SELF is an international project aiming to provide a platform for the collaborative sharing and creation of free educational and training materials. It is based on Free Software, which in contrast to proprietary software can freely be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed. Free Software offers the freedom to learn and to teach without any proprietary barriers – the basic requirement for the self-enabled human in the information society. For more in depth information please visit our FAQ. For guidance to Free Software tools for Audio/video – please visit the Audio/Video section of NGO in a Box.

It is well-known that, as opposed to proprietary software, Free Software can be used freely, which means that it can be copied, studied, modified and redistributed without restrictions. Free Software (also known as “open source”) offers the freedom to learn and to teach without engaging in dependencies on any single technology company, a feature that is considered a basic condition for an autonomous or self-dependent person in the Information Society.

The expansion of Free Software has brought together a surprising and continually growing community of developers by offering solid quality alternatives that have not gone unnoticed in business, government and academic circles. SELF (http://www.selfproject.eu) is an international project financed by the European Commission which has developed a platform to encourage creative cooperation and the sharing of educational materials and continuous training, paying special attention to free software and open standards. Inspired by the Wikipedia model, the SELF Platform is open to the contributions of all those who would like to bring their knowledge to it, and share this knowledge without restrictions.

As part of the project, a definite gap has been identified in the field of educational materials on Free Software and Open Standards philosophy. It is our hope that this documentary contest will help fill parts of that gap through the provisioning of high quality visual representation on Free Software and Open Standards, mainly for teachers but also for others over the world to use in their work.