Free Software is a global fenomenon. A huge flow af new developments, trends and other news make it difficult for many decisionmakers, politicians and managers to keep track of them. Dutch publisher Media Update has brought together 8 authors to present an overview of Free Software, Open Standards, Free Content and other Free & Open trends we can see today. The book is in Dutch and presents as well the Dutch political history and reality of the adoption in Dutch government.

The SELF Project is presented in the book in a chapter called "sharing knowledge in the 21st century" (written by myself). This article argues the importance of Free Software in science, culture, economy and society. In more concrete terms, it shows how the use of Free Software and its principles are fundamental in all these domains. In science Free Software enables the verification and falsification of scientific theories. In culture the use of copyleft facilitates the sharing and collaborative creation of cultural works. In economy Free Software represents a real alternative to the current software monopolies and hence its adoption would stimulate innovation and create equal opportunities in the software market. Finally, Free Software is essential for transparency, social inclusion and democratisation of information. For all these reasons it is fundamental to introduce Free Software in education. That is what the SELF project does by providing a worldwide platform for the collaborative production and sharing of freely available education and training materials about Free Software and Open Standards. This can only be achieved by the active participation of all parties involved, from educational and governmental institutes to ICT and training companies, publishers, NGOs and Free Software communities.

The first "OSS Jaarboek 2006-2007" book was presented on the OSOSS Symposium in Arnhem, the Netherlands, where governmental organisations came together to learn more about "Open Standards and Open Source Software".

Besides that, Cees Segers, Hinde ten Berge and myself presented the SELF project on this Symposium. We received very positive reactions and expect several of the audience to participate in some way or another in the project.

Publisher: http://www.media-update.nl/osj/

Buy the book here: http://www.gopher.nl/title.asp?articleid=12242

You can obtain a digital copy of the chapter on "Kennisdelen in de 21e eeuw" here in ODF or here in PDF .