Hi all,
The European Social Forum is a meeting place for social movements in Europe. On September 17-21, ESF will be held in Malmö, and more than 20.000 people are expected to participate[1].
I think FSFE should be present with an information stall[2] at this years forum. Many of the participating organizations are likely to be morally aligned with FSFE, but may not have the necessary insight into technological matters to be aware of our cause. The cheapest stall (informational only) costs 80 euro.
[1] http://www.esf2008.org/home/another-europe-is-possible [2] http://www.esf2008.org/about/stalls
all the best, /Stian
Hi Stian,
Is this a volunteering on your behalf to organise this?
If so: I agree.
Otherwise: Who takes responsibility for this task?
Regards, Georg
On Mon, 2008-06-30 at 12:36 +0200, Georg C. F. Greve wrote:
Is this a volunteering on your behalf to organise this?
I do not mind organising this, as in taking care of the registration and coordinating. However, I can't guarantee that I can man the booth myself throughout the entire event and hope there are other volunteers interested in participate as well. My wife (a new Fellow) and I are both willing to spend at least a day in the booth, more if we would have a place to sleep in Malmö.
The main problem is of course accomodation, which I presently am unsure whether we can afford, or even find. According to the ESF website, hostels are already fully booked. ESF does organise "solidarity accomodation" though, which might be an alternative, but I suspect travellers from Göteborg would not receive the highest priority. The train ticket from Göteborg to Malmö is not too expensive, so we should be able to pay for two two-way tickets ourselves.
I should also note that a general participation fee (of 50 or 250 euro depending on size and financial capability) is required from all organisations, in addition to the 80 euro for a small info stall.
/Stian
On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:47:43 +0200 Stian Rødven Eide stian@fsfeurope.org wrote:
sre> I do not mind organising this, as in taking care of the sre> registration and coordinating. However, I can't guarantee that I sre> can man the booth myself throughout the entire event and hope sre> there are other volunteers interested in participate as well.
Naturally.
The point of being the responsible coordinator is not that you need to be there at all times, but that you need to make sure that enough people are there at all times who know what they have to do.
Also it would be your responsibility to organise the space, organise enough booth material (DUS office is your friend) and afterwards make a nice report for the team & possibly world, at least the newsletter.
There is a booth organisation Howto that Volker Dormeyer wrote at some point, I believe others have worked on this as well. So you would not have to reinvent the wheel, but you will need to do a bit of coordinative work.
Regards, Georg
On Mon, 2008-06-30 at 18:29 +0200, Georg C. F. Greve wrote:
There is a booth organisation Howto that Volker Dormeyer wrote at some point, I believe others have worked on this as well. So you would not have to reinvent the wheel, but you will need to do a bit of coordinative work.
I apologize for my ignorance, but I cannot seem to find the document you refer to. I assume it should exist in the svn repository?
/Stian
Hi Stian,
* Stian Rødven Eide stian@fsfeurope.org [2008-07-02 15:41:44 +0200]:
On Mon, 2008-06-30 at 18:29 +0200, Georg C. F. Greve wrote:
There is a booth organisation Howto that Volker Dormeyer wrote at some point, I believe others have worked on this as well. So you would not have to reinvent the wheel, but you will need to do a bit of coordinative work.
I apologize for my ignorance, but I cannot seem to find the document you refer to. I assume it should exist in the svn repository?
I searched around and found it in an old e-mail. /Office/booth/fsfe_bv_faq.ps and fsfe_bv_faq.tex
But it is only in German :-/ I do not know if it also exists in English. I took Volker in CC.
If we start it again, we should do it on wiki.fsfe.org imho.
Best wishes, Matthias
On Thu, 2008-07-03 at 00:29 +0200, Matthias Kirschner wrote:
There is a booth organisation Howto that Volker Dormeyer wrote at some point, I believe others have worked on this as well. So you would not have to reinvent the wheel, but you will need to do a bit of coordinative work.
I apologize for my ignorance, but I cannot seem to find the document you refer to. I assume it should exist in the svn repository?
I searched around and found it in an old e-mail. /Office/booth/fsfe_bv_faq.ps and fsfe_bv_faq.tex
But it is only in German :-/ I do not know if it also exists in English. I took Volker in CC.
If we start it again, we should do it on wiki.fsfe.org imho.
I found the document and it was not too difficult for me to read. I might even be able to translate it to English for the wiki, though some of the information should probably be updated.
What I really was after however, is a practical how-to for the organising of a booth. Where do I ask for volunteers to help? Should we register before we know whether we'll have volunteers? Should the funding be done by the local branch of FSFE (in this case, Hesa said it probably should)? What information material is available, and, presuming it exists in abundance, should it be included in the budget? How do we sign up new fellows analogue-wise?
Another relevant issue, one that the fsfe-bv-faq probably should include some words about, is the question of what I can or cannot say on behalf of the FSFE (as opposed to what I should say, which I think is rather clear). For instance, the ESF is largely about democratising society - how people can and should be involved in decisions that affect us all. This is more or less exactly what the FSFE is working for and I therefore thought about having a big banner at the booth stating that "Free Software is Democratic Software" or something similar. Am I free to do this? Am I also free to put the FSFE logo beneath a slogan that really hasn't been officially approved, but very likely would resonate positively among its members?
In this regard, I am also thinking about something Georg mentioned in his speech at the last FSCONS, where we were encouraged to prominently display our FSFE-membership when advocating digital freedom. To what extent can we do this? I am sure that the level common sense among our members is very high, but still wouldn't mind some guidelines on the issue. An example that springs to mind is the debate on legalising non-commercial file sharing, something that RMS has been very vocal about. Of course, I am not saying I would claim that the FSFE supports it, but rather wonder whether it would be regarded as problematic to use an FSFE-signature in such cases.
all the best, /Stian
Hi Stian,
* Stian Rødven Eide stian@fsfeurope.org [2008-07-03 13:57:01 +0200]:
I found the document and it was not too difficult for me to read. I might even be able to translate it to English for the wiki, though some of the information should probably be updated.
Yes, it has to be updated. I think it is from 2003 :)
What I really was after however, is a practical how-to for the organising of a booth. Where do I ask for volunteers to help?
booth@fsfeurope.org and perhaps the national discussion lists. You can ask Reinhard to sent an e-mail to Fellows from that region.
Should we register before we know whether we'll have volunteers?
That depends on how many volunteers you need. Most of the time I would register and than look for volunteers.
Should the funding be done by the local branch of FSFE (in this case, Hesa said it probably should)?
I think that depends from case to case.
What information material is available, and, presuming it exists in abundance, should it be included in the budget?
Information material: http://www.fsfeurope.org/documents/leaflets/ I found some gnu.org/philosophy articles good. And in Germany we have one book at the moment, and perhaps we will add more.
How do we sign up new fellows analogue-wise?
I have never done that. But I know that it is not good with this small "enter your e-mail alias here" green leaflets. The field is not even big enough to enter an e-mail alias if you cannot write font size 8 ;)
If we find a good solution how to do this, it might be handy sometimes. But Reinhard should be able to give more feedback here.
Another relevant issue, one that the fsfe-bv-faq probably should include some words about, is the question of what I can or cannot say on behalf of the FSFE (as opposed to what I should say, which I think is rather clear).
I think that is difficult. My rule of thumb would be: as FSFE talk about our topics. Everything else is _your_ personal opinion. And you should express it as such. And at the booth I would often try not to talk about the personal stuff as people do not differ between your personal thoughts and those of FSFE.
For instance, the ESF is largely about democratising society - how people can and should be involved in decisions that affect us all. This is more or less exactly what the FSFE is working for and I therefore thought about having a big banner at the booth stating that "Free Software is Democratic Software" or something similar. Am I free to do this?
I think this slogan would be ok. As FSFE agrees with democracy (at least I hope so ;) ).
Am I also free to put the FSFE logo beneath a slogan that really hasn't been officially approved, but very likely would resonate positively among its members?
As booth organiser you have to approve slogans as you have the responsibility for the booth. If you are not sure about one, you should ask before.
In this regard, I am also thinking about something Georg mentioned in his speech at the last FSCONS, where we were encouraged to prominently display our FSFE-membership when advocating digital freedom. To what extent can we do this? I am sure that the level common sense among our members is very high, but still wouldn't mind some guidelines on the issue. An example that springs to mind is the debate on legalising non-commercial file sharing, something that RMS has been very vocal about. Of course, I am not saying I would claim that the FSFE supports it, but rather wonder whether it would be regarded as problematic to use an FSFE-signature in such cases.
My personal opinion on this: Every Fellow can express that he is Fellow. I think that is different for your FSFE title / work. E.g. in some discussions I would not use my FSFE signature.
And it might not be good to use "Stian, Intern Free Software Foundation Europe" on a public mailinglist and argue that all music labels are criminals. You could express that with your Fellowship alias, or your personal alias. For others in the organisation it might already not be that good.
I think we cannot have a written rule for everything. Your are an intelligent person, and I think most of our Fellows are. I think they are able to decide those things on their own... and everybody is free to write others when they think they did a mistake.
Best wishes, Matthias
Thanks for your comments, Matthias. I feel a lot more confident in regards to organising the ESF booth now.
I have created a wikipage for the ESF at http://wiki.fsfe.org/ESF-2008-Malmo and will start translating the document that Volker wrote.
all the best, /Stian
On Wed, 2008-07-09 at 13:40 +0200, Matthias Kirschner wrote:
Hi Stian,
- Stian Rødven Eide stian@fsfeurope.org [2008-07-03 13:57:01 +0200]:
I found the document and it was not too difficult for me to read. I might even be able to translate it to English for the wiki, though some of the information should probably be updated.
Yes, it has to be updated. I think it is from 2003 :)
What I really was after however, is a practical how-to for the organising of a booth. Where do I ask for volunteers to help?
booth@fsfeurope.org and perhaps the national discussion lists. You can ask Reinhard to sent an e-mail to Fellows from that region.
Should we register before we know whether we'll have volunteers?
That depends on how many volunteers you need. Most of the time I would register and than look for volunteers.
Should the funding be done by the local branch of FSFE (in this case, Hesa said it probably should)?
I think that depends from case to case.
What information material is available, and, presuming it exists in abundance, should it be included in the budget?
Information material: http://www.fsfeurope.org/documents/leaflets/ I found some gnu.org/philosophy articles good. And in Germany we have one book at the moment, and perhaps we will add more.
How do we sign up new fellows analogue-wise?
I have never done that. But I know that it is not good with this small "enter your e-mail alias here" green leaflets. The field is not even big enough to enter an e-mail alias if you cannot write font size 8 ;)
If we find a good solution how to do this, it might be handy sometimes. But Reinhard should be able to give more feedback here.
Another relevant issue, one that the fsfe-bv-faq probably should include some words about, is the question of what I can or cannot say on behalf of the FSFE (as opposed to what I should say, which I think is rather clear).
I think that is difficult. My rule of thumb would be: as FSFE talk about our topics. Everything else is _your_ personal opinion. And you should express it as such. And at the booth I would often try not to talk about the personal stuff as people do not differ between your personal thoughts and those of FSFE.
For instance, the ESF is largely about democratising society - how people can and should be involved in decisions that affect us all. This is more or less exactly what the FSFE is working for and I therefore thought about having a big banner at the booth stating that "Free Software is Democratic Software" or something similar. Am I free to do this?
I think this slogan would be ok. As FSFE agrees with democracy (at least I hope so ;) ).
Am I also free to put the FSFE logo beneath a slogan that really hasn't been officially approved, but very likely would resonate positively among its members?
As booth organiser you have to approve slogans as you have the responsibility for the booth. If you are not sure about one, you should ask before.
In this regard, I am also thinking about something Georg mentioned in his speech at the last FSCONS, where we were encouraged to prominently display our FSFE-membership when advocating digital freedom. To what extent can we do this? I am sure that the level common sense among our members is very high, but still wouldn't mind some guidelines on the issue. An example that springs to mind is the debate on legalising non-commercial file sharing, something that RMS has been very vocal about. Of course, I am not saying I would claim that the FSFE supports it, but rather wonder whether it would be regarded as problematic to use an FSFE-signature in such cases.
My personal opinion on this: Every Fellow can express that he is Fellow. I think that is different for your FSFE title / work. E.g. in some discussions I would not use my FSFE signature.
And it might not be good to use "Stian, Intern Free Software Foundation Europe" on a public mailinglist and argue that all music labels are criminals. You could express that with your Fellowship alias, or your personal alias. For others in the organisation it might already not be that good.
I think we cannot have a written rule for everything. Your are an intelligent person, and I think most of our Fellows are. I think they are able to decide those things on their own... and everybody is free to write others when they think they did a mistake.
Best wishes, Matthias
Hi,
* On Thursday 03 July 2008 00:29:11, * Matthias Kirschner mk@fsfe.org wrote:
I searched around and found it in an old e-mail. /Office/booth/fsfe_bv_faq.ps and fsfe_bv_faq.tex
But it is only in German :-/ I do not know if it also exists in English. I took Volker in CC.
I am sorry, it doesn't exist in English, yet. Yes, this is the recent version (looked at the on Stian posted on booth@).
In some parts, the document is outdated. And I don't like the German wording I used some time ago. Maybe we should create a master version in English and translate to different languages, where needed.
Stian als mentioned something like a "Howto organise an FSFE booth?". This is a long open issue, as well. I am willing to help here, I feel that I can give some little input, here.
Regards, Volker
Hi Volker,
* Volker Dormeyer volker@ixolution.de [2008-07-15 22:07:14 +0200]:
Stian als mentioned something like a "Howto organise an FSFE booth?". This is a long open issue, as well. I am willing to help here, I feel that I can give some little input, here.
That would be perfect!
Best wishes, Matthias
On Tue, 2008-07-15 at 22:07 +0200, Volker Dormeyer wrote:
- On Thursday 03 July 2008 00:29:11,
- Matthias Kirschner mk@fsfe.org wrote:
I searched around and found it in an old e-mail. /Office/booth/fsfe_bv_faq.ps and fsfe_bv_faq.tex
But it is only in German :-/ I do not know if it also exists in English. I took Volker in CC.
I am sorry, it doesn't exist in English, yet. Yes, this is the recent version (looked at the on Stian posted on booth@).
In some parts, the document is outdated. And I don't like the German wording I used some time ago. Maybe we should create a master version in English and translate to different languages, where needed.
I think the structure is already good. We can just build on the translation I'm working on now, and just be creative with the new wording.
Stian als mentioned something like a "Howto organise an FSFE booth?". This is a long open issue, as well. I am willing to help here, I feel that I can give some little input, here.
Wonderful, Volker. I assume this also would fit on the wiki. How about I rename the current page I'm working on to BoothFAQ and make a new page named BoothHowToOrganise?
all the best, Stian