UNDP-APDIP International Open Source Network - FOSSAPII Blog, reporting from Siem Reap, Cambodia

From software to content

fredericknoronha — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 02:50:51 +0530

After the trip to Siem Reap, I thought of sharing some photos (and a little text) to the page devoted to Siem Reap on the ever-helpful Wikipedia. Please help to update and improve the content (is this a suitable word?) there.

Who was there?

fredericknoronha — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 07:15:40 +0530

There was this useful sheet listing participants who took part in FOSSAP-II. So here are some links to their organisations. Hope all work!

Bengalinux, BurmaIT, NiDA or the National ICT Development Authority of Cambodia, Co-Create Software Branch of the China Software Industry Association, University of the South Pacific in the Fiji, SOPAC, or the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission, Sun Wah Linux, National Institute for Smart Government, India, Alternative Law Forum of Bangalore, India, BytesForAll, Asia=Pacific Development Information Programme, Indonesia Go Open, Ministry of Research and Technology, Intel.com, Farsi KDE, Jhai Foundation, Muang Lao of Laos, Free and Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan, Pakistan Software Export Board (see the link to its Open Source Resource Centre or OSRC, Philippines Linux Users Group, Inc, Jetro Singapore, ICTA, Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka, Lanka Linux User Group, among others. (If I've missed out listing your website, do let me know!)

Marrying wikis and blogs

fredericknoronha — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 06:28:51 +0530

What happens when a wiki marries a blog, and runs into a mailing-list and a website? This is a wonderful world of new communication opportunities, and it's probably a good idea to check out what works. Look out for FOSSAP on Wikipedia. Take a look at this Wikipedia entry for FOSSAPII and this one for the International Open Source Network.

FOSS focus near the Angkor Wat

fredericknoronha — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 23:59:33 +0530

Building capacity is important in a world where this form of software -- which can be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed -- is trying to make its dent in schools, universities, IT education, government policies and strategies of global agencies. Localisation means "translating" software, not just for language but also in a culture-sensitive manner that fits the context. (Asia also needs software that runs on earlier-generation hardware!) "Open content can be particularly relevant in a situation where students don't have access to textbooks (because they can't afford them), and we need to find ways to bridge this knowledge deficit," says IOSN.net manager Sunil Abraham.

Policy and e-governance are also being discussed at this point. With upto 50% of software sales going to governments in the region, e-governance is seen as a "huge area for FOSS growth" too.

Geneva to Tunis, will history repeat itself on FOSS?

fredericknoronha — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 23:37:13 +0530

"FOSS was completely drowned by proprietary software in the first phase of the WSIS at Geneva. We were quite excited that the International Open Source Network was providing some emphasis on FOSS this time. But it looks like it has been drowned again," cautioned one speaker at Siem Reap's FOSSAPII.

This is a report from Richard M Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation, on WSIS at Geneva in 2003. Here is a report that gives more background. This is RMS's speech prepared for Geneva. FSF Europe has this reference document on Free Software and its role in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

This ITU statement says: "Protection is necessary not only for on-line music or written texts and information, but also for software: the debate on “open source” software, i.e. a software which sources can be accessed by users, is ongoing, and its economic consequences are being considered." Meanwhile, ITworld.com reported that WSIS: Delegates fail to agree on open-source 'support' in Geneva two years back.

Will history repeat itself?

A link to China: Gong Min

fredericknoronha — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 21:00:00 +0530

Beijing-based Gong Min, D.Sc., is a council member of the Co-Create Software League of China. CoSoft describes itself thus, "Initiated, legally registered and established in Feb. of 2000 by institutions and individuals that are determined to revive Chinese software industry, it is a nonprofit software technology league. It is made up of members, the Council and executing bodies." Here's a link to some of the work that CoSoft has been doing.

A Frenchman, and maps

fredericknoronha — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 09:27:18 +0530

Mapserver, says Franck, is a tool, for "bringing data to all stakeholders via Internet and Opensource Technology". It promises the tools for e-government, good governance, transparency, sustainable development, asset management, disaster management and security.... provided we have the political will for that.

To see what's possible, visit some of these sites from the distant (from us!) South Pacific islands of Tonga, Fiji, Tuvalu, Kiribati. Franck sees many advantages in using Free and Open Source software. These include sustainability, licenses (Internet licences are expensives), software support, no "black box" phenomenon (where we don't understand the technology we use). It also allows you to rely on standards and support many file formats (not vendor dependent). It is reliable. And secure too, provided the administrator cares for it.

For more links on what uses Tikiwiki can be put to take a look at the Tikiwiki Community Portal. Uses include uses in educational context, using the mobility features of WAP browsing or for use with a PDA, and, of course, Franck's interest of maps.

Copyrights, going insane?

fredericknoronha — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 09:05:00 +0530

Copyrights, says Liang, has a misguided belief in its own supremacy. It believes that without copyrights, there would be no incentive to create. It also has a belief in its own supremacy and immortality -- as if the copyright system is the only one across all time and cultures. Likewise, it has bouts of delusion, is unable to empathise with the needs of fellow human beings, and also has a propensity for arbitrary violent behaviour.

Now, Liang isn't simply raising slogans. This alumni of India's prestigious National Law School has explicit examples to make his point on how ludicrous copyright can be. Lawrence Liang is part of the Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore. You can get a copy of his interesting Guide to Open Content Licences with just a click-download. See another of Liang's articles convincing documentary makers about the need to try the free and open content

. PS: And don't get mislead by his name, he's of Chinese origin but Indian by choice. India too has had small Chinese communities, such as those in Calcutta. Many at FOSSAP-II repeatedly kept asking Liang if he was from "Malaysia".

From books to fonts and local computing

fredericknoronha — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 08:46:37 +0530

Amar Gurung is the director of the Nepali Language Computing Project of the Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya.

The Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya calls itself the "principal archive of books and periodicals in the Nepali language, the mother tongue (or lingua franca) of a little over 30 million people of South Asia".

MPP says the official opening of its PAN Localization Project of Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya took place on March 5, 2004. The main objective look at standardization of Nepali fonts, localization and Open Source.

They're coming out with a live CD in Nepali on December 16, 2005. Gurung says Nepali shares the Devanagari script with north Indian languages, so the script issue isn't a problem. He says techies from the Indlinux network like G Karaunkar have been helpful in promoting localisation solutions in Nepal too.

The doc who talks geek

fredericknoronha — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 07:45:34 +0530

Actually, this doctor from this South East Asian country is part of a network that is looking at how IT can improve health-care.

She's president of the Primary Care Doctors' Organisation Malaysia, or PCDOM. This organisation says, "We intend to embed information and communication technology (ICT) into our clinic procedures to promote high standards of care to our patients."

They try to do this via Primacare. "There is a real need for information to support patient care, and management-decision support. We would like to position Malaysia as a leader in leveraging free and open source software in the health sector," says she.

So, their Primary Healthcare Network Services seeks to share information via an electronic community of general practitioners, their nurses and staff. It aims to set in place a clinic management and decision-support system. Content for the network is being developed by practising GPs and medical practitioners.

Some useful FOSS-connected health links on the page include openEHR, Open Source Health Care Alliance, Linux Medical News, and Open Source Healthcare Resources.

Making cybercafes free and open

fredericknoronha — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 06:55:13 +0530

Our planet's largest archipelago Indonesia has an interesting link between Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and cybercafes. As part of their Indonesia, Go Open Source project, they have a three-CD pack which helps cybercafes to go free and open.

Haryanto Sahar who is chief of the information network infrastructure unit at the Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology had this pack of software, that comes along with a ten-page booklet. It runs the cybercafe, offers a billing system, security, office tools, a broswer, email solutions and chat -- all in Indonesian!

You can also get via this link to the IGOS sekretariat. There's a mailing list here. And, for the wiki go here. Can you read Indonesian? Much seems to be happening at this blog. And months back when I met Adi Nugroho in Bangalore, this was the fascinating story he was talking about... again regarding the use of GNU/Linux in Indonesian cybercafes!

Link from the Philippines... and many ideas

fredericknoronha — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 03:08:49 +0530

Marvin Pascual of the Philippines has been actively leading efforts to plug for Free and Open Source Software through the group, aptly, called the PLUG. That's short for the Philippine Linux Users' Group, Inc.

A short, self-description goes thus: " For over 10 years already, the Philippine Linux Users' Group, or PLUG, has been actively promoting the adoption of the GNU/Linux operating system in the Philippines. It is composed of volunteers, individuals as well as institutions, who actively advocate for the wider usage of the GNU/Linux operating system and other free and open source technologies."

Marvin mentioned that Eric Pareja was the first person in the Philippines to get a copy of GNU/Linux on a floppy disc! The PLUG was created in 1994. It has a mailing list. Actually, lists, because there are five lists. There's an IRC channel, with all the geeks active on it at night, offering real-time support! There's also a web portal, and quarterly technical seminars.

Besides observing Software Freedom Day both this year and in the last, the group has also marked Linux 99 (to mark the birthday of the kernel), Linux 10th birthday, Manila Con 'Know They Enemy' (a hacking competition to see who could find a hidden file from various OS-based servers onto their desktop), the Phil OS Conference, and Linux World Philippines Conference 2005 comes up from September 14-16.

Check out this list of Filipino-made (Free and) Open Source Software Index. Marvin gave a list of 'extension' groups of the PLUG, including Unplug, CebuLUG, DabaweGNU, MITCLug, Batangas and more... but it slipped past a bit fast in the presentation. Great work guys!

An education e-primer, and more

fredericknoronha — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 12:26:02 +0530

Tan Wooi Tong, Kenneth Wong and Anousak Souphavanh and Theppitak Karoonboonyanan (jointly, in the last case) have done a nice job of these texts.

In the case of education, Tan Wooi Tong makes an interesting case for Free and Open Source Software in education (lower costs; reliability, performance and security; building long-term capacity; an open philosophy; encouraging innovations; an alternative to illegal copying; possibilities for localisation; and learing from the source code). Tan then briefly zooms in on the requirements of educational institutions -- networking, internet connectivity, security, webpublishing, email, file-and-print services, network services, web servers and other server software.

Thrown in are some examples of what works, together with solutions like the made-in-New Zealand Koha GPL-ed library management solution, and PhpMyLibrary and OpenBiblio. Moodle for e-learning and ATutor that offers tools which allows the instructor to manage online content are also introduced.

To wind-up, there are links to the Open Content phenomenon of sharing information and knowledge -- MIT's OpenCourseWare, the ever-impressive Wikipedia and the Public Library of Science. This is a 40-page slim booklet packed with information. Considering that it's just a download away, there's no reason why you shouldn't click your way to it.

In class, fighting the proprietorial tide

fredericknoronha — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 11:48:45 +0530

Kamal Raj Subedi of Nepal spoke about the Project Ganesha from the Himalayan kingdom, now known as the Digital Bridges project. These links take you to what's written on the web about this project. But more direct (and official) links could be got here and here.

Davaa Tuul, a Mongolian lady who is executive director of the Japan Mongolian Information Technology Association, spoke about the Sakura Project. This project describes itself as bridging the digital divide between rural areas and the capital city of this landlocked Central Asian country sandwitched between Russia and china.

Wikipedia says: "...the 18th largest country in the world by area, Mongolia has very little arable land ...much of its area is grassland, with mountains in the north and west and the Gobi Desert in the south. Little over 30 percent of the population are nomadic or semi-nomadic Tibetan Buddhists of the Mongol ethnicity. Over fifty per cent of the population reside in capital city Ulaanbaatar."

Meanwhile, Dr M Anwar-ur-Rehman Pasha of Pakistan spoke about the Free/Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan. It recently held its first National Free and Open Source Software Awareness Campaign.

Questions coming in from Danese Cooper

fredericknoronha — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 10:00:00 +0530

Her visiting card describes Danese Cooper as an Open Source Diva. She's with the Intel Corporation (for an unofficial listing of Intel links, check some of the 13.6 million here.

After presentations by officials and public sector folk from China, India and Vietnam, Cooper posed a query to speakers specially from the latter two countries. "We have been hearing similar issues coming up about getting people to adopt Open Source. It is still not easy to operate the software. And that it's hard to educate people over this, specially government servants. It's the same situation (from what we heard at FOSSAP-I. "It's very similar to what I heard the last time," was her comment.