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This is my talk at the first conference about Free Software and Knowledge in Santo Domingo. The conference goal was to "promote and spread the philosophy of Free software, education and knowledge in the Dominican Republic, among all who are concerned about the social, economic and scientific development of Santo Domingo". The main points of the talk were What is software anyway? Do computers and Internet unite or divide? Do they help educate and empower, or do they divide and estrange? What is the contribution of Universities to the effects of these technologies? What could it be?
Citation preview
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Computers and Internet:sources of social exclusion or
engines of education and human development?
Marco Fiorettihttp://mfioretti.com
http://digifreedom.net
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
What is software anyway?
Do computers and Internet unite or divide?
Do they help educate and empower, or do they divide
and estrange?
What is the contribution of Universities to the effects of
these technologies? What could it be?
Questions discussed in this talk
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
This is not a talk about software and programming
This is not a technical talk
This is a talk about civic education and making
(or not) the world a better place
Important!!!
4Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
Marco Fioretti
Member ofOpenDocument Fellowship (www.opendocumentfellowship.com)
Digistan.org (www.digistan.org)
www.eleutheros.org – a Catholic approach to Information Technology
RULE (Run Up to date Linux Everywhere, www.rule-project.org)
Writer for Linux Journal, Linux Format, Pc Professionale and other magazines
Author of the Family Guide to Digital Freedom (http://digifreedom.net)
Home page and writings:
http://mfioretti.com
http://stop.zona-m.net
Author introduction
5Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
Basic concepts
Practical guidelines
Conclusions and discussion
Agenda
6Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold
opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19, www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
The basics: human rights
7Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
Software is not a stand-alone industry or set of tools, but something that:
makes every other “physical” economic activity work, from agriculture to space travel
run every service used by humankind, from mere bureaucracy to healthcare, education, tourism, lotteries...
has an exclusive mandate to package and access in digital format every kind of information we need to live
Why are SW and digital technologies so important?
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
Why is digital information good?
If all conceivable kinds of information (from texts to music, images and 3D models) can be represented as a series of bits
We only need:
ONE class of generic storage devices: bit containers which can change shape and technology without particular problems and are very cheap
ONE (ok, very large...) class of telecom networks, ie bit transporters
And all these data can be preserved or distributed with much less money, time and effort than before!
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Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
What matters isn't software, but what is done through and thanks to software
Your own civil rights and the quality of your own life heavily depend on how software is used around you
(Family Guide to Digital Freedom, http://digifreedom.net)
Why is software relevant?
10Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
Regardless of license costs, software can make us save or waste huge
amounts of public money
Quick example from Italy (2007):
"costs and inefficiencies in management of paper documents cost from 3 and 5%
of GNP, that is between 42 and 70 billions of Euro"
"digital documents could save from 50/60% (electronic billing, digital-only
archives) to 90% (certified electronic mail)"
Software and public money
11Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
"Increased use of digital information” is one of the essential prerequisites to build a
Smart Energy Grid that will reduce CO2 emissions in USA from 60 to 211 million metric
tons of CO2 per year in 2030
(www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/Overviews_Misc/The_Green_Grid_Energy_Savings_and_Carbon_Emi
ssions_Reductions_Enabled_by_a_Smart_Grid, www.consortiuminfo.org/bulletins/apr09.php#feature)
The Obama administration calculated that Electronic Health Records (personal
medical histories in digital format) could save up to $77 billion USD in annual
health care costs
Software, infrastructures and services
12Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
Software makes the difference in:
Relationships
Education
Business
Software and human beings
13Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
Software is used well when:
solves actual problems that YOU really have
does what YOU need, how YOU need it
provide more opportunities for quality education and rewarding jobs
protects, spreads, provides and preserves culture and cultural diversity
gives more control on government
reduces social (vs "digital-only") divides
saves money
In one sentence: when it brings more freedom at all levels in your life
Good uses of software
14Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
Software is used badly when:
you were forced to use it, or to use the wrong software
you force others to use the same software YOU like
it is an end, instead of a tool
it is used without a clear purpose
Bad uses of software
15Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
“the ‘digital’ in today’s life is no longer a range of individual
things, anything from digital clocks to cellphones to
computers to..., but a culture, something which calls upon
habits or inculcates habits”.
Fr Julian Fox, SDB, Digital Virtues, http://stores.lulu.com/Bosconet
Digital is a culture, therefore...
16Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
2008: Hague Declaration on Digital Rights
Government information, services and resources are increasingly
provided virtually rather than physically;
Freedom of speech and association are increasingly exercised on
line rather than in person;
The Internet and the Web provide an unprecedented avenue to
equality of education and opportunity for all peoples throughout
the world;
Source: www.digistan.org/hague-declaration:en
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Secondly, your new car needs not be "compatible" with the cars that your neighbours or co-workers use.
What is that makes software different?
“New and old car in Prishtina Market”www.flickr.com/photos/blandm/297556309/There are some big potential differences for
society between production of software and that
of most material goods: when your car breaks or
spare parts for it go out of production, there is no
retroactive damage.
Your next car won't have to be compatible with
everything you did with the old one: all the
memories of all the trips made with your old car,
all the business relationships built thanks to it,
will still be there.
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
If a software maker goes bankrupt or simply discontinues a product, instead, it can put out of your reach for good all the files you created with it.
If that's the case, the damages caused through software have one characteristic common, even if in an infinitely less serious way, with those caused by nuclear plants without waste management policies, or by depleted uranium weapons:
It will hurt even people who weren't there when it was used, for a long time after it was used.
Using software in the wrong way, you also limit the freedom of choice of everybody else.
Why and how is software dangerous?
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
●Technology (especially digital) is legislation (derived by C. Einfeldt)
●“those who control the code for the software that makes much of the world go round, can control things that might once have been left to various legislatures to control”
Fr J. Fox,SDB, Media and priestly formation today 2009, unpublished
For all these reasons...
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
FSF, 1984:
"So that I can continue to use computers without dishonour, I have decided to put
together a sufficient body of free software so that I will be able to get along without any
software that is not free"
R.M. Stallman, The GNU Manifesto www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html
What is really important?
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
FSF Latin America, 2009:Software Freedom activists have a responsibility to present values,
defending and disseminating the essential Freedoms that define Free Software
...Governments must... ensure the control of the goods they
administrate and regulate... through Software that brings with it freedom to run it for any purpose, to study its source code to
understand its functioning and adapt it to their own needs
Caracas Declarationwww.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2009-07-declaracion-de-caracas
What is really important? (2)
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
2005:
Almost all software applications are used to manage information so these applications are worthless without
information to process, store and display...
the result of [proprietary file formats (not software)... is that digital information isn’t always under the complete control of
the person who created it.
M. Fioretti, Format wars www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/focus_format_history
What is really important? (3)
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some Rights Reserved
2009:
“these databases that grow through user contributions are the real source of lock-in.
Eventually, these guys probably will make their software open source because it won't matter. The
value lies in having the data.”
Tim O'Reillyhttp://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10264471-16.html
What is really important? (4)
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
What is this?
The nature of digital file formats
Answer:the Bula In Apostolatus Culmine, that is
the Papal document that 471 years ago created UASD
Why can we still read it?
Because the document format is completely known and its specifications are completely separated from those of the tool used to create it
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Software is like pens, formats like alphabets: if the alphabet is free, it doesn't matter which pens are used or if their design is proprietary
(to know more about the huge negative impact of proprietary or otherwise unknown file formats, read http://mfioretti.com/how-file-formats-can-be-used-favor-or-hamper-innovation-active-citizenship-and-really-free-markets)
The nature of digital file formats (2)
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
If software, formats and everything digital are all these things, it is evident how big the influence of Universities is:
they have little money and must spend it well, in the interest of both their students and society as a whole.Universities must spread and advance knowledge and its practical benefits as much as possible to the greatest possible number of peopleUniversities form the people who will make decisions about public money and individual freedoms tomorrow.Since software is ubiquitous, they must teach to all their students to use it well.
Here are some practical suggestions
Practical guidelines
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Usage of proprietary software may be unavoidable in some cases, but not when teaching programming
"What I cannot create, I do not understand" Feynman
If you have no occasion to read, you cannot learn to write
Use only Free Software for software teaching
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Never distribute or accept from the students files in proprietary format
“sending proprietary attachments with email is as socially unacceptable as smoking in a closed room full of people” (real email signature of a Hong Kong University professor)
Never set up activities that can only be performed with one single program, even if it's gratis
Never force student to install and use software illegally (especially expensive business products e.g. Autocad)
Protest, students and teachers together, when this doesn't happen
“Software-neutral” teaching in all disciplines
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Remember the comparison between proprietary attachments and smoking
The OpenDocument Format (ODF) is the only viable alternative to the .doc, .ppt and ..xls files which are the main, if not only, real reason of the Microsoft monopoly on the desktop
Imposing inside the University the adoption of OpenDocument office files is the best and most effective strategy to educate all students to the benefits of open digital technologies
Promote OpenDocument!!!
To know more: www.opendocumentfellowship.com
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS):
To educate the worldwide public about of the benefits of using high quality FOSS in education, in government, at home, and in business
In order to empower all people to freely connect, create and share in a digital world that is participatory, transparent, and sustainable.
Saturday is Software Freedom Day!!!
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
In November 2005, the Italian Conference of University Rectors started to promote on its website “students' use of MS products, available at steep discounts...”
Eleven days later, thanks to protests from teachers and students, it “added a page on "Free and Open Source SW (FOSS): a fundamental tool for Italian Universities"
All details at www.linuxjournal.com/article/8739
“Software-neutral” teaching: a true story
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Promote study and discussion in all faculties of the Hague Declaration:
Considering that all countries are moving, at different rates and from different starting points, towards a society in which full and effective participation in government and society, and access to public services, education and opportunity, are increasingly dependent upon access to electronic communications... We call on all governments to:
1. Procure only information technology that implements free and open standards;
2. Deliver e-government services based exclusively on free and open standards;
3. Use only free and open digital standards in their own activities.
www.digistan.org/hague-declaration:en
Spread awareness of digital rights
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Software affects everybody in every moment, not just those who use it
Therefore:
Don't let students stop at converting everybody to FOSS because it is:
stable, customizable, safer, open, cheaper etc...
Teach them to:
ask people in need “which concrete problems do you already
have today?”
figure out how software can help solve those problems and do it
Teach to look at people, not computer users
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Unesco declaration on cultural diversity, 2001:
... cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature. (Art. 1)
It widens the range of options open to everyone; it is one of the roots of development, understood not
simply in terms of economic growth, but also as a means to achieve a more satisfactory intellectual,
emotional, moral and spiritual existence (Art. 3)
Its defence is an ethical imperative, inseparable from respect for human dignity. (Art. 4)
All persons have therefore the right to express themselves and to create and disseminate their work in
the language of their choice, and particularly in their mother tongue; (Art 5)
heritage in all its forms must be preserved, enhanced and handed on to future generations (Art. 7)
Source: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001271/127160m.pdf
Protect cultural diversity and local traditions
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Through Free Software, of course!!
And also cheap hardware (more on this later)
Organize campaigns in the field to capture
recipes, legends, songs, traditional medicine
Using, if necessary, self built digital recorders
like those of LiteracyBridge.org
Then index and publish everything online in
free formats
Protect cultural diversity and local traditions
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Open access to raw research data
and educational material, research
papers
(this topic is only mentioned here because it is widely discussed in other
talks of this congress)
Open knowledge, of course
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Handing down computers and connectivity to
students without also giving them a vision is
not enough to guarantee that they (and
society) will receive any meaningful benefit
from the experience
Educate to digital communication
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract
our attention from serious things. They are but improved
means to an unimproved end,… We are in great haste to
construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but
Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to
communicate.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU, Walden, 1854
Never forget a clear purpose
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Problem: something is wrong in the
world
First step: start a Facebook Group
Second and Final step: feel good
without leaving home
Slacktivism: “feel-good online
activism that has zero political or
social impact”
http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/19/the_brave
_new_world_of_slacktivism
Slacktivism is the new apathy
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/69805768@N00/3292899689/
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Does this mean that social networks, instant messaging and so on
are intrinsically and always evil?
Absolutely no, of course!!!
It just means that they are so powerful that it would be a
real shame to use them only to feel good and kill time
● "perhaps the greatest service that virtual reality can give to today’s culture is the recovery of reality"
Fr J. Fox, SDB, “Digital Virtues”
Real communication, action in the real world
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
the promise is often made to place "a computer in every village", scatter
"info kiosks" throughout the state or nation, or establish "universal
computer-based education."...without any real assessment of local needs.
They take for granted that providing computers and/or Web connections
will (without additional efforts) provide increased social justice, enable
local peoples to sell their products in the world market, feed the hungry,
meet unmet medical needs, and so on.
Source: Bridging the Digital Divide: Lessons from India,
www.mit.edu/people/kken/PAPERS/Intro_Sage.html
Fight the myth that just being connected is good
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Why restrict yourself to building new virtual worlds
when it is becoming cheaper and easier every year to
build your tools to make THIS world a better place?
There is plenty of useful hardware to build which is much
simpler than it looks, relatively cheap, can and should be
carried on by non technical students!!!
Take advantage of open hardware!!!
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
“microprocessors are always and
only microprocessors: single-
purpose hardware that is capable
only of executing (relatively
slowly) instructions in one
machine language. An FPGA,
instead, becomes whatever
hardware you need.”
www.linuxjournal.com/article/10330
FPGAs: build your own Integrated Circuits
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
“Arduino (www.arduino.cc) is an open-
source electronics prototyping platform
based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware
and software.
can be built by hand or purchased
preassembled; the software can be
downloaded for free. The hardware
reference designs (CAD files) are
available under an open-source license
Arduino is what you want it to be
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Garduino: a gardening Arduino
Waters my plants whenever their soil moisture level
drops below a predefined value.
Turns on grow lights, but only when it's dark out and
only long enough to make the plants get 15 hours of
total light (sunlight + supplemental light) daily.
Alerts me if the temperature around the plants drops
below 50 degrees.
http://garduino.dirtnail.com/
www.instructables.com/id/Garduino_Gardening_Arduino/
automated hydroponics with arduino:
www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1237559923
Arduino is useful to everybody
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Commercial products can cost 18K Euro
But you can build your own with a Nintendo Wii or similar home made remote and a
Gnu/Linux computer
http://unixsadm.blogspot.com/2007/12/turn-wii-into-whiteboard-or-tracking.html
http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/
Open source, cheap electronic whiteboards
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
make sure that students (and teachers!!!)
really understand why this happens and
why it should always be this way
Above all...
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
All the data we need to live decently are, or will soon be, in digital format: therefore,
closed/secrets data formats are never, ever acceptable. This is not negotiable
Software is ubiquitous and saves lots of money, but only if you use it to solve the
problems you have and you use it the one that does what YOU need and doesn't
steal YOUR data
We must never escape in cyberspace, but use it to improve the real space we keep
living in.
Free Software is not gratis, but is modifiable at will and works for you like you
want, instead of the other way around, so it is the only one that can be used as above
Conclusions
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
Digital awareness is a matter of civic education, not software
engineering.
If the goal is to fight social exclusion and promote education and
human development:
Universities, especially in developing Countries, have a
crucial role in these spaces
As shown in these slides, what they can and should do goes
far beyond teaching of software programming, and is in no
way limited to technical faculties and classes
Conclusions (2)
Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingohttp://mfioretti.com COSECOLhttp://digifreedom.net Some rights reserved
What do you think? I want to hear from you!!!
Questions?
Contact info:
● http://mfioretti.com
● http://stop.zona-m.net
Final thoughts