Workshop sets clear guidelines for FLOSS advancement
9 October 2005

A more focused approach towards Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) advocacy, particularly in the education sector, a roadmap for collaboration and a research framework that will enable success in developing world contexts, are some of the guidelines formulated for the advancement of FLOSS initiatives at the second FLOSS and Free Knowledge workshop held from 21 to 23 September 2005 in Centurion, Pretoria. Workshop participants hailed from Spain, France, Finland, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa, representing academia, education, FLOSS communities, and free knowledge initiatives.

Delegates discussed the need to gain a deeper understanding of needs in application domains, and to place more emphasis on the significant opportunities FLOSS offers for education and innovation in the developing world. Another key insight highlighted in the event is that learning is an interactive socio-cultural activity, in tune with the process and philosophy embraced by the FLOSS developer communities.

Within the context of the priorities of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Open Source Centre, the recommended way forward includes collaboration with a number of organisations. These are Libre.org, the Free Knowledge Foundation, the Creative Commons and existing FLOSS initiatives such as the Open Source Coalition and associated projects, the Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa, the East Africa Centre for Open Source Software, the Centre for Open Source Software in Finland, the Malawi Open Source Society and the FLOSS Task Force.

Presentations covering free software, free culture and free knowledge on the first day were followed by two days of breakaway discussions. The breakaway sessions focused on three topics: the role of tertiary education institutions (TEIs), pioneer communities and research.

The TEI group considered the role of TEIs in realising the vision - 'knowledge for all, education for all - towards wisdom'. The Wikimedia Foundation's proposed WikiVersity project featured prominently in these discussions. It was suggested that new initiatives should be more general in name and in line with the shared vision. For example, a name such as WikiLearn could accommodate learning at all levels, both formal and informal.

"A revolutionary approach is needed in the face of developing world realities - an approach which addresses education at all levels with attention to the socio-cultural and pedagogical aspects of learning in context," says event convener, Kim Tucker of the Meraka Institute's Open Source Centre.

Concrete suggestions include the establishment of peer-reviewed African open journals, Africa-based learning object repositories, and the development of an action plan to address outdated mindsets entrenched in the education systems.

The breakaway group focusing on pioneer communities channeled its energy towards building on the learning achieved in FLOSS communities around the world. It was concluded that current efforts in FLOSS advocacy should emphasise the ways in which free software can enhance efforts towards sustainable development goals (balancing economic, social and environmental concerns). "It is important to remember that software is not more important than the solutions it offers," says Isaiah Makwakwa from the Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SNDP) in Malawi.

According to the group, this requires understanding of community needs, facilitating the establishment of local support networks, and ensuring free access to localised training material. "It is time to facilitate collaboration proactively among the many exciting initiatives around the world, of which an initial list has been produced, and make it easy for anyone to get started with free software and gain access to knowledge", says Tucker. Pablo Machón, from the Fundación Conocimiento Libre in Spain, concurred with Tucker and added, "Knowledge is a global asset, and the FLOSS and Free Knowledge movement wants to contribute towards the growth and the development of this asset".

One of the priorities from this breakaway session is to package a collection of existing FLOSS learning resources on CD, and distribute to appropriate communities for use and localisation, where required.

The research breakaway group produced a framework for a research agenda, spanning emerging technologies, methodology, FLOSS and free knowledge deployment, social dimensions of Free Knowledge and the impact of FLOSS.

The framework strongly favours research that would enable success in developing world contexts to ensure learning from the pioneering work of, for example, Schoolnet Namibia and the TuxLabs.

The relationships among global organisations concerned with free software, free knowledge and free culture were clarified. Libre.org, like Gnu.org, represents the philosophical foundation. The Free Knowledge Communities initiative, driven by the Meraka Institute's Open Source Centre, facilitates networks of people, projects and other initiatives, which embrace the philosophy and seek to make a difference in the real world through free knowledge and FLOSS. The Free Knowledge definition has been generalised to the definition of 'Libre Resources', and the Free Knowledge Communities Manifesto has been generalised to the Libre Communities Manifesto.

The Report on Workshop 2 (available here) captures details of the workshop and the various outputs. These will be synthesized and written up for review, with a view to producing proposals towards realising the common vision.