[FSFE PR][EN] FSFE Newsletter

Free Software Foundation Europe press at fsfeurope.org
Sat Aug 23 23:55:17 CEST 2008


FSFE's activities have been varied over the last month.  It's promising to see
the increase of Fellowship activities across Europe. We are looking forward to 
seeing more local groups appear and to hearing about their activities on all 
levels.  One of the most important parts of supporting Free Software is sharing 
knowledge in your own community.

To contribute in spreading the word you can visit this page:
http://fsfeurope.org/contribute/contribute

						Shane, FSFE Zurich Office


1. Speeches about SELF, Free Software and licensing at FKFT
2. Local Fellowship meetings
3. New interns for FSFE
4. Students' union organizes talk on political aspects of Free Software
5. FTF releases training documentation on the SELF platform
6. Zurich Fellowship meeting - 2008-08-15
7. 'Who Owns Free Software? The Copyright and Patent Debate' speech at OSiM World, Berlin - 2008-08-17
8. Official launch of GPLv3 in The Netherlands - 2008-08-19

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

9. First Fellowship meeting in Stuttgart - 2008-08-22
10. Fellowship's stand at the Braderie de Lille, Lille (France) - 2008-09-06 and 2008-09-07


1. Speeches about SELF, Free Software and licensing at FKFT

FSFE was present at the FKFT conference in Barcelona during July to talk about 
the SELF project, Free Software and licensing.  FSFE president Georg Greve 
delivered a talk on the 16th of July to provide insight on how the SELF project 
has helped advance the state of the art, and how the work done in the SELF 
consortium will provide lasting benefit to the Free Software community. The 
speech was entitled 'How SELF helped building structures for freedom'.  This 
was followed by a talk entitled 'Licences that support freedom' delivered by 
Shane Coughlan, the FTF coordinator of FSFE. The events in Barcelona concluded 
with a lunch for Fellows of FSFE and Free Software friends in Barcelona from 
14:00 until 16:00 on the 17th of July with FSFE's Georg Greve, Jonas Öberg and 
Shane Coughlan.


2. Local Fellowship meetings

Local Fellowship meetings have recently taken place in Dublin, Brussels,
Zurich, and Lille.  At these meetings, Fellows have discussed the status and
needs of projects they're involved with, what local political problems need
work, and how to improve the Fellowship itself.  In addition, these initial
meetings plus discussions on FSFE's public mailing lists are contributing to
the planning of larger, regular meetings.  The UK, Belgium, and Ireland are
likely locations for these to begin in.


3. New interns for FSFE

Stian Rodven Eide and Johannes Tiemer are FSFE's new interns in Göteborg. 
Stian's primary task is organising the Free Software part of FSCONS and a 
booth to present FS and FSFE at the European Social Forum in Malmö in September.
Johannes studies Economics in Kiel (Germany). His main task consists of
compiling studies and analyses - among others about the Swedish market for
Free Software. Benjamin Morant is working as Georg's assistant at the FSFE 
Office in Zürich (Switzerland). He is organising a booth during the Braderie 
de Lille (France) in September and is drawing cartoons about the all-day 
life within the FSFE.

We also would to thank Irina, who during her internship helped with organising 
conferences and many administrative tasks. She was an invaluable contact point 
for our activities. 


4. Students' union organizes talk on political aspects of Free Software

The students' executive committee (AStA) of the University of Bochum,
Germany, organized a lecture on essential ideas and political issues of
Free Software with Bernhard Reiter. The event took place on the 23rd of
June and formed part of a series of lectures on IT and information
security. Particular attention was paid to the questions whether software
choices constitute political decisions, which benefits arise from the use
of Free Software and why MS Word is not the proper file format to be used
when sending documents to others. The lecture was followed by an inspiring
discussion with the audience (about 20 students). The AStA - being elected 
by the students' parliament - represents the entire students' body and 
therefore is the ideal board to promote Free Software in the environment 
of a University. After all, Free Software complies best with academic 
traditions of sharing knowledge. Special thanks go to Moritz Schulte for 
organizing this event.


5. FTF releases training documentation on the SELF platform

FSFE's Freedom Task Force has begun to release its current Free Software
training documentation in SCORM elearning format through the SELF Platform:
http://beta.selfplatform.eu/SELF/collectionview/
Select 'Introduction to Free Software and Open Standards' in the left
hand menu and then choose 'The strategic implementation of Free Software
in business' when the option is presented.  FSFE will be releasing one
section of the course per week until all of our existing material is
freely available on-line.


6. Zurich Fellowship meeting - 2008-08-15

There was a Fellowship meeting at the FSFE Zurich office from 18:00 until 
19:30 on Friday the 15th of August. Some free (as in beer) beer was provided
for the around 10 Fellows and FSFE staff that attended. Ways of spreading the 
word about Free Software in Switzerland were discussed, and the evenings host,
Shane Coughlan, told about Akademy '08 and the Fiduciary License Agreement (FLA)
which got quite some attention on that very conference. He even held his promise
of not talking about licenses.

7. 'Who Owns Free Software? The Copyright and Patent Debate' speech at OSiM World, Berlin - 2008-08-17

Shane Coughlan, Freedom Task Force coordinator at FSFE, delivered a speech 
entitled 'Free Software licenses and other questions' at OSiM World at Berlin 
on the 17th of August. The talk examined the question of ownership, the goal 
of owning creative work, benefits to consumers and the community and the 
relationship between ownership and Free Software licences.  

8. Official launch of GPLv3 in The Netherlands - 2008-08-19

Shane Coughlan, Freedom Task Force coordinator at FSFE, hosted a three hour 
workshop entitled 'Licensing questions and Legal issues in the light of GPLv3' 
for the launch of the GPLv3 at the Univesity of Tilburg, Amsterdam, The 
Netherlands on the 19th of August. This event is sponsored by NLnet. 


FORTHCOMING EVENTS 


9. First Fellowship meeting in Stuttgart - 2008-08-22

There will be a Fellowship meeting at the Unithekle, Allmandring 17, 70596 
Stuttgart on Friday the 22th of August at 19:00. This is the first Fellowship 
meeting in Stuttgart and all Fellows and Free Software supporters nearby are 
invited to attend. It will be a good chance to get to know each other in 
person, discuss the possibility of future Fellowship meetings in Stuttgart and 
to generally have a good time.
Further information: Bjoern Schiessle (schiessle at fsfe.org) or on the web:
http://wiki.fsfe.org/FellowshipGroup/Stuttgart


10. Fellowship's stand at the Braderie de Lille, Lille (France) - 2008-09-06 and 2008-09-07

The so-called "Braderie de Lille" (Lille's flea market) is a big outside-event 
which has taken place every year since the 12th century during the first 
week-end of September. chtinux, a Linux User Group which is installed around 
there, has proposed to the Fellowship to take part in the Braderie. The FSFE, 
and especially the Fellowship's stand, will get much visibility, since 
millions of people of numerous nations take a walk on Lille's streets. Come 
to discover this beautiful city and to eat some Braderie's culinary 
specialities like clams ! And above all, come in order to support the 
Fellowship ! Fellowship's stand will be situated on Place du Vieux Marché 
aux chevaux. If you want more information about this event please send an 
email to Benjamin: morant at fsfeurope.org 


You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters on
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html

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