The fellowship meeting in Italy

[Stefano Maffulli]

On Mon, 2006-09-25 at 17:55 +0100, Shane M. Coughlan wrote:
> Given that everyone is taking about why Free Software (and our new
> license) is a good idea...perhaps it's worth bringing up the fellowship
> conference that is going to happen shortly in Italy!

Yep, talking about Free Software is what we all like to do :)  But there
is a strong need to talk to others that never heard of 'free software'
except from spam messages.

As a coincidence yesterday a Italian friend wrote to me announcing his
new book "The Family Guide to Digital Freedom" and website
http://digifreedom.net/.  His book is not free-as-in-freedom neither is
completely public, but from what I saw his web site and collection of
essays have enough 'meat' to contribute to a discussion on 'how to
effectively advocate Free Software to moms and dads and kids'.  His
language is provocative and sometimes confused, but it's worth reading
it because I agree with him: the average rhetoric of FS advocates is not
effective when pointed to average computer users.

> As you may (or may not) know there is going to be a conference in Italy
> in November that will provide an excellent opportunity for everyone in
> the fellowship to sit down together and have a discussion.  There are so
> many things to talk about.  Right off the top of my head:
> (1) Positive advocacy and how do to it effectively

Fioretti has done a nice essay titled 'Seven Things We're Tired To Hear
>From Software Hackers'.  I don't agree with most of the points he makes,
but indeed we can learn something from that essay and draw inspiration.
For example, it would probably be useful to have a list of things that
should be important for average people, voters and citizens that don't
use computers or high school students.  Maybe we should invite
professors to the this discussion and listen to their experiences, what
do you think?

bye
stef