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Newest FSF board member Hill discusses free software goals (Linux.com)
Linux.com profiles Benjamin Mako Hill, newest member of the Free Software Foundation board of directors. "According to Hill, free software advocates 'have tried to bring the philosophy to technical communities, to radicalize the technical communities. That's sort of the low-hanging fruit. I think there's a compelling reason to reach out to communities that are already politically aligned. There are a lot of nonprofit organizations, or people in the civil society space who believe that it's absolutely essential that people be able to control their communications environment. They are philosophically 100% aligned with free software, and, as soon as you can tell them about it, they're already on board.'"
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Newest FSF board member Hill discusses free software goals (Linux.com) Posted Jul 11, 2007 22:40 UTC (Wed) by jbailey (subscriber, #16890) [Link] I've found that it's actually very hard to get other non-profits or church groups that should be philisophically aligned on board. The people that I've spoken with are worried that Free Software will cause people to spend time learning a new environment, and that Free formats will make their message inaccessible to a large portion of their target audiences. Where I've offered to help them overcome those issues, the answer is usually "And what happens when you're not available to us for some reason." The paranoia level is closer to what I'm used to from financial firms.
Newest FSF board member Hill discusses free software goals (Linux.com) Posted Jul 11, 2007 23:12 UTC (Wed) by socket (guest, #43) [Link] I've also found this to be the case, but it's usually because nonprofits and churches rely a lot on volunteers and are concerned about anything that might cause them to eventually have to pay a lot of money for a consultant to do something because the person who originally set them up with some particular technology has become unavailable.
It's an understandable concern, but this is exactly where local users groups and teaching are helpful. I once took someone to our local Barnes and Noble, and showed them the collection of books on Linux, and then walked them through the process I'd take to set them up a web and email server based on free software, introduced them to other people I knew who use Linux, showed them a number of websites... and the fear dissipated. His concern was that if *I* couldn't help him out, he'd be out of luck.
I was willing to spend several weeks or months of time to teach other people in the organization about free software, and made a convincing argument that even if I weren't available, it wouldn't be hard for someone appropriately motivated to figure any of it out.
My experience is that they weren't any *more* scared of the free software than the proprietary software, they just believed that *anything* unfamiliar would paint them into a corner. The most important thing I taught, I believe, is that understanding computers isn't beyond the average person's capacity, given time and motivation. When people become less afraid to learn new things, convincing them that free software is better than proprietary software is the easy part.
Newest FSF board member Hill discusses free software goals (Linux.com) Posted Jul 11, 2007 23:53 UTC (Wed) by jmtapio (subscriber, #23124) [Link] [...] introduced them to other people I knew who use Linux, showed them a number of websites... and the fear dissipated. His concern was that if *I* couldn't help him out, he'd be out of luck. I think that is the main issue when we are dealing with non-technical people (well, ok, it also applies to people in general). There are so many things competing for our time and effort that all of us have to choose our battles. It is much easier for a non-technical person or organization to jump aboard if they get the feel that they are not alone and that they will not be left alone if they take a stance.
Newest FSF board member Hill discusses free software goals (Linux.com) Posted Jul 11, 2007 23:14 UTC (Wed) by sbergman27 (subscriber, #10767) [Link] """The people that I've spoken with are worried that Free Software will cause people to spend time learning a new environment, and that Free formats will make their message inaccessible to a large portion of their target audiences. """
Tell them that your Satanist clients across town have increased their exposure 3-fold as a result of expanding their formats. And that with the money they've saved on software, they are planning a new Cathedral at 10th and Main. ;-)
Newest FSF board member Hill discusses free software goals (Linux.com) Posted Jul 12, 2007 7:42 UTC (Thu) by Los__D (subscriber, #15263) [Link] Heh, numbing a fear with a bigger one always helps :D
Newest FSF board member Hill discusses free software goals (Linux.com) Posted Jul 12, 2007 0:45 UTC (Thu) by makohill (guest, #25519) [Link] I'm not sure the article conveyed this very well but I meant to say that free software might be well served by catering to groups who are already interested in using software but have technical issues (those might be related to migration). Free software communities tend to be pretty good at solving technical problems -- even if they are often just our own.
In any case, the quote above is only one small part of what I think the free software community should be doing and a reasonably small part of what I think the FSF should be spending its money on -- since I don't want the FSF itself to gain too much political baggage outside of promoting its core missions.
I'm a much bigger fan of continuing and expanding other forms of outreach and campaigns like Defective by Design.
Newest FSF board member Hill discusses free software goals (Linux.com) Posted Jul 12, 2007 3:36 UTC (Thu) by jdave23 (guest, #27160) [Link] Well, even if it's a small part of your overall vision for Free Software I commend it.
In fact, I'd like to re-extend the request I made to you personally a few years ago after a couple of meetings you attended in New York.
I asked for your advice and recommendations regarding an organization my colleagues and I created for just such a purpose: The Community Free Software Group (http://cfsg.org/).
You never actually followed up on my request, although I certainly understand that you've been very busy these past few years. Richard expressed his approval of our work and urged us to expand as much as possible. We can certainly use your help, and any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
So please feel free to visit the site and contact us. Bringing Free Software to Community Groups and non-profit organizations is what we're all about!
- Dave
Newest FSF board member Hill discusses free software goals (Linux.com) Posted Jul 12, 2007 13:38 UTC (Thu) by makohill (guest, #25519) [Link] I've subscribed to the CFSG mailing list. I don't know that I have general comments to make that go far beyond Richard's (i.e., good work, keep it up, let me know if there's anything in particular I can help with). If something comes across the mailing list that I think I can help out with or work on, I'll be sure to do that.
Thanks for the heads up.
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