One mis-step on the Diversity bandwagon: scheduling Software Freedom Day on Yom Kippur means that a whole lot of people around here won't be available.
Is your podcast generally available? I suspect that I might enjoy and benefit from it, though I'm a lowly bookstore worker rather than a real librarian. On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 11:05 PM, Stephen Michael Kellat < [email protected]> wrote: > (Also stashed at http://ubuntuone.com/p/CHV/ for easier printing) > > Software Freedom Day is coming up on September 18th. Unfortunately this > will come up really quickly after Ohio LinuxFest 2010. With a little > ingenuity we might still be able to have a presence out there in our > state. I'm also going to be talking about this at Ohio LinuxFest as I > just found out Tuesday night late in the night. > > I am a duly-trained librarian. At present I am the Head Writer for a > library-realm podcast talking about tech and current affairs in the > profession. A fertile ground I know of that we have available to us for > Software Freedom Day would be Ohio's libraries. As it is, Ohio > libraries are leaders in the nation for new tech trends and otherwise > set the drumbeat that others march to. > > Libraries remain stuck in financial paralysis as there is much > uncertainty over funding priorities from state legislatures. Any > presence by our LoCo will have to follow some basic ground rules. Many > libraries will not allow a presence that is only involving disc > distribution especially if it is from only one distro. Libraries also > can sometimes lack funding to put on programs about technology. While > outsiders can put on programs from time to time it is necessary that > such not be a financial burden to libraries. > > For our LoCo we could have an easy presence on Software Freedom Day. > Presenting programs tailored to our really local communities would be > key. Programs would have to deal with three questions at their core: > > 1. What is “software freedom”? > 2. Why should I care? > 3. What does this Ubuntu thingy have to do with software freedom and > why should I care? > > Bear in mind that you must not be making a sales pitch. Normally > library guidelines will prohibit that. If you mention Ubuntu, you need > to at least also mention Debian and openSUSE for example. Just as there > are many flavors of ice cream there are also many flavors of distro. > Being slightly ecumenical in talking about distros will be necessary if > you want to be allowed to speak at a library. > > Bringing your own laptop along with some VGA cable would let you hook up > to a projector if such is available. Using tools like OpenOffice.org to > actually give the presentation helps shows your points while > demonstrating the power of software freedom. A twenty minute > presentation followed by a ten minute Q&A period would be a basic format > that would fit into the mold of your average library program. Using > MagicPoint for your slides back-end might wow teeny-boppers as to how > you can make cool slides with less overhead than PowerPoint, too. > > Ohio is a state rich in diversity. From the “black swamp” that > Toledo arose from to our capital in Columbus to our gateway to > Appalachia in Marietta and more, Ohio somehow survived two hundred years > of being made up of such divergent communities. There need not be one > cookie-cutter approach but there needs to be at least one approach in > our state on that day. > > As a trained librarian I am willing to collaborate if you need help in > pitching a program to your local library. If you want to film your > rehearsal run and either point me to online video or mail me a DVD I can > try to help critique things. This is an advantage our fellow LoCo teams > may not necessarily have. > > Ohio LinuxFest is our opportunity to preach to the choir, so to say, in > the Linux landscape. We still have to preach to the masses too. > Software Freedom Day is when we really should be approaching the masses. > > In an already busy September, is anybody up to the challenge of an > additional bit of proselytizing right after a big show? > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: > https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-us-ohio<https://launchpad.net/%7Eubuntu-us-ohio> > Post to : [email protected] > Unsubscribe : > https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-us-ohio<https://launchpad.net/%7Eubuntu-us-ohio> > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > -- Joseph Zitt ::http://www.josephzitt.com
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