From psema4 at gmail.com Wed May 6 12:19:49 2009 From: psema4 at gmail.com (Scott Elcomb) Date: Wed May 6 12:18:19 2009 Subject: [discuss] Canada's Open Source Ranking Message-ID: <99a6c38f0905060919m70f85cb7j8b1765cb7525cd9@mail.gmail.com> Michael Geist has posted an interesting article on a new ranking system (from Georgia Tech and Red Hat) about FOSS penetration in 75 countries around the world. According to their data, Canada has some work to do: Overall: 28 Government: 34 Industry: 17 Community: 16 I've been looking for statistics like these for several years - worth a look IMO. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3934/125/ http://www.redhat.com/about/where-is-open-source/activity/ -- Scott Elcomb http://www.psema4.com/ @psema4 From magicfab at member.fsf.org Fri May 8 01:52:05 2009 From: magicfab at member.fsf.org (Fabian Rodriguez) Date: Fri May 8 01:50:33 2009 Subject: [discuss] Canada's Open Source Ranking In-Reply-To: <99a6c38f0905060919m70f85cb7j8b1765cb7525cd9@mail.gmail.com> References: <99a6c38f0905060919m70f85cb7j8b1765cb7525cd9@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4A03C885.8040905@member.fsf.org> Scott Elcomb wrote: > Michael Geist Is CLUE so dead no one would answer such a message in 3 days ??? From cfaj at freeshell.org Fri May 8 03:11:11 2009 From: cfaj at freeshell.org (Chris F.A. Johnson) Date: Fri May 8 03:10:02 2009 Subject: [discuss] Canada's Open Source Ranking In-Reply-To: <4A03C885.8040905@member.fsf.org> References: <99a6c38f0905060919m70f85cb7j8b1765cb7525cd9@mail.gmail.com> <4A03C885.8040905@member.fsf.org> Message-ID: On Fri, 8 May 2009, Fabian Rodriguez wrote: > Scott Elcomb wrote: > > Michael Geist > > Is CLUE so dead no one would answer such a message in 3 days ??? Why does it need an answer? -- Chris F.A. Johnson, webmaster =================================================================== Author: Shell Scripting Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (2005, Apress) From matt at starnix.com Fri May 8 11:03:28 2009 From: matt at starnix.com (G. Matthew Rice) Date: Fri May 8 10:44:52 2009 Subject: CLUE is dead. Long live CLUE. [was Re: [discuss] Canada's Open Source Ranking] In-Reply-To: <4A03C885.8040905@member.fsf.org> References: <99a6c38f0905060919m70f85cb7j8b1765cb7525cd9@mail.gmail.com> <4A03C885.8040905@member.fsf.org> Message-ID: Fabian Rodriguez writes: > Scott Elcomb wrote: > > Michael Geist > > Is CLUE so dead no one would answer such a message in 3 days ??? Well, I personally take all stats with a grain of salt. Here's a fave book of mine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Lie_with_Statistics Not that I think that there's any intentional misleading. That said, CLUE may appear dead but there are moves afoot behind the scenes to revive it. We're working on the "Adopt an NGO" programme (which I expect will launch by/on ON LinuxFest). It's been renamed FOSSter, being opened up to anyone that wants to be a volunteer or voluntee (is that a word), but you can get a sense of what it is from: http://www.cluecan.ca/pipermail/adopt/2004-March/000019.html Yes, it's been 5 years since we thought of the idea. Time flies when you're raising kids. ;) Also, I'm working on a partnership with another Canadian (yet global) FOSS centric org which should help with sustainability and focus (fingers crossed there). We're going through a by-law restructuring, too, to clean up how board members get elected and to facilitate a better membership programme. PS - If anyone wants to put in their two cents or get more active in the planning, I can share the gDocs that we're working through. Someone's making some changes to the by-laws this weekend and we're going to be sharing the draft revisions for comment early next week. Major things that have to be addressed in the revision: - formation of the board We're thinking 2-3 permanent directors (depts of talking, walking and, maybe member services/fundraising) and 4-5 elected members (they will likely pick replacement permanent directors)...which leads to ... - clearer definition of a member Both voting and non-voting members We're going to have to bootstrap the first board to get it from the current 3 members to the 7. So, if anyone is interested and able to be a board member (able also means willing to volunteer to help get things moving ;)), please contact me privately. Otherwise, we'll be approaching (and have already) people in the community. Regards, -- g. matthew rice starnix care, toronto, ontario, ca phone: 647.722.5301 x242 gpg id: EF9AAD20 http://www.starnix.com professional linux services & products From cmacd at zeusprune.ca Fri May 8 19:42:07 2009 From: cmacd at zeusprune.ca (Charles MacDonald) Date: Fri May 8 19:40:31 2009 Subject: [discuss] Canada's Open Source Ranking In-Reply-To: <4A03C885.8040905@member.fsf.org> References: <99a6c38f0905060919m70f85cb7j8b1765cb7525cd9@mail.gmail.com> <4A03C885.8040905@member.fsf.org> Message-ID: <4A04C34F.2060600@zeusprune.ca> Fabian Rodriguez wrote: > Scott Elcomb wrote: >> Michael Geist > > Is CLUE so dead no one would answer such a message in 3 days ??? Folks only tend to make a reply when what they see seems to be in the form of a question. What did you want to know ? -- Charles MacDonald Stittsville Ontario cmacd@zeusprune.ca Just Beyond the Fringe http://www.TelecomOttawa.net/~cmacd/ No Microsoft Products were used in sending this e-mail. From bill3 at uniserve.com Mon May 11 22:18:03 2009 From: bill3 at uniserve.com (Bill) Date: Mon May 11 22:16:22 2009 Subject: [discuss] Canada's Open Source Ranking Message-ID: <1242094683.14805.11.camel@localhost.localdomain> On Vanlug we've recently had a small thread about the Red Hat survey and why there's such an EU gravity well. Then one of our newer members recently arrived from France weighed in. By comparison we have a very long way to go to ramp up FLOSS adoption in this country. I thought this would be an appropriate place to re-post a section from that email - with apologies to Anthony Petitbois. b. Now let's give you some facts about Linux adoption in France. We have some strong societies to advocate and lobby for Open Source adoption. We also have a central source of news which is known as Da Linux French Page (http://dlfp.org) - This site is maintained by the community to share about news and events accross the country. If you can read french, you can also check the french society called Toulibre (http://www.toulibre.org) and read at the first page. They not only display their statement but also some real information on what they do, why and how. If you go the VanLug's home page... You find nothing else than most recent event for the LUG, not for the community. One important thing about adoption is conferences. There are conferences every week about opensource somewhere in France. And these conferences are not technical ones, they intend to target a large audience on regular FOSS. What is currently being used by Government over there in France ? The first adopter was the French Gendarmerie (equivalent to RCMP). They started by managing their inventory with OCS Inventory and now they took leadership on this project. But that's not all. We have the April ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_(French_association)) that managed to show them they could replace MS Office by OpenOffice and still run their windows boxes. That was the first major migration. Then we had the French Assembly moving a few years later to OpenOffice too, all for economic reasons as well as interoperabiilty and the fact they could do the same with OpenOffice as they used to do with MS Office. No advocacy for GNU/Linux here, just simple facts: it's free as in free beer, it's free as in free speech and as good as MS Office. So what happened recently ? To reduce costs, they moved to GNU/Linux as they didn't need Windows anymore on most workstations. How did it happen ? Still the same techniques ... You can do the same things for free (as in both free). Now let's talk about the events that are run by the LUGs (yes even if we all say GNU/Linux, we also say LUG not GLUG ;)) - Conferences on the Gimp - Conferences on Gnome/KDE - Conferences on OpenOffice - Conferences on Firefox - Conferences on OCS Inventory - Conferences on Asteriks - Install Party's (they also include the what to do once it's installed part) They also do lots of presentations like : OpenSource Software for educationnal environment. As you can see these conferences are not targeted to techies/geeks but more to everyday people trying to get rid of the crap they have. Word of mouth is also a key element here. Helping schools by giving them free computers with GNU/Linux installed and training them, all that for free. We also have association on promotion of free software by giving a list of what could replace your proprietary software (http://framasoft.net). So, this is all about community, but giving back to everyone and not only tech savvy people. So, if you want to promote GNU/Linux, the first few things to do is : - Having a website that can help people to know what GNU/Linux is, what we/you do to promote it, next events, recent news. - Doing some events on FOSS and not only on GNU/Linux or Techy topics (if you want people to adopt FOSS, don't talk about asteriks but talk about OpenOffice or The Gimp or Media management software - amarok, banshee, vlc, etc...) - Organize your events where non tech people will come (not in burnaby but more at UBC or any downtown campus with business schools etc... Invite people from various crown corp - governmental like VPD, Hydro, Translink etc...) - Install partys with various kinds of distribs for various audiences (Ubuntu, Medibuntu, Fedora, Suse, etc.. avoid debian as it will only target tech savvy people and they already know how to do it...) From matt at starnix.com Tue May 12 15:19:01 2009 From: matt at starnix.com (G. Matthew Rice) Date: Tue May 12 15:00:03 2009 Subject: [discuss] Canada's Open Source Ranking In-Reply-To: <1242094683.14805.11.camel@localhost.localdomain> References: <1242094683.14805.11.camel@localhost.localdomain> Message-ID: Bill writes: > On Vanlug we've recently had a small thread about the Red Hat > survey and why there's such an EU gravity well. Then one of our > newer members recently arrived from France weighed in. By > comparison we have a very long way to go to ramp up FLOSS > adoption in this country. I thought this would be an > appropriate place to re-post a section from that email - > with apologies to Anthony Petitbois. Excellent post and ideas. Thanks for forwarding this, Bill. Regards, --matt > > b. > > > Now let's give you some facts about Linux adoption in France. We have > some strong societies to advocate and lobby for Open Source adoption. We > also have a central source of news which is known as Da Linux French > Page (http://dlfp.org) - This site is maintained by the community to > share about news and events accross the country. > > If you can read french, you can also check the french society called > Toulibre (http://www.toulibre.org) and read at the first page. They not > only display their statement but also some real information on what they > do, why and how. If you go the VanLug's home page... You find nothing > else than most recent event for the LUG, not for the community. > > One important thing about adoption is conferences. There are conferences > every week about opensource somewhere in France. And these conferences > are not technical ones, they intend to target a large audience on > regular FOSS. > > What is currently being used by Government over there in France ? The > first adopter was the French Gendarmerie (equivalent to RCMP). They > started by managing their inventory with OCS Inventory and now they took > leadership on this project. But that's not all. We have the April ( > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_(French_association)) that managed to > show them they could replace MS Office by OpenOffice and still run their > windows boxes. That was the first major migration. Then we had the > French Assembly moving a few years later to OpenOffice too, all for > economic reasons as well as interoperabiilty and the fact they could do > the same with OpenOffice as they used to do with MS Office. > > No advocacy for GNU/Linux here, just simple facts: it's free as in free > beer, it's free as in free speech and as good as MS Office. > > So what happened recently ? To reduce costs, they moved to GNU/Linux as > they didn't need Windows anymore on most workstations. > > How did it happen ? Still the same techniques ... You can do the same > things for free (as in both free). > > Now let's talk about the events that are run by the LUGs (yes even if we > all say GNU/Linux, we also say LUG not GLUG ;)) > - Conferences on the Gimp > - Conferences on Gnome/KDE > - Conferences on OpenOffice > - Conferences on Firefox > - Conferences on OCS Inventory > - Conferences on Asteriks > - Install Party's (they also include the what to do once it's installed > part) > > > They also do lots of presentations like : OpenSource Software for > educationnal environment. As you can see these conferences are not > targeted to techies/geeks but more to everyday people trying to get rid > of the crap they have. Word of mouth is also a key element here. > > Helping schools by giving them free computers with GNU/Linux installed > and training them, all that for free. > > We also have association on promotion of free software by giving a list > of what could replace your proprietary software (http://framasoft.net). > > So, this is all about community, but giving back to everyone and not > only tech savvy people. > > So, if you want to promote GNU/Linux, the first few things to do is : > - Having a website that can help people to know what GNU/Linux is, what > we/you do to promote it, next events, recent news. > - Doing some events on FOSS and not only on GNU/Linux or Techy topics > (if you want people to adopt FOSS, don't talk about asteriks but talk > about OpenOffice or The Gimp or Media management software - amarok, > banshee, vlc, etc...) > - Organize your events where non tech people will come (not in burnaby > but more at UBC or any downtown campus with business schools etc... > Invite people from various crown corp - governmental like VPD, Hydro, > Translink etc...) > - Install partys with various kinds of distribs for various audiences > (Ubuntu, Medibuntu, Fedora, Suse, etc.. avoid debian as it will only > target tech savvy people and they already know how to do it...) > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > discuss mailing list > discuss@cluecan.ca > http://www.linux.ca/mailman/listinfo/discuss > -- g. matthew rice starnix care, toronto, ontario, ca phone: 647.722.5301 x242 gpg id: EF9AAD20 http://www.starnix.com professional linux services & products From psema4 at gmail.com Fri May 22 00:03:00 2009 From: psema4 at gmail.com (Scott Elcomb) Date: Fri May 22 00:00:53 2009 Subject: [discuss] Video from FOSSLC's SummerCamp 2009 Message-ID: <99a6c38f0905212103q15780430t150ef11b545317aa@mail.gmail.com> I just ran across video and slides from SummerCamp 2009; thought others might find them interesting as well. Topics include: * Copyright and Open Source * A survey of Free and Open source accounting and ERP systems * Geospatial panel discussion * Open Source Geospatial Business Intelligence in action * NetBSD - The project, the code, the people. * To Wiki or not to Wiki? Why not TikiWiki - More than a Wiki * Open Source Game Development * Introduction to Git and GitHub * Introduction to OpenStreetMap http://www.fosslc.org/drupal/videos -- Scott Elcomb http://www.psema4.com/ @psema4 From denver at ossguy.com Fri May 22 08:11:48 2009 From: denver at ossguy.com (Denver Gingerich) Date: Fri May 22 08:09:41 2009 Subject: [discuss] Video from FOSSLC's SummerCamp 2009 In-Reply-To: <99a6c38f0905212103q15780430t150ef11b545317aa@mail.gmail.com> References: <99a6c38f0905212103q15780430t150ef11b545317aa@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <6defe8840905220511u2e5f23aere7a0a970e6804e6c@mail.gmail.com> On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 12:03 AM, Scott Elcomb wrote: > I just ran across video and slides from SummerCamp 2009; thought > others might find them interesting as well. Topics include: > > ?* Copyright and Open Source > ?* A survey of Free and Open source accounting and ERP systems > ?* Geospatial panel discussion > ?* Open Source Geospatial Business Intelligence in action > ?* NetBSD - The project, the code, the people. > ?* To Wiki or not to Wiki? Why not TikiWiki - More than a Wiki > ?* Open Source Game Development > ?* Introduction to Git and GitHub > ?* Introduction to OpenStreetMap > > http://www.fosslc.org/drupal/videos They're still working on adding all the talks to that page. In the meantime, you can see all the videos here: http://hosting3.epresence.tv/fosslc/ The videos from Summercamp 2009 start at the bottom of that page (with "At a Level Crossing - FOSS Licensing Best Practices in the post Jacobsen v. Katzer era") and end on page 5 (with "Git and GitHub"). I presented one of the talks at Summercamp 2009, entitled "DVDs, MP3s, YouTube, and other hindrances to free software". I've posted the original slides (in HTML) and videos in Ogg Theora and Vorbis on my blog: http://ossguy.com/?p=365 The HD (1440x1080) version of the talk has enough clarity for you to see the slide text. The ePresence page misses some slide transitions so it is somewhat less useful. It is also Flash-encumbered. If you have any questions about my talk, please let me know. I would be happy to discuss them. Denver http://ossguy.com/ From hub at figuiere.net Fri May 22 13:16:59 2009 From: hub at figuiere.net (Hubert Figuiere) Date: Fri May 22 13:14:48 2009 Subject: [discuss] Video from FOSSLC's SummerCamp 2009 In-Reply-To: <99a6c38f0905212103q15780430t150ef11b545317aa@mail.gmail.com> References: <99a6c38f0905212103q15780430t150ef11b545317aa@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4A16DE0B.4040609@figuiere.net> On 05/22/2009 12:03 AM, Scott Elcomb wrote: > I just ran across video and slides from SummerCamp 2009; thought > others might find them interesting as well. Topics include: > > * Copyright and Open Source > * A survey of Free and Open source accounting and ERP systems > * Geospatial panel discussion > * Open Source Geospatial Business Intelligence in action > * NetBSD - The project, the code, the people. > * To Wiki or not to Wiki? Why not TikiWiki - More than a Wiki > * Open Source Game Development > * Introduction to Git and GitHub > * Introduction to OpenStreetMap > > http://www.fosslc.org/drupal/videos > Too bad the video require non-free software to view. Hub From evan at telly.org Fri May 22 19:49:16 2009 From: evan at telly.org (Evan Leibovitch) Date: Fri May 22 19:47:07 2009 Subject: [discuss] City of Vancouver embraces open data, standards and source Message-ID: <4A1739FC.3030703@telly.org> http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/05/22/tech-vancouver-open-source-standards-software-city.html Interesting stuff. Is anyone in VanLUG taking credit for this? :-) - Evan From cfaj at freeshell.org Fri May 22 20:16:16 2009 From: cfaj at freeshell.org (Chris F.A. Johnson) Date: Fri May 22 20:14:05 2009 Subject: [discuss] City of Vancouver embraces open data, standards and source In-Reply-To: <4A1739FC.3030703@telly.org> References: <4A1739FC.3030703@telly.org> Message-ID: On Fri, 22 May 2009, Evan Leibovitch wrote: > http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/05/22/tech-vancouver-open-source-standards-software-city.html I forwarded the first paragraph and the link to my city councillor, asking whether she would support (or even push for) a similar policy in Toronto. -- Chris F.A. Johnson, webmaster =================================================================== Author: Shell Scripting Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (2005, Apress) From kees at ualberta.ca Fri May 22 20:21:06 2009 From: kees at ualberta.ca (Kees denHartigh) Date: Fri May 22 20:19:43 2009 Subject: [discuss] City of Vancouver embraces open data, standards and source In-Reply-To: References: <4A1739FC.3030703@telly.org> Message-ID: <4A174172.3000700@ualberta.ca> I tweeted this on my community twitter account http://www.twitter.com/Crestwood which is being followed by several city of Edmonton's twitter accounts. Chris F.A. Johnson wrote: > On Fri, 22 May 2009, Evan Leibovitch wrote: > > >> http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/05/22/tech-vancouver-open-source-standards-software-city.html >> > > I forwarded the first paragraph and the link to my city > councillor, asking whether she would support (or even push for) a > similar policy in Toronto. > > -- "This communication is intended for the use of the recipient to which it is addressed, and may contain confidential, personal, and/or privileged information. Please contact us immediately if you are not the intended recipient of this communication. If you are not the intended recipient of this communication, do not copy, distribute, or take action on it. Any communication received in error, or subsequent reply, should be deleted or destroyed." -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: kees.vcf Type: text/x-vcard Size: 932 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.cluecan.ca/pipermail/discuss/attachments/20090522/c43bc312/kees.vcf From bill3 at uniserve.com Fri May 22 21:11:43 2009 From: bill3 at uniserve.com (Bill) Date: Fri May 22 21:09:34 2009 Subject: [discuss] City of Vancouver embraces open data, standards and source In-Reply-To: <4A1739FC.3030703@telly.org> References: <4A1739FC.3030703@telly.org> Message-ID: <1243041103.3715.599.camel@localhost.localdomain> On Fri, 2009-22-05 at 19:49 -0400, Evan Leibovitch wrote: > http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/05/22/tech-vancouver-open-source-standards-software-city.html > > Interesting stuff. Is anyone in VanLUG taking credit for this? :-) > Not credit exactly but we were involved and did present comments in support of the motion. You can see the motion being read into the record by Councillor Reimer here. Other video may follow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX0y-GsBTO8 You may wish to pass it along to your own councillors. b. From bjonkman at sobac.com Sat May 23 19:30:14 2009 From: bjonkman at sobac.com (Bob Jonkman) Date: Sat May 23 19:28:21 2009 Subject: [discuss] City of Vancouver embraces open data, standards and source In-Reply-To: References: <4A1739FC.3030703@telly.org> Message-ID: <4A188706.5070904@sobac.com> Chris F.A. Johnson wrote: > On Fri, 22 May 2009, Evan Leibovitch wrote: > >> http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/05/22/tech-vancouver-open-source-standards-software-city.html > > I forwarded the first paragraph and the link to my city > councillor, asking whether she would support (or even push for) a > similar policy in Toronto. Allegedly, the City of Toronto has already endorsed open standards. At the Mesh09 conference on 7 & 8 April 2009, Toronto mayor David Miller gave a keynote in which he claimed that Toronto would be endorsing open standards. He gave a URL for further info, but as of today it is still "Under Construction": http://www.toronto.ca/open/ Sadly, the Mesh09 conference video and other media appears to be locked into proprietary Flash files, and I have not found Mayor Miller's speech online. A snippet of Mayor Miller's speech can be heard on Steven Paikin's podcast of 30 April 2009, at about the 40 minute mark: Video: http://feeds.tvo.org/~r/tvo/TxZN/~3/Y8_npo6kSzA/TAWSP_Dbt_20090430_779502_0_320x240_304k.mp4 Audio only: http://feeds.tvo.org/~r/TheAgendaWithStevePaikin/~3/0YGWeFvIk-A/TAWSP_Dbt_20090430_779502_0_0x0_40k.mp3 Other TVO podcasts at http://www.tvo.org/TVO/WebObjects/TVO.woa#footer_nav2 --Bob. -- Bob Jonkman http://sobac.com/sobac/ SOBAC Microcomputer Services Voice: +1-519-669-0388 6 James Street, Elmira ON Canada N3B 1L5 Cel: +1-519-635-9413 Software --- Office & Business Automation --- Consulting From hub at figuiere.net Sat May 23 19:38:38 2009 From: hub at figuiere.net (Hubert Figuiere) Date: Sat May 23 19:36:24 2009 Subject: [discuss] City of Vancouver embraces open data, standards and source In-Reply-To: <4A188706.5070904@sobac.com> References: <4A1739FC.3030703@telly.org> <4A188706.5070904@sobac.com> Message-ID: <4A1888FE.2090800@figuiere.net> On 05/23/2009 07:30 PM, Bob Jonkman wrote: > > Sadly, the Mesh09 conference video and other media appears to be locked > into proprietary Flash files, and I have not found Mayor Miller's speech > online. Maybe a start would be to request the open standard-embracing city a version of these file in an open format (or setup something so that they can provide them) ? Just a thought, as my city, like the rest of the province[1], seems to be a Microsoft subsidiary. Hub [1] try to submit quebec taxes online without Windows or without paying for a software that won't run on Linux. From bill3 at uniserve.com Sun May 24 01:45:28 2009 From: bill3 at uniserve.com (Bill) Date: Sun May 24 01:50:02 2009 Subject: [discuss] more news on Open Data, Open standards. Open Source Message-ID: <1243143928.3715.687.camel@localhost.localdomain> Hi folks, For those following the Vancouver Open Data, Open Standards and Open Source initiative, here are a couple of more links to news stories that were written after the motion was passed. b. http://tinyurl.com/ODOSOS-geo-strt-news-may22 http://tinyurl.com/OD-OS-OS-cbc-news-may22 From skerr at alumni.uwaterloo.ca Mon May 25 16:48:53 2009 From: skerr at alumni.uwaterloo.ca (Sarah Kerr) Date: Mon May 25 16:46:37 2009 Subject: [discuss] [Fwd: Call for Papers: "Open Development: Technological, organizational and social innovations transforming the developing world"] Message-ID: <4A1B0435.4040308@alumni.uwaterloo.ca> Some of you may be interested in this call for papers and the International Development Research Centre's (a Canadian crown corporation) research into the link between open technologies and international development. -------- Original Message -------- FYI - http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-140364-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html > > *Call for Papers:* > > > *Open Development: Technological, organizational and social > innovations transforming the developing world* > > > /This is a call for papers for an edited volume on Open Development > through the application of ICTs. Selected papers will be invited to > participate in an upcoming IDRC-sponsored expert meeting to be held > in Ottawa, Canada in March 2010. //Subject to further peer review, a > subset of papers will be published in an edited volume through a > commercial publisher. Quality permitting, a select few will be > nominated for further peer review and potential publication in the > open journal /Information Technologies and International Development > (http://itidjournal.org/itid)/. Papers that are not included in the > book or journal will be included in an open access working paper > series./ > > *Deadline for abstract submissions*: *July 20, 2009* *Deadline for > final papers:* *November 30, 2009* > > Guest Editors for special edition of ITID: Michael Clarke, IDRC, Ben > Petrazzini, IDRC; Matthew Smith, IDRC > > > **Background** > > A recent document entitled ?Open ICT4D,? > (http://www.idrc.ca/panasia/ev-133699-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html) inspired > by observations in the field, as well as by recent theoretical > writings, set out the hypothesis that the appropriate application of > ?open? principles can catalyze the connecting and communicating power > of ICTs to enable social, economic, and political development. > Openness is understood as a range of social activities that favor > more access, participation, and collaboration. These principles guide > us toward more inclusive, participatory, and collaborative social > relationships between actors (governments, citizens, civil society > groups, businesses, etc.). The hypothesis states that these open > social arrangements provide the context within which the enabling > mechanisms of ICTs can be most effectively catalyzed. > > This call for papers seeks to test and refine the above hypothesis by > bringing together expert views and evidence concerning the following > points: > > * How does (or might) ICT-enabled, increased access to information > and communication possibilities, as well as new forms of > participation and collaboration, result in social, economic, and > political development? * What are the possible downsides and risks of > expanding openness in the cultural, social, economic, and political > spheres, and how can we mitigate them? > > > We seek papers that conceptually and empirically target the different > dimensions of openness: access, participation, and collaboration, as > well as their applications/implications for development in different > domains. The papers are intended to provide a reference point for > researchers interested in the enabling role that new technologies > play in new forms of social, economic, and political development > through the provision of theory, empirical case examples, and the > development of salient research questions on the topic. > > This call for papers, therefore, invites researchers to submit > abstracts proposing theoretical and empirical papers that address one > or several of the following themes and questions: > > _Linking Openness and Development_ > > * What is openness, and what are the theoretical and empirical > connections between openness and promoting human development? * What > are some implications of increasing openness in different spheres of > social, economic, and political activity? * What are the > participatory or collaborative activities which, enabled by ICTs, > will catalyze developmental benefits and be applicable across > domains? * What are the connections between openness, innovation, and > development? * What is the relationship between open principles and > a knowledge society? * Is more openness inevitable? When is openness > a public good? * Are there differential issues that distinguish the > meaning of openness in developing versus developed economies? * Do > the new possibilities of openness through ICTs have any implications > for development approaches? > > _Openness and Enabling Context_ > > * What are the central impediments/barriers to implementing openness? > * What are the roles of IP laws, ICT Policy, and standards in > enabling openness to catalyze development? * Are the appropriate > regulatory, human resource, and technological conditions currently > present in the developing world to either support or hinder the > achievement of positive outcomes related to open principles? * What > new organizational/structural models are emerging to support open > content creation and dissemination/participation/collaboration? > > _Domain Specific Empirical Examples_ > > * Open government (participatory budgeting, open data, transparency, > etc.) * Open access to education, open and collaborative educational > resources * Open source software (applications) * Open research and > open access to scientific journals * Open access to law * Open > business models * Open technological innovations, open hardware, and > mesh networks * Mobiles and access * Political mobilization (through > Web 2.0 tools, SMS) * Research syntheses of ?openness? cases * What > are the lessons learned from existing openness activities? > > ** ** **Guidelines for Abstract/Chapter and Submission Deadlines** > > If you are interested in participating in this inquiry, please submit > an extended abstract of 400-600 words, outlining the main issues, > hypotheses, and structure of the paper. Please also submit full > contact details to msmith@idrc.ca by July 20, > 2009.Accepted formats are Microsoft Word (.doc), rtf, and > OpenDocument (ODF). In August, successful candidates will be invited > to submit a 6,000 to 8,000 word paper by November 30, as well as to > present their findings at a conference to be held at the > International Development Research Centre in Ottawa, provisionally > planned for *March 2010*. It is anticipated that the IDRC will be > able to cover travel and accommodation costs. Subject to peer review, > selected papers will be published in an edited volume through a > reputable commercial publisher. Quality pending, a select few will > then be nominated for a special edition in the open journal > /Information Technologies and International Development/. They > should, therefore, contain original material. > > **Key Dates** * * Abstract submission deadline July 20, 2009 > Notification of abstract acceptance; invitation to write full papers > for the conference > > August 14, 2009 > > Confirmation of interest in writing a full paper and participating in > the conference > > August 30, 2009 > > Submission deadline for final papers November 30, 2009 Conference in > Ottawa (IDRC) March 2010 > > * * > > For further information,* *please contact Matthew Smith: > msmith@idrc.ca . > > * * *The ICT4D Program Area in IDRC* > > Since 1970, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has > been committed to advancing the role of information in development. A > tradition of innovation that began with an emphasis on building > databases and information systems has evolved into a focus on the > transformative nature of information and communication technologies > (ICTs). The ICT4D program funds interdisciplinary research projects > that address several of its priority themes related to key > development areas, such as education, health, governance, > livelihoods, the environment, and gender. From bjonkman at sobac.com Mon May 25 23:35:58 2009 From: bjonkman at sobac.com (Bob Jonkman) Date: Mon May 25 23:34:18 2009 Subject: [discuss] Government Open Data to be featured on CBC's Spark Message-ID: <4A1B639E.9020609@sobac.com> Heads-up, Data Freedom fighters: The excellent CBC programme Spark will be interviewing Vancouver councillor Andrea Reimer about Vancouver's Open Data initiative, and is inviting questions through comments in the blog: http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2009/05/trend-open-accessible-government-data/ --Bob. -- Bob Jonkman http://sobac.com/sobac/ SOBAC Microcomputer Services Voice: +1-519-669-0388 6 James Street, Elmira ON Canada N3B 1L5 Cel: +1-519-635-9413 Software --- Office & Business Automation --- Consulting From psema4 at gmail.com Thu May 28 14:30:57 2009 From: psema4 at gmail.com (Scott Elcomb) Date: Thu May 28 14:35:46 2009 Subject: [discuss] Open Internet Town Hall in Toronto on June 8 Message-ID: <99a6c38f0905281130w64c3758btf2c0f00515c66052@mail.gmail.com> This might be interesting for some; from the page at http://saveournet.ca/toronto : Open Internet Town Hall (Toronto) SaveourNet.ca is Partnering with Rabble.ca for a very special event. Held during Net Change Week in Toronto, SaveourNet.ca and Rabble.ca will present Toronto?s Open Internet Town Hall, which will be filmed by TheREALNews.com. Where: Live from the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, 1214 Queen St. West When: Monday June 8, 2009 at 7pm Featured speakers for the Town Hall include: Mark Surman (Executive Director of the Mozilla Foundation) Rocky Gaudrault (CEO of Teksavvy Solutions Inc.) Steve Anderson (Co-founder of SaveourNet.ca) Derek Blackadder (National Representative with CUPE) Until now, Canada?s Internet has been an open network and a level playing field for free speech, innovation, and consumer choice. All that is now under threat. Being held during Net Change Week in Toronto, Toronto?s Open Internet Town Hall is designed to give local citizens the chance to shape Canada?s broadband future. As Canada falls behind other OECD countries on Internet speed, cost, and openness, SaveourNet.ca will host a lively discussion guided by panelists representing web innovators, social change leaders, and public policy gurus. We will gather citizen testimony that SaveOurNet.ca?s Steve Anderson will use to guide his presentation to the CRTC at the July 6 ?Traffic Management? hearing. We will also record the town hall meetings and present video testimonials to the CRTC and share them online. Information gathered at the town hall meeting will also help us develop the ?Open Internet Declaration? which we will put before MPs and policy makers. We want to engage the public in discussion on what the future of the Internet should look like by addressing the following questions: * How can we ensure Internet services for everyone in Canada? * How do we expand consumer choice and lower costs for Internet services? * How can the Internet be a catalyst for economic growth, jobs, and prosperity? * How do we preserve the Internet?s level playing field so everyone can access the content, applications, and services of their choice? * What roles should the federal government, local governments, private industry, and everyday citizens play to build a better Internet? * What can and should citizens do right now? Toronto?s Internet Town Hall will be held in the historic Gladstone Hotel Ballroom 1214 Queen Street West, Toronto Monday 8 June, 2009 7 - 10pm $10 ? the associated cost will cover venue rental and production costs. For more information about the campaign, visit http://saveournet.ca/ -- Scott Elcomb http://www.psema4.com/ @psema4 From psema4 at gmail.com Sat May 30 13:56:52 2009 From: psema4 at gmail.com (Scott Elcomb) Date: Sat May 30 13:54:24 2009 Subject: [discuss] [OT]: We're All The Pirate Bay Message-ID: <99a6c38f0905301056x6c50d778vd0dfa504565c13dc@mail.gmail.com> I'm marking this Off Topic 'cause it is. I also know that a fairly significant portion of us carry this philosophy with us in our day-to-day lives. Montt Mardie has a little diddy called "We're all the Pirate Bay." If you're following the Pirate Bay trial, or any other legal matters pertaining to P2P, then I hope you'll share this clip. http://bit.ly/13MQQj http://www.frostclick.com/wp/index.php/2009/05/30/montt-mardie-were-all-the-pirate-bay/ PS - If you use the bit.ly I can post some numbers down the road... Cheers, - Scott. -- Scott Elcomb http://www.psema4.com/ @psema4 From bill3 at uniserve.com Sun May 31 00:27:40 2009 From: bill3 at uniserve.com (Bill) Date: Sun May 31 00:25:16 2009 Subject: [discuss] Invitation to Vancouver Message-ID: <1243744060.3715.793.camel@localhost.localdomain> Hi folks, As some here have expressed interest in the progress Vancouver has made with respect Open Data, Open Standards, and Open Source, I thought I would take this opportunity to invite those with an interest in this area, or in advancing a similar agenda in their own city/province to attend the OpenWeb 2009 conference in Vancouver, June 11-12. There will be a workshop session with the city's IT manager and some of the best brains in the business. http://www.openwebvancouver.ca/node/87 b.