Hi, I wanted to raise an advocacy issue that's been bothering me for a while. It concerns The ICT Hub, a coalition of several large UK organisations that received very significant funding last year (from the Home Office) to promote ICT within UK Voluntary and Community Organisations (VCOs).
The ICT Hub seems likely to become a very significant source of advice for the 'Third Sector', and will probably be perceived with some authority. They will also be reaching out to organisations that have no previous experience of computing. Their targeted audience is one I'd most expect to appreciate Free Software, so I was hoping the ICT Hub would promote it. However, from the outset (when they started publishing documents and questionnaires in MSWord format) they have shown very little appreciation of the issues. To get some idea of how confused some of them are, just see the bewildering conclusion of this excerpt: "[...] Word doesn't let me open (or at least not automatically) something which has been saved in Open Office. I'm all for open standards, but if someone is sending me documents which I know 95% of my fellow users can't open unless they install some open source software, how is that any more open?" http://www.icthub.org.uk/cms/opencms/icthub/articles/Open_Source.htm l They mention 'open source' a few other times on their website, but sometimes they seem to be encouraging fear and doubt. Occasionally they say things that are just wacky: "Open Source software is written using less powerful computers, which don’t need to be upgraded as often as they promote and adhere to common standards and formats." http://www.icthub.org.uk/cms/opencms/icthub/how_we_can_help/opensour ce_02.html Only in their separate 'knowledgebase', which seems to be managed independently by lasa.org.uk, are some better written articles, but considering the previous (mis)guidance and criticism, which is more prominently placed on the main ICT Hub site, I'm not sure people will read this far. http://www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk/linuxrealworld With their current stance, I think the ICT Hub could be detering community-minded organisations from adopting or even investigating Free Software! So, I think we should do something. Perhaps we could start by writing to The ICT Hub, to politely ask them to correct the most inaccurate/moronic/derisive statements on their website, to acknowledge that Free Software has broader social implications, and to provide open-format alternatives to the many Word documents they offer for download. Fortunately, the current ICT Hub website was only launched this month. Before that the site was hideous and inaccessible, so very few people have probably read it. At this early stage we may be able to convince them to revise their content on 'open source' before much damage is done. If you are interested, please can you help me to critique their site, and write a persuasive letter to them? First I think we need to find their most fallacious and objectionable statements. We can also collect good examples of self-contradictions in their content, to show how confusing their advice can be. Best wishes, Huxley Concerned about your privacy? Instantly send FREE secure email, no account required http://www.hushmail.com/send?l=480 Get the best prices on SSL certificates from Hushmail https://www.hushssl.com?l=485 _______________________________________________ Fsfe-uk mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsfe-uk
