The Family Guide to Digital Freedom, 2008 version

The Family Guide to Digital Freedom

Agenda

Speaker introduction

Note on the nature of this talk

Role of software and digital technologies in society

What is being done to address the related problems

What I am trying to do and why

How I am doing it

Obstacles I have found

Conclusion

Quito, Congreso Internacional “Software Libre y Democratización del Conocimiento October 21-24, 2008 1Marco Fioretti ttp://mfioretti.net [email protected]


Speaker introduction

Marco Fioretti ([email protected]) freelance writer, activist and teacher about open digital standards, Free Software, digital technologies and the their

relations and impact on education, ethics, civil rights and environmental issues.

Regular contributor of Linux.com, Linux Journal, LinuxFormat and other online and printed magazines

Author of the Family Guide to Digital Freedom (http://digifreedom.net)

Memberships:

− www.digistan.org: free and open digital standards for overall growth in the global economy− www.eleutheros.it: a Catholic Approach to Information Technology (co-founder) − www.OpenDocumentFellowship.com: adoption, use and development of the OpenDocument format− www.RULE-project.org (Run Up to date Linux Everywhere, co-founder)

Home page: http://mfioretti.net

Quito, Congreso Internacional “Software Libre y Democratización del Conocimiento October 21-24, 2008 2Marco Fioretti http://mfioretti.net [email protected]


Note on the nature of this talk

● The Family Guide to Digital Freedom is not an experience of usage of Free Software in the alternative sector

● It is an experience of

● Promoting digital awareness and (among other things) Free Software in an alternative, complementary way

● Attempting to bring an Open Source attitude to circles and contexts where it is still almost totally absent



Role of software and digital technologies in society

Software and digital technologies are essential in modern life

They influence practically everything we and our children do, from job opportunities to energy bills and active democracy

The quality of our lives and our civil rights heavily depend on how software is used around us!

This is true even for children, senior citizen and everybody who doesn't own or ever uses computers



What is being done to address the related problems

Current efforts (FSF, FFII...) are mostly aimed at geeks and specialists

In 2006/2007 the FSF did start some efforts to involve “social activists”...

...but it still seems to focus only on the ICT staff of structured organizations

(cfr “Help everybody love Free standards and Free Software!”, http://www.ukuug.org/newsletter/16.3/#help__marco)



What is being done to address the related problems (2)

Is this enough? In my opinion, NO.

Personally, I feel that all those initiatives are good, but not sufficient

I fear they may be too little, too late− This concept is discussed in more detail in my talk “Perspectives

of Free SW as a Social Movement”



What I am trying to do

The theme of this Congress is

“Free Software and Democratization of Knowledge”

I am working to promote a democratization of the activism and educational initiatives which aim to guarantee civil rights and active citizenship through the use of digital technologies



What I am trying to do (2)

I am trying to involve directly two very large groups of “social activists” which:

− are and act everywhere− act earlier than other groups when it comes to create digital

awareness and responsibility in younger generations− have been largely ignored, so far, by the FSF and other groups of

Free Software and digital rights activists



What I am trying to do (3)

These two groups are:− Parents− Teachers

They have to start playing an active role:− both as digital educators, towards their children and students− And personally, that is choose responsibly whenever they vote

about, or buy, digital products or services



Why is this important?

Because doing otherwise would be greatly diminish the probabilities of using digital technologies to build a truly open society

(see my talk “Perspectives of Free SW as a Social Movement”)

Because education about digital issues is not technical, but is civic education, that is something that:

− children should learn as soon as possible− responsile parents and teachers have always been bound to teach anyway− has solutions whose nature is not technical (fairness, equal

opportunities, saving tax money...)



Why is this important? (2)

It is not possible to achieve the necessary change soon enough without the involvement of parents, teachers and all other non-geeks citizens

For all these reasons, parents and teachers: Must all become educators about the impact of digital

technologies on everybody's life Must be involved in the initiatives and lobbying which today

are still, de-facto, the monopoly of a techno-savy elite



How can they do it?

Parents and teachers can turn themselves into digital activists if they:− Have the right motivations− Receive the right information, in a format which is immediately:

understandable usable and necessary in daily life (e.g. when voting or choosing

their children's school relevant



Which information must be provided?

Balanced information which

− avoids excesses and fanatism, even if only at the verbal level− doesn't require advanced technical skills− shows relationships among apparently unrelated issues, e.g. software and

energy consumption− ... and the real importance of each of the factors (infrastructures, laws,

software licenses...) which influence them

(continues...)



Which information must be provided? (2)

Balanced information which: does promote Free Software but is NOT centered on it doesn't assume that everybody wants to be a programmer

(avoid words like source code or software license as much as possible) or that everybody should ever contribute directly to Free Software, in

any way

Cfr the “Seven things we're tired of hearing from Software Hackers”, http://digifreedom.net/node/56



What I am doing to provide this information

A book: the Family Guide to Digital Freedom

http://digifreedom.net/node/84− Content: the 50 things every parent should know about software and

digital technologies− Divided in:

− Digital Dangers− Solutions (what to know and what to do)

Forum and online community at digifreedom.net

Other educational material



Obstacles I have found

So far, this initiative has met both successes and failures

The one main obstacle is always the same

− Using the right words and attitude, explaining single technical issues to people without any technical background is (relatively) easy

− The real difficult part is to make such people understand that it really is in their interest, and part of their teacher/parent responsibilities, to engage in these conversations and act in these fields



Conclusion

Involving all parents and teachers in discussions about digital rights is still very difficult because of cultural and demographical reasons

− most parents and other adults of today grew up without any exposure to these issues or relevant education: computers are still considered black magic boxes

Nevertheless, turning parent and teachers into digital activists remains a necessary and urgent task

− today there is a huge market push to use computers and cell phones no-stop, everywhere, but only in a passive way, to receive advertising and other instructions

Everybody should try to involve teachers and parents in the schools of his or her neighborhood

Let's meet at http://digifreedom.net to discuss these issues and coordinate our efforts
