[HLUG] january Meeting

[Ben Proctor]

I agreed to write a note on our discussions around Document Freedom Day to
stimulate some discussion here and to see if there is enthusiasm to do
something.

Document Freedom Day <https://www.documentfreedom.org/index.en.html> is
programmed for 26 March 2014 which is a Wednesday.

There was general agreement that though open standards in documents is
important it is a geeky subject even for us.

Though the website extends the
definition<https://www.documentfreedom.org/about.en.html>
:

all forms of data, including artwork, sheet and recorded music, emails, and
statistics. These can be stored in ways which empower users, but they can
also be stored in formats which constrain and manipulate us at enormous
cost.

And we thought that there might be interest in something looking at music,
video and image files. We could also segue into open licensing: how you can
enable your work to be reused without losing control of it.

Options

So, assuming we want to do something. There seemed to be 2 options.

Wednesday evening

As DFD is a Wednesday (as Pete pointed out a Wednesday upon which we would
normally meet) we could organise an evening meeting. We could probably
organise something aimed at local businesses, especially creative
businesses. It has subsequently occurred to me we could probably do
something in partnership with the Herefordshire Media Network.

It’s less of a commitment than a whole day event.

BUT

This would require a decent venue which would mean money which would mean
sponsorship. My *guess* is that we could get sufficient sponsorship but
that is a guess.

Saturday

We could run a software freedom day focused on open formats and licensing
in All Saints on the Saturday before or after 26th March.

This is a known quantity and doesn’t require any money (assuming the church
is available).

It’s a bigger commitment in terms of people and resource.

We could run some interesting sessions potentially, maybe involving the
colleges.

Other ideas

There may be other ideas. Let’s hear ‘em.


Or what do you think about these suggestions?


And any volunteers to help?



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