[dundee] Software Freedom Day & The DCA - Warning < Rant within

[Arron Finnon]

Hi All,

This is just going to be petrol on a fire i know it, but my 50 pence
worth and your being robbed at that.  I have TBH this type of response
just makes me sick, frankly its asking a local venue to support a
community event in a community it claims to be about.

Yet again its about what someone else can get out of it for them, you
know what NOTHING!!!  The DCA have had a year to get involved with the
SFD event in Dundee, and we still needed to go hat in hand to ask if
they could make some sort of effort to be part of it, in return we get
think of an idea for us.

I'm sorry i mean this is my personal view and not that of the Linux
Society, or my fellow officers and members but sod that.

I was thinking about maybe a TV in the DCA screening some of the
talks, and a wee little map to how to get from the DCA to the HMC, and
we reciprocating the favour.

I tell you something i'm glad i'll not be involved in next years
organisation, i know i'm about to hear how i have miss-read it, and
how its an ideal oppertunity, but you know what i've heard this for
three years.  The bottom line is they can't be arsed until their own
nest gets feathered first.  Frankly its not in the spirit of what FOSS
is about, if they want to be part of a community coming together and
celebrating what brings all together than fine, if they want to tie it
into to some god knows what BS so they can market it to their own
needs well; here's one, 19th is also speak like a pirate day, and on
the 19th my faith in the DCA will well and truly be at the bottom of
davy jones locker.

For the record i'll have nothing to do with helping organize any event
for them that is not directly tied to Software Freedom Day, because
the 19th of September is suppose to be about that!! not the HMC, not
the Linux Society, not the DCA, not TayLUG or anything else but about
the importance of freedom in software.

Like i say personal views and no one else, if i have offended you then
i'm sorry for that, i just found the whole concept back from DCA a
bloody joke, and frankly patronizing to what we try and accomplish

Arron

Rick Wrote;

Hi all,

Before I went away on my holidays I contacted Clive Gillman of the
DCA, about the possibility of tying up our software freedom day event
in the Hannah Maclure centre with the DCA's open doors day event (on
the same day).  The idea being to increase awareness of each others
events, have appropriate supplies of fliers advertising each others
events.  Beyond that, more ambitious ideas involved hosting a live
video feed between each event.

Anyway, Clive responded by saying how the DCA likes to tie their event
to some specific activity... For example last year they celebrated the
anniversary of print making in Scotland (presumably tying it into
their print-making workshops etc...), however this year they don't
have any plans for what they want to do.

Clive then presented us with an opportunity to suggest some
events/activities/anniversaries etc... that the DCA would be well
placed to run which could thematically be tied into Software Freedom.
Time is short, and there's a possibility that in the time since I've
returned from my holidays the opportunity has passed.  However I'd
like to solicit any ideas that these lists might have.

I'd encourage you to think about what the DCA does for the community,
and the facilities it offers...  Anything that might lead to a strong,
significant link.

I can see some thematic links between their print-making event last
year, e.g. Print-making made it easy to create multiple impressions of
a work, whilst Free software does the same (but goes further by giving
everyone the matrices, jigs and tools necessary to make their own
impressions which may then be derivative works).  Also If you extend
print-making to include the development of the printing press then
there are links between that and the internet/free-software.

However I get the sense from Clive that they'd like to try something
new...  I've tried thinking of things, but have largely been drawing
relatively weak links, for the benefit of others:

- Education/Freedom-of-knowledge etc...

 + Are there any notable anniversaries here?  What about links to
Scottish philanthropy or the Scottish Enlightenment?

 + The DCA offer educational courses etc...

- The history of Film & Cinema

 + Draws attention to the DCA Cinema, future of Film/Cinema?

 + Links are maybe the evolution of media, DRM etc...  Which are
topics of concern to free software advocates.

If we can come up with a good idea on how we might relate Software
Freedom to an event at the DCA, we should be able to increase our
exposure.

R.