Hey again, Building upon this exchange and emails piling up in the sister thread makes me think (correct me if I'm wrong): * for you, Mekkawy, and for most of the people who've spoken so far, OE is and has to continue to be a think tank/lobby/advocacy org (you name it); * the only types of community you envision are either a GLUG (sorry, I always use GNU/Linux User Group) or a developers' group.
Which gets me thinking: 1/ why would you artificially impose boundaries such as what activities define or not a community? 2/ why is the alleged institutional work only done in favour of open source and not in favour of open knowledge in general? 3/ what exactly is understood under "open source", who's set up these limits and when did the community (ie, the people on this list to start with) agree with? 4/ what's exactly the job of a community coordinator (== what tasks was the person having this position supposed to accomplish) and until when is the respective contract going? My question #1 actually relates to the different activities envisioned (or not) here. Outreach, event organisation, content production, training, hacking, etc. are all activities that communities do. It may sound blunt and harsh, but I fail to believe you'll achieve great change on the ground only through drafting strategies and white papers. France is the only country in the EU -- and perhaps in the world -- where a law imposes a preference for FLOSS solutions for all publicly funded research institutions. The law was not just voted, but also promulgated which means each and every of these institutions has to apply it. I let you guess the outcome (hint: none does). And why? Well, very simple: because the majority has no idea whatsoever this exists, what it means and -- most importantly -- how to comply with. Why? Cuz there's nearly nobody out there to do outreach and training. And we are speaking of the country that has one of the strongest FLOSS communities worldover. Ofc, if such a law -- and other previous successes against software patents in the EU -- existed, it's precisely because there was some serious institutional work ongoing. But there are very few people who do just this, the overwhelming majority of the community being busy with geeking out and outreach. There's an event, even a small one, every week. There are wikis and wikis with people translating content, producing their own. There are Ubuntu Parties twice a year in major cities, and for having been in the core team of the Parisian editions for 2 years, we get these happening with nearly no money (I think less than 100 euros was the biggest we've spent) and with volunteers only. Each Parisian editons brings between 2,000 and 4,000+ people over a week-end. Thus, you understand my confusion when I read emails where people spill ink (actually bits) telling how the only community that could make it is a think tank to draft national strategies that mention how lovely it'd be to use open source and cloud (thus, SaaS) in the country. Apologies if this sounds blunt and harsh, but that's delirious :) It doesn't mean your work is bullshit, it means that limiting the possible options is insane and irrational when there's a heavy bunch of challenges ahead. In no way should someone be put-off from participating but this is what happens (and this is a part of the rationale behind your _mea culpa_, Mekkawy). Being part of the civil society that stands its grounds when it boils down to policy-making is one thing. Limit and lock such activities as the only possible way forward is dangerous -- and here I agree with Eslam's stance that such deeds are contrary to the values that make up FLOSS. I am sorry my Arabic doesn't allow me to explicit these thoughts, yet I believe the language won't put people off and others will chim in anyway so that the discussion remains constructive. Best, Rayna 2014/1/5 Ahmed Mekkawy <[email protected]> > Hey Rayna, > > Happy new year for you. Actually what I sent till now is more of > headlines, but I can't say the details of 2 years in an email, will keep > sending whatever comes to my mind. > > Well OpenEgypt isn't a users group, nor a developers group, if that's what > you are asking about. I didn't actually classify it, but yeah the current > role is more of a think tank and interfacing FOSS communities with the > government. It's valid to do more roles later, but it's meant that it > shouldn't be competing with users group, but rather empowering them. I see > the future of OE to include planning, coordinating between users groups, > even lobbying, or all/none of that. No solid idea yet. > > > ---- > Ahmed Mekkawy > CTO | Founder > Spirula Systems > www.spirulasystems.com > > > On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 3:24 PM, Rayna <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hey, >> >> Happy New Year and all dat. Thanks for the details, Mekkawy. >> >> In light of recent clarifications, my question remains: is OpenEgypt >> supposed to be a community or is it supposed to be a think tank? Because >> thus far I see many features for a think tank but (nearly?) none for a >> community. >> >> Rayna >> >> >> 2014/1/5 Ahmed Mekkawy <[email protected]> >> >>> اسلام، فيه ايميل تانى اتبعت امبارح، اقراه من فضلك >>> >>> ---- >>> Ahmed Mekkawy >>> CTO | Founder >>> Spirula Systems >>> www.spirulasystems.com >>> >>> >>> On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 1:16 PM, Eslam Farid <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> مازلت في انتظار الكلام هنا.. >>>> جزاكم الله خيرا. >>>> >>>> On Wednesday, 1 January 2014 13:53:35 UTC+3, Eslam Farid wrote: >>>>> >>>>> شكرا يا أحمد وفي انتظار اني أسمع منك، وأرجوا فعلا انك تكتب بالعربي .. >>>>> جزاك الله خيرا. >>>>> >>>>> On Tuesday, 31 December 2013 19:57:45 UTC+3, Ahmed Mekkawy wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> I'll try in this email to dump my info about this topic, so please >>>>>> ask me if anything seems to be missing. In anything other than official >>>>>> info, I'm saying my own openion, not OpenEgypt's official one. >>>>>> >>>>>> لو أى شخص متضايق من كلامى باللغة الانجليزية يقول. >>>>>> >>>>>> OpenEgypt is an NGO under establishment, with currently 10 founders >>>>>> after the loss of Ali Shaath. This shouldn't be mixed with MCIT FOSS >>>>>> strategy group, which consists of governmental employees, private sector >>>>>> representative, and independant consultants. >>>>>> >>>>>> First, OpenEgypt founders are as follows, in alphabetical order, with >>>>>> due respect: >>>>>> - The late Ali Shaath. >>>>>> - Ahmed ElEzabi. >>>>>> - Ahmed ElHefnawy. >>>>>> - Ahmed Hussein. >>>>>> - Ahmed Mekkawy. >>>>>> - Diaa Radwan. >>>>>> - Haitham Nabil. >>>>>> - Manal Hassan. >>>>>> - Mahmoud Tawfik. >>>>>> - Naglaa Rizk. >>>>>> - Sherif ElKassas. >>>>>> >>>>>> I'm not sure that I'm the best one to introduce everyone of the >>>>>> founders, so I invite everyone of them to introduce himself. But in >>>>>> short I >>>>>> believe that they are all great minds with diversed backgrounds. >>>>>> >>>>>> Currently we have one employee in OpenEgypt, which is Samar Ali, in >>>>>> the role of coordinator. The first coordinator, which was Ahmed Koraiiem, >>>>>> was working on volunteeraly basis. The place is donated from ADEF, the >>>>>> NGO >>>>>> founded by the late Ali Shaath. >>>>>> >>>>>> The fund for OE is till now solely by the founders donations. The >>>>>> agreed amount at first was EGP 5k per founder. Currently OE had spent >>>>>> slightly more than 50% of its money. Spendings are only on Samar's >>>>>> salary, >>>>>> the paper work for establishment of the NGO, and similar stuff. >>>>>> >>>>>> The official name for the NGO is الجمعية المصرية للبرمجيات الحرة, and >>>>>> in english it's OpenEgypt. Till the moment the official establishment was >>>>>> not complete, and here we are back to square zero as the papers has to be >>>>>> all remade, cause of the loss of Ali. But I expect the paper to be >>>>>> smoother >>>>>> as we already got some approvals that should be automatically granted >>>>>> this >>>>>> time. >>>>>> >>>>>> The aim of OE isn't clearly written yet, we are currently working on >>>>>> defining the missing points. The main idea is clear though, it's to work >>>>>> on >>>>>> a strategic direction to create a FOSS ecosystem in Egypt, even if it's a >>>>>> small one in the beginning. This means that OE shouldn't be redoing what >>>>>> users group does, it should rather focus on coordinating their efforts, >>>>>> work with government entities and private sector, and of course >>>>>> universities. This work should be targeting the decision makers rather >>>>>> than >>>>>> targeting users base. This isn't a preference for change, but it's a >>>>>> trial >>>>>> to complete what user groups does and open the closed doors for them. >>>>>> >>>>>> About MCIT group, will send this tomorrow isA. Seems I will have the >>>>>> habit of a daily email to this group >>>>>> >>>>>> ---- >>>>>> Ahmed Mekkawy >>>>>> CTO | Founder >>>>>> Spirula Systems >>>>>> www.spirulasystems.com >>>>>> >>>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "OpenEgypt" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "OpenEgypt" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> "Change l'ordre du monde plutôt que tes désirs." >> >> http://me.hatewasabi.info/ >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "OpenEgypt" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "OpenEgypt" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- "Change l'ordre du monde plutôt que tes désirs." http://me.hatewasabi.info/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "OpenEgypt" group. 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