Asia Source II « a few of my thoughts….

Software Freedom Day ‘08 at UMAK

September 26, 2008 at 6:55 pm | In Asia Source II, FOSS, my interests | 1 Comment

The Software Freedom Day 2008 was celebrated worldwide last September 20, 2008. Several celebrations were conducted in the Philippines simultaneously on the same day.

One was done at the University of Makati, which was headed by the CP-Union. Our team, Asia Source Pilipinas (sponsored by IOSN, Exist, and 8Layer) facilitated one breakout session in the afternoon. The session started with a talk on the background and history of Ubuntu and then followed by the basic applications of Ubuntu, which are usually used on a daily basis. Afterwhich, the Edubuntu and its educational applications were introduced as well.

Together with Diane, Myra, Joanna, and Lawrence, we were able to gain the interests and enthusiasm of our audience, which was composed of students, teachers, and IT Professionals. The afternoon was not just all talks and lectures. Headed by Myra, the group facilitated an “Ubuntu Olympics” making the audience learn while having fun. For the said game, the audience was divided into 5 groups and they performed 10 ubuntu tasks. It was soooo fun. Nobody was bored and everybody learned. Win or lose, each one had some freebies and knowledge to take home.

Happy Software Freedom Day!

AS2nauts @ 1

January 26, 2008 at 1:59 am | In Asia Source II | 5 Comments

a very FOSS productive week…

September 28, 2007 at 11:14 pm | In Asia Source II, my interests, my life... | 2 Comments

I had a very productive and happy week. Lati, one of my colleagues in Asia Source II, organized a FOSS event: the Open Technology Fair 2007. The event took place in Koronadal National Comprehensive High School (KNCHS) where she teaches and is also my Alma Mater. I was visiting Lati since Monday and have been helping her out in the preparations.

A FOSS event is rare in high schools. Usually, people involved are from college and up. But with the influence of Lati, students of KNCHS were already aware and are using some open source software. Together with Doc Francis, Ate Nelia, and Al, we have witnessed how these students are very much interested and enthusiastic to learn more about FOSS.

It was very satisfying for me because I was able to help Lati (kahit papano) in such great endeavor. On the 2nd day, a tech talk was also conducted for the teachers and I introduced them to Content Management System (CMS) . Most of them had a hard time understanding but at least they are now aware of FOSS existence.

The event was also a product of a good collaboration among us, the Asia Source II people. Doc Francis flew all the way from Manila to give several talks, including presscons and live radio interview. Ate Nelia travelled from Davao City to contribute her expertise. And Al, a participant in OSHCA, even if he’s not from Asia Source II, also drove from Cagayan de Oro City to observe the event (initially) but his expertise also made a lot of contributions to the event.

The 2-day event was really overwhelming. Again, changing the world starts from little good things that one can do.

I truly hope that the FOSS spirit in my hometown will never fade away. This is just a beginning of a wonderful quest.

Philippines takes part in the Worldwide Celebration of SFD 2007

September 13, 2007 at 10:04 pm | In Asia Source II | No Comments

In its aim to educate people from around the world on the ideals and benefits of free software, the Software Freedom International (SFI) has been initiating the Software Freedom Day (SFD) since 2004. SFI coordinates with Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) advocates globally in organizing the said event, providing support and SFD giveaways and materials.

Now on its 4^th worldwide celebration, the Computer Professionals’ Union (CP-Union), along with other regional SFD festivities in the country, is organizing a local SFD 2007 at the UP College of Engineering Library 2 on September 15, 2007. CP-Union is closely working with the University of the Philippines Linux Users’ Group (Unplug), University of the Philippines Association for Computing Machinery, Philippine Linux Users’ Group, Software Freedom Philippines, Txtpower.org, the UNDP-APDIP’s International Open Source Network (IOSN) ASEAN+3, and SFD2007 Team AsiaSource-Pilipinas in marking another outstanding and very stimulating Software Freedom Day.

Team AsiaSource-Pilipinas is a group of Filipinos who were given the opportunity to join Asia Source Camps for the past years. The most recent camp was held last January 21-31, 2007 at Sukabumi, Indonesia. A group of 19 Filipinos composed of participants, facilitators, and organizers met in Indonesia and eventually transformed into a very dynamic group of Filipino FOSS enthusiasts, whose fields of interests and affiliations range from non-government organizations to private enterprises, sustaining and promoting the FOSS advocacy within and outside the country.

After the said source camp, members of the group have been continuously conducting series of activities in its aim to spread FOSS. A local group called SOCSARGEN Open Source Network was formed last March 2007 as a result of the great efforts of a very active member based in Koronadal City. In her continuous efforts, an Open Technology Fair will also take place on September 27-28, 2007 in Koronadal City, South Cotabato, featuring tech talks and exhibits on FOSS. Another team member based in Zamboanga City, also in Mindanao, has been very active in collaborating with local FOSS groups and indivduals in carrying out trainings on FOSS. The group has also actively participated in the National FOSS Conference organized by the Institute of Popular Democracy (IPD) last March 7-8, 2007 at the EDSA Shangrila Hotel. Members of the group have also been taking part in bringing the Sahana, a FOSS Disaster Management System, to the country.

AsiaSource Pilipinas intends to lead more FOSS-related activities, extend assistance and initate collaborations with organizations, which share the same aspirations with the group. Thus, AsiaSource Pilipinas is giving out full support and extending full cooperation to the CP-Union in the preparations for the Software Freedom Day Celebration.

SFD 2007 will commence with a series of plenary talks. Topics include ‘The FOSS Movement in Advancing ICT for the People’, ‘Why we use Free and Open Source Software’, and ‘Updates on the FOSS Bill’. The second half of the day will be featuring talks on ‘Ruby on Rails’, ‘Open Source Development using Glade’, ‘FOSS for daily use’, and ‘Migrating to Free Software’.

Meanwhile, demonstration booths will be running the whole day. There will be demos on FOSS for kids, for daily use, for developers, and for non-government organizations (NGOs). A Burn Fest Booth will also be set up where participants can bring some blank CDs for open source software burning. Giveaways like Ubuntu CDs, CICT’s OpenStep, and OpenCD will also be distributed.

SFD 2007 organizers worldwide fervently hope that this collaboration will cultivate a general understanding of software freedom, empowering the public to freely use, develop, and create Free and Open Source Software and enriching anyone’s interest on any area of life that involves software.

SFD 2007 is very much open to the general public with free admission. Students, enthusiasts, advocates, teachers, government, and non-government workers are encouraged to attend and let us all experience software freedom.

For more information, please visit http://cp-union.org/cms or http://softwarefreedomday.org. ###

AS2nauts in Malaysia

June 15, 2007 at 6:25 pm | In Asia Source II, trainings | 3 Comments

After the AS2 gathering for OSHCA 2007, another set of AS2nauts gathered in Malaysia for the SEACEM Bridging New Media Workshop. I, Taibah (from Indonesia), and Anil (from Nepal) were all participants in the said workshop. Sam (from Malaysia) is part of the organizing team and one of our brilliant facilitators while Gayathry (also from Malaysia) was a resource person in one of the sessions. Fouad (from Pakistan) was also in Malaysia at that time so he was also able to meet with us.

Aside from the workshop, which taught me a lot, it was really great seeing each other again. AS2 bond is really something and AS2nauts will continue seeing each other as we continue with each of our journey.