Issue 2, 3 November 2006

Contents

1. Didactic standards and guidelines
2. Bulgarian register for Free Software applications
3. Complimentary project in Sweden
4. Spreading the word
5. Contribute!
6. Agenda
7. About
   

1. Didactic standards and guidelines

SELF Consortium partner Universitat Oberta de Catalunya has done research on digital format candidates to be used in the SELF Platform. The formats supported by the SELF platform are chosen according to five criteria:

1. Is there a public specification of the format?
2. Are there any patents claimed on the format? If so, is the patent irrevocably available in a royalty free basis?
3. Is the format supported or created and maintained by some standardisation organism?
4. Is the format implemented by (one or more) free software applications?
5. Can the format be considered a de facto or de iure standard?

The answer to these five questions will help us to choose the appropriate open standards for the representation of the SELF contents. The SELF platform will provide a repository of contents and open standards will be used to store these contents.

While the SELF Platform collects content in an open standard it also follows didactic standards for its own operation. This ensures that all the content collected into the platform, as well as what gets distributed from it will confirm to the widely used open standards.

Contribution by David Megias, UOC, and Nagarjuna G., HBCSE

2. Bulgarian register for Free Software applications

The State Agency for Informational Technologies and Communication initiated the development of a register for Free Software and Open Source Software applications. The initiative is in accordance to the international tendencies of Information Technologies and Information Society development.

The objective of the initiated project is to create an accessible Internet repository in Bulgarian that will contain Free Software and Open Source Software applications, as well as to encourage the usage of Free Software and Open Source Software which will lower citizens', businesses', and public administration's costs for licenses, will generate long term savings and will create good conditions for the development of the local software industry. In addition, the project aims to create mechanisms for access to products protected by copyright laws and increase the social awareness and support for matters concerning intellectual property and rules for use of such products.

The primary goals of the project are:

1. to support educational institutions, the community of developers and supporters of Free Software and Open Source Software, businesses and administration to use, create and share useful content;
2. to centralise, transmit and increase the number of software and web applications based on Free Software and Open Source Software as well as informational, didactic and cultural materials which use licenses for free access;
3. to aid the understanding and creation of a critical mass for the use of software and web applications;
4. to increase business opportunities and create public-private partnership.

Contribution by Dessi Pefeva, ISOC.bg

3. Complimentary project in Sweden

The Swedish team of the Free Software Foundation Europe has received a stipend worth 17,500 euro from the Internet Infrastructure Foundation (II Foundation) to further the work of the SELF Project in Sweden. The aim of this contribution is to complement the SELF activities, for instance by contributing more to translations of the SELF materials, and investing more time in contact with Swedish universities and primary schools. This complementary project will be launched in early 2007.

Contribution by Jonas Oberg, FSFE

4. Spreading the word

Fundación Vía Libre continues spreading the word about SELF in different arenas, particularly in Free Software events in Argentina.

Last October, Federico Heinz gave a talk on SELF's goals and perspectives during the 6th Regional Conference on Free Software in Mendoza, Argentina. He gave an overview of the project, its main goals, structure and timetable, as well as the participating organizations. He invited the public to contribute materials, and to participate of this educational platform, which will provide a searchable wealth of educational materials on Free Software and Open Standards. More info

Federico will be repeating this presentation at CaFeCONF 2006, the fifth installment of CaFeLUG's annual developer conference at Universidad Argentina de la Empresain in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This year, CaFeCONF's emphasis will be set on education, and aims at appealing to both educators and students with numerous presentations on Free Software for education. Organised in cooperation with GLEducar, CaFeCONF will also host the First National Congress of Free Classrooms, which aims at reaching school computer lab administrators throughout the country.

Within this framework, the presentation on SELF is particularly relevant, since it is expected that a large percentage of the over 2000 expected visitors will be specifically interested in the topic of Free Software in education. More information

Contribution by Federico Heinz, FVL

5. Contribute!

In order to achieve its goal, it is important that as many organisations, companies and individuals as possible take part in the SELF Platform. We are looking to work with people with a whole host of skills such as training, developing, distribution and media. We are also keen to speak to Free Software-loving companies and organisations about sponsoring or partnering with the platform to achieve our wider ambitions.

There is a wide range of activities you could carry out or participate in, from simple to more ambitious ones. If you feel you can and want to help, please visit our website at http://selfproject.eu/getinvolved and subscribe to an appropriate mailing list. You can also send an email to self<at>selfproject.eu.

6. Agenda

CaFeCONF 2006

10-11 November 2006, Buenos Aires, Argentina
The fifth installment of CaFeLUG's annual free software developer's conference, with an expected audience of 2000 people from all over the region. This year, CaFeCONF will make special emphasis in the area of education, in combination with GLEduc.ar (http://www.gleducar.org.ar).

• 11 November 2006, 18:00 "SELF: una plataforma cooperativa para la educación del software libre y los estándares abiertos", Federico Heinz
  

ITAPA 2006

14 - 15 November 2006, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
A conference on open technologies and eGovernment interoperability.

• 14 November 2006, 16:00 "Training and education about Open Standards and Free Software", Wouter Tebbens

e-Society.Mk

15 - 17 November 2006, Skopje, Macedonia
The focus of the conference is regional approach to ICT policy creation. The conference will gather experts, policymakers, advocacy groups and other stakeholders from Macedonia, the SEE Region and EU to share knowledge and experiences through series of panel discussions and workshops.

Biebwatch

16 November 2006, Haarlem, Netherlands
A day on new developments in media; the meaning of Free Software and free content for libraries.

• 16 November 2006, 10:45 Presentation of the SELF Project, Wouter Tebbens

Jornades Univers Lliure (Free Universe Workshop)

29 November 2006, Can Surius, Cornellà, Barcelona, Spain

• 29 November 2006, 12:30 Presentation of the SELF Project, David Megias

7. About

SELF News is a monthly newsletter about the SELF Project and related issues. SELF aims to be the central platform with high quality educational and training materials about Free Software and Open Standards. It is based on world-class Free Software technologies that permit both reading and publishing free materials, and is driven by a worldwide community.

Information about SELF:
http://selfproject.eu/

Consortium Partners:

• Internet Society Netherlands
• Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
• Free Software Foundation Europe
• Gothenburg University
• Internet Society Bulgaria
• Fundación Vía Libre
• Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education

Newsletter editor:
Hinde ten Berge

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