?/What would my ideal DFD experience be?
-> What should be done to promote Open Standards?
-> What am I going to do to ensure that my government will use open
document formats?
-> Open standards vs proprietary specifications
Should you agree that such an activity would be nice, we would have to
act pretty fast. If we wanted to announce the winners on the DFD, the
deadline for sending essays would have to be the 14th of March at the
latest and we would probably want to give people at least a month to
think and write. We would probably have to have our volunteers contact
the national ministries of education and media at least another week
in advance. Which means, that should we agree to do this, we would
have to have everything decided by the 7th of February.

Following deliberation on the df-coordination@, we have come to the
agreement that it would be better to organize a blog post competition
and we should stick to a small number of countries (like 3) this year
due tto time constraints. Thus, as I would be able to coordinate and
publicize this in Estonia, I am looking for volunteers who would be
willing to run it in two additional countries.

Furthermore, prize ideas would be welcome.

I think that as we want to popularize Free Software and Open
Standards, the prizes could be somehow related to the FSFE. The prizes
should be decided based on whether we want to primarily appeal to
students who already have an inclination for Free Software or students
who do not. If we want to encourage people who have an affinity for
Free Software to get active, then we could offer something from the
FSFE shop, a FSFE Fellowship, or a Free Software book, etc... If we
want to appeal to more students, we would probably have to offer
monetary rewards or hardware. I am not sure which group we should
target, thus prize ideas and suggestions would be welcome from other
interlocutors.

Also, any offers to participate in a jury to grade the entries would
also be appreciated.


Faithfully,
--
Heiki "Repentinus" Ojasild
<repentinus at fsfe.org>
<https://wiki.fsfe.org/Fellows/repentinus>
<http://blogs.fsfe.org/repentinus/>

[Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild]

No-one interested?

On 3 February 2012 15:18, Heiki "Repentinus" Ojasild

Post by Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild
Hello,
I proposed organizing a student essay competition on Free Software and
Open Standards topics.

I would like to propose organizing an essay competition for European
high school students on Free Software and Open Standards issues. This
would have several benefits: it would encourage people to think about
Free Software and Open Standards; it would expose more young people to
the issues of Free Software and Open Standards (I am of the opinion
that educational institutions would rather advertise a student essay
competition than distribute, say, FSFE leaflets); it would popularize
Free Software; we would probably get new good texts to promote Open
Standards and Free Software; if we announced the winners on the DFD
using an Open Standard, we would celebrate it in a very suitable
fashion and would further publicize the DFD.
I am now going to propose some ideas that could be developed into
topics if you agree it is a good idea.
-> What am I going to do on the DFD to advance Open Standards and
promote Free Software?/What would my ideal DFD experience be?
-> What should be done to promote Open Standards?
-> What am I going to do to ensure that my government will use open
document formats?
-> Open standards vs proprietary specifications
Should you agree that such an activity would be nice, we would have to
act pretty fast. If we wanted to announce the winners on the DFD, the
deadline for sending essays would have to be the 14th of March at the
latest and we would probably want to give people at least a month to
think and write. We would probably have to have our volunteers contact
the national ministries of education and media at least another week
in advance. Which means, that should we agree to do this, we would
have to have everything decided by the 7th of February.

agreement that it would be better to organize a blog post competition
and we should stick to a small number of countries (like 3) this year
due tto time constraints. Thus, as I would be able to coordinate and
publicize this in Estonia, I am looking for volunteers who would be
willing to run it in two additional countries.
Furthermore, prize ideas would be welcome.

I think that as we want to popularize Free Software and Open
Standards, the prizes could be somehow related to the FSFE. The prizes
should be decided based on whether we want to primarily appeal to
students who already have an inclination for Free Software or students
who do not. If we want to encourage people who have an affinity for
Free Software to get active, then we could offer something from the
FSFE shop, a FSFE Fellowship, or a Free Software book, etc... If we
want to appeal to more students, we would probably have to offer
monetary rewards or hardware. I am not sure which group we should
target, thus prize ideas and suggestions would be welcome from other
interlocutors.

Also, any offers to participate in a jury to grade the entries would
also be appreciated.
Faithfully,
--
Heiki "Repentinus" Ojasild
<repentinus at fsfe.org>
<https://wiki.fsfe.org/Fellows/repentinus>
<http://blogs.fsfe.org/repentinus/>

[Alessandro Polvani]

Hi Heiki,

Sorry for the late reply, I had an incredibly busy week end at FOSDEM.

Post by Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild
agreement that it would be better to organize a blog post competition
and we should stick to a small number of countries (like 3) this year
due tto time constraints. Thus, as I would be able to coordinate and
publicize this in Estonia, I am looking for volunteers who would be
willing to run it in two additional countries.

I would be glad to run it in Italy. I don't know if I will be successful
because I don't live in Italy at the moment, but I have a few contacts
in high schools. I could also contact a website proposing this kind of
initiative for students. Do you think it would be enough to spread the
voice about this initiative?

Best,

[Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild]

On 7 February 2012 10:13, Alessandro Polvani

Post by Alessandro Polvani
I would be glad to run it in Italy. I don't know if I will be successful
because I don't live in Italy at the moment, but I have a few contacts in
high schools. I could also contact a website proposing this kind of
initiative for students. Do you think it would be enough to spread the voice
about this initiative?

Basically yes. We also need a jury and one more country would still be useful.


Sincerely,

[judith]

Hello,

I think that as we want to popularize Free Software and Open

Standards, the prizes could be somehow related to the FSFE. The prizes
should be decided based on whether we want to primarily appeal to
students who already have an inclination for Free Software or

students

who do not. If we want to encourage people who have an affinity for
Free Software to get active, then we could offer something from the
FSFE shop, a FSFE Fellowship, or a Free Software book, etc... If we
want to appeal to more students, we would probably have to offer
monetary rewards or hardware. I am not sure which group we should
target, thus prize ideas and suggestions would be welcome from other
interlocutors.

What about about giving to the winner a laptop or desktop with
current freedom tools that one use in his day-today life - a freedom
box, Free Software social networks, browser and OS?

Judith Lukoki
[phone]
http://www.movingyouth.eu
http://blog.ethicalsocialnetwork.org

[judith]

Post by Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild
Hello,
I think that as we want to popularize Free Software and Open

Standards, the prizes could be somehow related to the FSFE. The

prizes

should be decided based on whether we want to primarily appeal to
students who already have an inclination for Free Software or

students

who do not. If we want to encourage people who have an affinity for
Free Software to get active, then we could offer something from the
FSFE shop, a FSFE Fellowship, or a Free Software book, etc... If we
want to appeal to more students, we would probably have to offer
monetary rewards or hardware. I am not sure which group we should
target, thus prize ideas and suggestions would be welcome from other
interlocutors.

What about about giving to the winner a laptop or desktop with
current freedom tools that one use in his day-today life - a freedom
box, Free Software social networks, browser and OS?




Judith Lukoki
[phone]
http://www.movingyouth.eu
http://blog.ethicalsocialnetwork.org

[Matthias Kirschner]

Post by judith
What about about giving to the winner a laptop or desktop with
current freedom tools that one use in his day-today life - a freedom
box, Free Software social networks, browser and OS?

This kind of hardware is a bit difficult for FSFE as a prize. Most of
the hardware relies on non-free drivers, and we would have to find
hardware that does not depend on that. I do not want to give something
to a winner, which forces him to use non-free software.

Regards,
Matthias

[Matthias Kirschner]

Post by Jelle Hermsen
You could give away Lemote Yeeloong as a prize, they are running 100%
Free Software, including the bios. I know tekmote.nl imports them in
the Netherlands.

If you have contacts to them, you can ask them if they would give that
to us as a prize or how much it would cost us.

Regards,
Matthias

[Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild]

Post by Jelle Hermsen
Hi,
Unfortunately I didn't get any response from Tekmote. I take it they're not interested, although a reply from them would have been nice.

No problem.

I am starting to believe that we should postpone this until next year
and do it right. If we wanted to, it would be possible to rush it
through, but I am of the opinion that we simply would not get the
results we are looking for, and it would be more beneficial to pick
the idea up in December 2012 to organize a grandiose competition.


Regards,

[Alessandro Polvani]

Post by Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild

Hi, Unfortunately I didn't get any response from Tekmote. I take
it they're not interested, although a reply from them would have
been nice.

No problem.
I am starting to believe that we should postpone this until next
year and do it right. If we wanted to, it would be possible to rush
it through, but I am of the opinion that we simply would not get
the results we are looking for, and it would be more beneficial to
pick the idea up in December 2012 to organize a grandiose
competition.

For my part, I was planning to start working on the competition for
Italy later today.
It seems that if we want to do it as a test we have to start with
Estonia and Italy. We still have one month before the presentation
deadline, and I think it's possible to manage it. Even if it doesn't
work, it would be nice just to have a feedback and some nice ideas to
have for next year.

If we decide to do so, we have to draft an e-mail to send to schools
and to intermediary organisations (I know a couple of them in Italy),
who could spread the voice further.
I guess this e-mail should be ready to be sent out before the end of
the week (the sooner the better).

The other step would be to define a jury. I have no clue how we could
do that.

What do you think?



- --
Alessandro Polvani [ ] <alessandro.polvani at fsfe.org>
Free Software Foundation Europe [ ][ ][ ] [http://fsfe.org]
Assistant to the President | | [phone]
Your donation powers our work! [http://fsfe.org/donate/]

Free Software Foundation Europe e.V. is a German Verein registered
at the Registergericht Hamburg (VR 17030).

[Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild]

On 14 February 2012 14:19, Alessandro Polvani

Post by Alessandro Polvani
For my part, I was planning to start working on the competition for
Italy later today.
It seems that if we want to do it as a test we have to start with
Estonia and Italy. We still have one month before the presentation
deadline, and I think it's possible to manage it. Even if it doesn't
work, it would be nice just to have a feedback and some nice ideas to
have for next year.

Well... Then we will do that.

Post by Alessandro Polvani
If we decide to do so, we have to draft an e-mail to send to schools
and to intermediary organisations (I know a couple of them in Italy),
who could spread the voice further.
I guess this e-mail should be ready to be sent out before the end of
the week (the sooner the better).

Let's draft something here: <http://etherpad.fsfe.org/pg04Sk1jUa>.

Post by Alessandro Polvani
The other step would be to define a jury. I have no clue how we could
do that.

We can either let ~5 people volunteer or we can organize a vote among
the Fellows.

[Alessandro Polvani]

Post by Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild
Let's draft something here: <http://etherpad.fsfe.org/pg04Sk1jUa>.

ok - thank you for working on this.

I have two doubts:

* the English language. This is a huge barrier at least for Italy,
where maybe the 10% of students of an average high school (excluding
schools with a focus on languages) would be able and willing to write
a blog post in English. Maybe I go wrong but that would be a huge
barrier. This does not mean that we can't do it, but that we could not
expect, in my opinion, a huge participation.

* I think we should announce the prize with the competition
announcement, to motivate people to participate without restricting
the audience on people who are already familiar with Open Standards.
So I also propose to quickly brainstorm about the prize. The Yeelong
laptop that was proposed on a previous e-mail costs $449 (340 EUR)
both on http://freedomincluded.com/ and on amazon.com


Best,

- --
Alessandro Polvani [ ] <alessandro.polvani at fsfe.org>
Free Software Foundation Europe [ ][ ][ ] [http://fsfe.org]
Assistant to the President | | [phone]
Your donation powers our work! [http://fsfe.org/donate/]

Free Software Foundation Europe e.V. is a German Verein registered
at the Registergericht Hamburg (VR 17030).

[Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild]

On 14 February 2012 15:44, Alessandro Polvani

Post by Alessandro Polvani
* the English language. This is a huge barrier at least for Italy,
where maybe the 10% of students of an average high school (excluding
schools with a focus on languages) would be able and willing to write
a blog post in English. Maybe I go wrong but that would be a huge
barrier. This does not mean that we can't do it, but that we could not
expect, in my opinion, a huge participation.

If we dropped the requirement, we would have to organize the
translation of the entries for the jury.

Post by Alessandro Polvani
* I think we should announce the prize with the competition
announcement, to motivate people to participate without restricting
the audience on people who are already familiar with Open Standards.
So I also propose to quickly brainstorm about the prize. The Yeelong
laptop that was proposed on a previous e-mail costs $449 (340 EUR)
both on http://freedomincluded.com/ and on amazon.com

I agree. I hope that Matthias can offer some insights (especially
regarding the budget) here. I like doing things that are the right
things to do, and I need no extra motivators. Thus, I probably cannot
pick the best prizes. But someone on the lists is bound to have
experience organizing contests.


Regards,

[Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild]

Our announcement draft
<http://etherpad.fsfe.org/ep/pad/view/pg04Sk1jUa/lbwQlO8ja1> is nearly
finalized. It is still waiting for the information on prizes and jury.
All sort of comments would be welcome.

[Matthias Kirschner]

Hi Heiki,

Post by Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild

Post by Alessandro Polvani
* I think we should announce the prize with the competition
announcement, to motivate people to participate without restricting
the audience on people who are already familiar with Open Standards.
So I also propose to quickly brainstorm about the prize. The Yeelong
laptop that was proposed on a previous e-mail costs $449 (340 EUR)
both on http://freedomincluded.com/ and on amazon.com

I agree. I hope that Matthias can offer some insights (especially
regarding the budget) here.

How many people do you think you can reach with this activity? If you
think you can get 10+ participants to write something 340 EUR would be
ok from the budget point.

Regards,
Matthias

[Alessandro Polvani]

Post by Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild
If we dropped the requirement, we would have to organize the
translation of the entries for the jury.

I think we can handle that by making things a bit flexible. If we
really success and we have *a lot* of posts in Italian, I could just
summarise the content of them for the jury, or organise a 2-step
selection where best posts are shortlisted and translated for the jury
(I think I can take care of that). I think that this procedure would
be far better than the one which involves accepting only posts in English.


Regards,

- --
Alessandro Polvani [ ] <alessandro.polvani at fsfe.org>
Free Software Foundation Europe [ ][ ][ ] [http://fsfe.org]
Assistant to the President | | [phone]
Your donation powers our work! [http://fsfe.org/donate/]

Free Software Foundation Europe e.V. is a German Verein registered
at the Registergericht Hamburg (VR 17030).

[Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild]

Matthias, I very much hope we can get more than 10 people to write.
Cannot make any guarantees obviously. :-(

Alessandro, we could add Italian and Estonian, but we would have to
stress that it is in the competitor's best interest to write in
English.

Does anyone have ideas on the jury? Or proposals to partake in a jury?

We are also going to need a competition at documentfreedom.org mailing
address or something like that to accept the submissions.


Cheers,

[Fabian Keil]

On Wed, 8 Feb 2012 14:40:12 +0100, discussion-bounces at fsfeurope.org

Post by Matthias Kirschner

Post by judith
What about about giving to the winner a laptop or desktop with
current freedom tools that one use in his day-today life - a freedom
box, Free Software social networks, browser and OS?

This kind of hardware is a bit difficult for FSFE as a prize. Most of
the hardware relies on non-free drivers, and we would have to find
hardware that does not depend on that. I do not want to give something
to a winner, which forces him to use non-free software.

You could give away Lemote Yeeloong as a prize, they are running 100%
Free Software, including the bios.

Quoting http://www.lemote.com/en/products/Notebook/2010/0310/112.html:

| 1) The world's first fully free software. All system source
| files(BIOS, kernel, drivers etc.) are free software, no close
| firmware needed.

Given that the BIOS is the only firmware that is explicitly
mentioned to be free software, I assume "no close firmware needed"
actually means "no non-free firmware except the pre-installed one".

If that's the case, the system might satisfy the "no non-free drivers"
requirement, but it wouldn't really be "running 100% Free Software".

Of course the other firmware could be covered by the "etc.",
but considering the specifications listed on the same URL
that seems rather unlikely to me.

Fabian
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[Ben Finney]

Fabian Keil <freebsd-listen at fabiankeil.de>

Post by Fabian Keil
| 1) The world's first fully free software. All system source
| files(BIOS, kernel, drivers etc.) are free software, no close
| firmware needed.
Given that the BIOS is the only firmware that is explicitly mentioned
to be free software, I assume "no close firmware needed" actually
means "no non-free firmware except the pre-installed one".
If that's the case, the system might satisfy the "no non-free drivers"
requirement, but it wouldn't really be "running 100% Free Software".

There is a distinction, IMO a useful one, between what is expected to
receive firmware uploaded from the operating system, versus chips that
just run whatever was burned into them and are never altered after
purchase.

Firmware that never changes after the recipient gets it may as well be
hardware, since no-one has special access to alter the behaviour of it.
It doesn't impinge on the recipient's software freedom.

Firmware loaded from the OS is software that the vendor controls, and
the user deserves that same freedom.

The useful distinguishing question to keep in mind is: Does anyone have
special access to alter the behaviour of this device after it changes
hands? If so, the nominal owner of the device must have at least that
much access also in order to have sufficient software freedom.
--
\ ?If you do not trust the source do not use this program.? |
`\ ?Microsoft Vista security dialogue |
_o__) |
Ben Finney
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[Fabian Keil]

Post by Ben Finney
Fabian Keil <freebsd-listen at fabiankeil.de>

Post by Fabian Keil
| 1) The world's first fully free software. All system source
| files(BIOS, kernel, drivers etc.) are free software, no close
| firmware needed.
Given that the BIOS is the only firmware that is explicitly mentioned
to be free software, I assume "no close firmware needed" actually
means "no non-free firmware except the pre-installed one".
If that's the case, the system might satisfy the "no non-free drivers"
requirement, but it wouldn't really be "running 100% Free Software".

There is a distinction, IMO a useful one, between what is expected to
receive firmware uploaded from the operating system, versus chips that
just run whatever was burned into them and are never altered after
purchase.
Firmware that never changes after the recipient gets it may as well be
hardware, since no-one has special access to alter the behaviour of it.

Usually the main reason that the device firmware in a laptop doesn't
change after the recipient gets it, is that the vendor has no financial
interest to provide updates free of charge.

For most devices there is no sufficient demand for paid firmware
updates. Even if updates already exist the vendor may prefer to
only sell them bundled with new laptops.

Post by Ben Finney
It doesn't impinge on the recipient's software freedom.

I disagree.

Post by Ben Finney
Firmware loaded from the OS is software that the vendor controls, and
the user deserves that same freedom.

If the vendor isn't able to modify the firmware loaded from the
operating system behind the user's back, the vendor loses control
over the firmware when it is passed to the user, just as if the
firmware was stored on the device from the beginning.

Proprietary firmware the operating system has to upload
on the device for the device to become functional may be
more visible than proprietary firmware already stored on
the device, but that doesn't mean the latter doesn't exist.

Post by Ben Finney
The useful distinguishing question to keep in mind is: Does anyone have
special access to alter the behaviour of this device after it changes
hands? If so, the nominal owner of the device must have at least that
much access also in order to have sufficient software freedom.

How does your definition of "sufficient software freedom"
differ from the one used by the FSFE?
http://fsfe.org/about/basics/freesoftware.en.html

Fabian
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[judith]

I do not want to give something to a winner, which forces him to
use non-free software.

You are right.

What about putting his definition on the preface or the spine of a
book about Free Sofware history and philosophy?


Judith Lukoki
[phone]
http://www.movingyouth.eu
http://blog.ethicalsocialnetwork.org

[Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild]

Dear Judith,

?I do not want to give something to a winner, which forces him to
use non-free software.
You are right.
What about putting his definition on the preface or the spine of a
book about Free Sofware history and philosophy?

That would be an excellent idea. However, is FSFE involved in any
publishing activities? I do have a Stallman's book with the FSFE logo
on it, but I have never seen any FSFE sponsored books in the FSFE
shop. It is an excellent idea, but it might not be achievable. If it
were, I would be all for it.


Sincerely,

[Matthias Kirschner]

However, is FSFE involved in any publishing activities?

No, at the moment we do not publish books.

Regards,
Matthias

[Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild]

Dear discussants,

Can I find one more volunteer to run it in another country?

Also, as not many people seem to be interested in running it,
suggestions on how to best judge the entries would be welcome. I would
prefer a jury but we may have to resort to a popular vote among the
Fellows or something.


Faithfully,

[Jelle Hermsen]

You could give away Lemote Yeeloong as a prize, they are running 100% Free Software, including the bios. I know tekmote.nl imports them in the Netherlands.

Just a thought :)

Cheers,
Jelle

Post by Matthias Kirschner

Post by judith
What about about giving to the winner a laptop or desktop with
current freedom tools that one use in his day-today life - a freedom
box, Free Software social networks, browser and OS?

This kind of hardware is a bit difficult for FSFE as a prize. Most of
the hardware relies on non-free drivers, and we would have to find
hardware that does not depend on that. I do not want to give something
to a winner, which forces him to use non-free software.
Regards,
Matthias
--
Matthias Kirschner - FSFE - Fellowship Coordinator, German Coordinator
FSFE, Linienstr. 141, 10115 Berlin, t [phone] [phone]
Free Software is important to you? Join today! (fsfe.org/join)
Weblog (blogs.fsfe.org/mk) - Contact (fsfe.org/about/kirschner)
_______________________________________________
Discussion mailing list
Discussion at fsfeurope.org
https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion

[Jelle Hermsen]

I will contact them, and ask if they would like to sponsor a YeeLoong. To be continued...

Jelle

Post by Matthias Kirschner

Post by Jelle Hermsen
You could give away Lemote Yeeloong as a prize, they are running 100%
Free Software, including the bios.

If you have contacts to them, you can ask them if they would give that
to us as a prize or how much it would cost us.
Regards,
Matthias

[Jelle Hermsen]

Hi,
Unfortunately I didn't get any response from Tekmote. I take it they're not interested, although a reply from them would have been nice.

Cheers,
Jelle

Post by Matthias Kirschner
If you have contacts to them, you can ask them if they would give that
to us as a prize or how much it would cost us.

[Jelle Hermsen]

If it's good enough for RMS... :)

Post by Fabian Keil
Given that the BIOS is the only firmware that is explicitly
mentioned to be free software, I assume "no close firmware needed"
actually means "no non-free firmware except the pre-installed one".
If that's the case, the system might satisfy the "no non-free drivers"
requirement, but it wouldn't really be "running 100% Free Software".
Of course the other firmware could be covered by the "etc.",
but considering the specifications listed on the same URL
that seems rather unlikely to me.
Fabian

[Jelle Hermsen]

Hi,
I read it and like it. The goals and objectives are easy to grasp and described well.

Regarding the license at the bottom I would suggest replacing "laxer" with "more permissive". I think that's the common way to describe a more liberal license.

And personally I would like to see the removal of the following paragraph, although I do understand why it's there:
"The entries need not agree with all the positions of the FSFE; however, as we have our own agenda, your entry should be favourable to Free Software and Open Standards."

I would really like to read entries that are not favorable to FS and Open Standards. It could be an opportunity to learn from and I think it's always interesting to avoid group think now and then, just to keep your thoughts fresh and your reasoning sound.

Cheers,
Jelle

Post by Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild
Our announcement draft
<http://etherpad.fsfe.org/ep/pad/view/pg04Sk1jUa/lbwQlO8ja1> is nearly
finalized. It is still waiting for the information on prizes and jury.
All sort of comments would be welcome.
--
Heiki "Repentinus" Ojasild
<repentinus at fsfe.org>
<https://wiki.fsfe.org/Fellows/repentinus>
<http://blogs.fsfe.org/repentinus/>
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[Torsten Grote]

Post by Jelle Hermsen
Regarding the license at the bottom I would suggest replacing "laxer" with
"more permissive". I think that's the common way to describe a more
liberal license.

I disagree. Calling it "more permissive" might lead to the conclusion that
copyleft licenses are not giving you enough permissions while instead they
just require you to pass on the freedoms that you received.

Torsten
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[Matthias Kirschner]

Post by Jelle Hermsen
I'm not debating what would actually be the best wording, just the
most common and therefore easiest to understand.

Yes, it is quite common today, but it also is the easiest to
_mis_understand.

Regards,
Matthias

[Jelle Hermsen]

I'm not debating what would actually be the best wording, just the most common and therefore easiest to understand.

But in case I would want to discuss, I would be a huge bore, because I agree with you :)

Cheers,
Jelle

Post by Torsten Grote
I disagree. Calling it "more permissive" might lead to the conclusion that
copyleft licenses are not giving you enough permissions while instead they
just require you to pass on the freedoms that you received.
Torsten

[Jelle Hermsen]

Post by Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild
Does anyone have ideas on the jury? Or proposals to partake in a jury?

I would love to partake in such a jury, but I do see the language of the essays might become an issue. I can read Dutch, English, German and a bit of French, anything else (beside some dead languages :) is off limits for me.

Heiki mentioned this in an e-mail on 9 Feb:
"Also, as not many people seem to be interested in running it,
suggestions on how to best judge the entries would be welcome. I would
prefer a jury but we may have to resort to a popular vote among the
Fellows or something."

If we have to resort to non-english entries a combination of these suggestions might be easiest, just like Alessandro mentioned but then with the option of replacing the jury with a vote. Anyway, if you decide to go with a jury, count me in!

If I had more time I would have offered to run a part of this contest in the Netherlands, but from experience I've had as a math teacher intern, I know it would take me much more time to get this up and running. Things tend to move slow and extremely bureaucratic in most Dutch schools.

Cheers,
Jelle

[Matthias Kirschner]

Dear all,

Post by Heiki &quot;Repentinus&quot; Ojasild
I proposed organizing a student essay competition on Free Software and
Open Standards topics.

[...]

Yesterday and today I spoke with Heiki and Alessandro about the idea for
the short essay competition. I very much like the idea to get students
involved in Document Freedom Day, and get them to think about how to
save their documents.

After some considerations about the activity Heiki, Alessandro, and I
now agreed that we will not do this activity for this year, but that we
will do it for next years DFD. Heiki will work together with the
education team to think about how to best approach the students for the
contest, what kind of reward?would be appealing to them, how we measure
who is the winner, ...

We will do this with more time in advance, like starting with it already
in September to get many students and teachers involved in this.

So we already have a very good idea for next year!

Best Regards,
Matthias