August 2016 - Free-software-melb - lists.softwarefreedom.com.au

Software Freedom Day, Saturday 2016-09-17 at Electron Workshop
by Ben Finney 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

Software Freedom Day 2016 17th September 2016, 10:00 at Electron Workshop It doesn't matter how much you directly participate in software freedom or what operating system you run, all that matters is that you would like to live in a world of software freedom where every individual can control the code that runs on their computer and the conditions under which it executes. It's that time of the year for all of us who compute to celebrate our freedoms in technology and indulge in the finer details of keeping our increasingly digital lives under our direct control. Free Software Melbourne, in conjunction with Linux Users Victoria, is celebrating the 13th annual Software Freedom Day. With a variety of talks and workshops helping everyone to get the most out of the Free/Libre and Open Source communities and the free software they make available ----- Venue ----- Our gracious hosts this year are: Electron Workshop co-working space 31 Arden Street, North Melbourne Map: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2556615434 --------------- Time Table --------------- A (data) array of wonderful talkers have been so kind as to help spread the word or just give you a tour of some great programs that respect you. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 10:00am - Doors Open So there is no opening ceremony. What is this the Olympics? I hope not! We don't need that level of needless grandeur! Also we are not sponsored by Mega-Globa-Pharma Corp. Come early and meet some like minded people before the talks start off. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 11:00am - Information and communication technology & Free software in Schools. The stereo type of most technology in schools is one of an endless sea of proprietary software with no room for anything else, the truth however is much more refined. This is a look at what software is being using in schools and what can be done in the future to improve the use of free software in education. Duration: 1 hour -------------------------------------------------------------------- 12:00pm - Matt Cienga and Open Street Map Applications. Almost all people talk about Google Maps and Apple Maps - not us! It is great to see progress in the open alternative Open Street Maps. Find out how to use one of the most comprehensive and complete mapping data assets ever compiled for your own use. A great place to start is the Electron workshop! https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2556615434#map=16/-37.8008/144.9538 Duration: 1 hour -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1:00pm - Free and Open Source Community Gathering -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1:30pm - Lunch in North Melbourne. Lets just make this clear. North Melbourne doesn't have the same class as one of Heston's restaurants but there are loads of great local restaurants for a good meal and "endless conversation"*. *Endless conversion is limited to the duration period. Duration: 1 Hour -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2:30pm - To be advised Duration: 1 Hour -------------------------------------------------------------------- Games and workshops Must we go on? Yes! This is the point of the day you will have hopefully been through a few talks, have your head buzzing with questions and ideas and a have been eyeing off the games running off to the side for the last few few hours. Well now is your time to play! Or talk. Network with others at the event or have fun on fully free software games (No Steam or GOG here). Duration: 45 Mintues -------------------------------------------------------------------- Round up of the day At last we must say goodbye. A 'State of the union' like speech from Linux User Victoria and Free Software Melbourne representatives. A reminder of why freedom in technology is important to everyone. Also expect us to persuade you to come to our regular monthly meetups - don't worry we are not a cult. Well not yet. ;) Duration: 15 Minutes -------------------------------------------------------------------- Next year we do it all again! uber, but this is the only part of the event that is neither Libre nor Gratis. You must evacuate the premises and we're not paying your way home (although we can help you sort out a cab or public transport directions) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Entry is free anytime, so help spread the word on everyone’s liberties. Tea, Coffee and light snacks will be provided gratis and soft drinks avaliable at Electron Workshop prices. This is the a family friendly event, please invite anyone that is interested as the more people that are involved the more the positive effects can be spread. You can see our Code of conduct online at the link below. Be respectful. Be mindful. Work together. Advocate freedom. http://freesoftware.org.au/code-of-conduct/ Hope to see lots of happy faces (you don't have to be happy I guess) at the event. -------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information in regards to Software Freedom Day, please see the links below. http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/ https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_Freedom_Day -- \ “My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. | `\ Unless there are three other people.” —Orson Welles | _o__) | Ben Finney <ben(a)benfinney.id.au>

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FSM Working Group September
by Ben M 28 Aug '16

28 Aug '16

Hi folks, This week brings us to the first Thursday of September on the 1st day of the month... which means it's time for the FSM Working Group meeting! This month should be a more productive meeting (at the expense of nourishing) as we'll be able to use the TeamSquare space, so there won't be pasta, but I'll be sure to provide snacks and drinks for all We'll be trying out a few campaign management solutions to better coordinate and share work on submissions, so be sure to bring your laptops and power cables We'll be at Teamsquare (level 1/520 Bourke st, Melbourne) from 6:30pm~8:00pm https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4271393497 See you there, ~~ Ben M.

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FSM August presentation and links
by Ben M 21 Aug '16

21 Aug '16

Hi there fellow freedom lovers, Thanks again to Paul Foxworthy for coming along and demonstrating how visualizing data flows in complex systems, such as preference patterns in elections, can allow us to better understand the impacts of the decisions we make in relation to those systems. Paul has graciously provided a copy of his presentation from the night (available at http://cohdig.co/auprefsfsm2016) and be sure to check out his website at http://auprefs.info/ and in particular the wa-senate-2014 and Victorian 2014 southern-metropolitan sections to interact live with the the demonstrations from the presentation We won't be having our usual FSM meetup in September but we will be hosting Software Freedom Day on Saturday the 17th, so come along and celebrate another year of Free and Open Source software with Linux Users Victoria and Free Software Melbourne at Electron Workshop... more details to follow ~~ Ben M

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some interesting facts
by Damien Bosman 20 Aug '16

20 Aug '16

Dear friend! I've found taht interesting article with a lot of surprising fact, just take a look <http://nkowoxocru.yanqifeng.com/lnzvp> Cheers, Damien Bosman

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Crowd-funding ethical, modular computers: the EOMA68 standard
by Ben Finney 19 Aug '16

19 Aug '16

Howdy all, Further to our recent discussions of the EOMA68 standard for modular computers allowing ethical construction, the crowd funding campaign is close to finishing <URL:https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop>. Here is an article from Paul Boddie answering a bunch of questions people commonly have about the EOMA68 computers. “Why pay more for ideological purity?” Firstly, words like “ideology”, “religion”, “church”, and so on, might be useful terms for trolls to poison and polarise any discussion, but does anyone not see that expecting suspiciously cheap, increasingly capable products to be delivered in an almost conveyor belt fashion is itself subscribing to an ideology? […] Anyway, people pay for more sustainable, more ethical products all the time. While the wilfully ignorant may jeer that they could just buy what they regard as the same thing for less (usually being unaware of factors like quality, never mind how these things get made), more sensible people see that the extra they pay provides the basis for a fairer, better society and higher-quality goods. <URL:https://blogs.fsfe.org/pboddie/?p=1314> -- \ “The great thing about science is we can test our ideas.… But | `\ until we do, until we have data, it is just one more proposal.” | _o__) —Darren Saunders, 2015-12-02 | Ben Finney

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Re: [free-software-melb] EOMA68 - In the making for 5 years - modular compute card + socket fully libre hardware
by Michael Verrenkamp 12 Aug '16

12 Aug '16

Would just like to highlight to everyone that Libre Tea boards have just received the 'Respects Your Freedom' certificate from FSF. Great to see a new system that is user focused. Chris from Think Penguin has been working with these folk for a while and intends to be an online sales point for these boards and accessories after the initial funding round. Things are looking up for the community. Michael On 11/08/2016 10:00 PM, free-software-melb-request(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au wrote: > Send Free-software-melb mailing list submissions to > free-software-melb(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.softwarefreedom.com.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/free-software-… > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > free-software-melb-request(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au > > You can reach the person managing the list at > free-software-melb-owner(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Free-software-melb digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. EOMA68 - In the making for 5 years - modular compute card + > socket fully libre hardware (Damien Zammit) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2016 19:55:34 +1000 > From: Damien Zammit <damien(a)zammit.org> > To: Melbourne Free Software Interest Group > <free-software-melb(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au> > Subject: [free-software-melb] EOMA68 - In the making for 5 years - > modular compute card + socket fully libre hardware > Message-ID: <b7e33879-d81a-edf5-632d-8074d1e3e2d0(a)zammit.org> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 > > The author recommends the Libre Tea compute card + Micro desktop, if you > want to know what to get. > > https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop > > Highly worth tinkering with! Check it out! > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > Free-software-melb mailing list > Free-software-melb(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au > http://lists.softwarefreedom.com.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/free-software-… > > Free Software Melbourne home page: http://www.freesoftware.asn.au/melb/ > > ------------------------------ > > End of Free-software-melb Digest, Vol 68, Issue 4 > ************************************************* --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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FSM 18/08/16: Democracy the open source way and more Gnews than you can statistically sample
by Ben M 11 Aug '16

11 Aug '16

Free Software Meeting Announcement: August 18th 2016 What does the Australian democratic system have in common with Eurovision? No. It's not the wigs and over the top singing... No not the ongoing controversies and backstabbing... It's the backroom dealings over the voting, that and Paul Foxworthy. While it's too soon to fully understand the ramifications of the updated senate voting it's never too soon to start talking about Eurovision. This month Paul will discuss his ongoing auprefs.info project and how similar techniques might be applicable to other (more entertaining) voting systems We'll also be having our regular Gnews segment where we hope to discuss something other than the census, but we'll have to see about that, and as usual we'll end the night with a stroll down Errol st to KL Bunga Raya, hope to see you all there... doors at Electron Workshop (31 Arden Street) open at 6pm with the event kicking off at about 6:30pm and drinks are available at EW member prices! Paul Foxworthy (@ConcreteGannet) is an open source developer and trainer living in Melbourne. He works with Open Source Industry Australia and is a director of Coherent Software

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EOMA68 - In the making for 5 years - modular compute card + socket fully libre hardware
by Damien Zammit 11 Aug '16

11 Aug '16

The author recommends the Libre Tea compute card + Micro desktop, if you want to know what to get. https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop Highly worth tinkering with! Check it out!

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No anonymity in the upcoming Australian census
by Olivier Mehani 05 Aug '16

05 Aug '16

Hi all, Not really software-Freedom related, but civil liberties and privacy seem more in more seem to go hand-in-hand with the topic, and are once more eroding. You might have heard that, this year (well, next week), data collected for the Australian Census will contain and, more worryingly, retain identifying information along with the responses [0], with no possibility to opt-out. This is concerning both from a privacy and a data-quality perspectives. First, non-anonymous surveys create the risk, when (not if) data is leaked, that people will be discriminated or persecuted based on their responses. There already are some nutters suggesting to use this information to track people based on their religious beliefs [1]. Then, it also increases the risk that people will not respond truly to protect things they might not want to see attached to their name. Or things they might think can become dangerous for them in the future (once again, [1]). I'm trying to think about ways to give truthful answers while masking one's identity, but I suspect it will be difficult considering they gave a per-household code. Perhaps we should all make sure to not be home on census day, and congregate in public places to fill in the details. Any other ideas about how to de-correlate responses from identity? Anyway, there are a couple of petitions floating around [2,3] asking the ABS to revert this decision. It's getting a bit late but, if you care, please sign them and circulate them around. I'm trying really hard not to score a Godwin point right now. [0] https://www.efa.org.au/privacy/census-2016/ [1] DON'T SIGN THAT ONE https://www.change.org/p/david-kalisch-abs-gov-au-make-it-compulsory-on-aus… DON'T SIGN THAT ONE [2] https://www.change.org/p/australian-bureau-of-statistics-reverse-australian… [3] http://campaigns.greens.org.au/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1792&ea.campai… -- Olivier Mehani <shtrom+fsau(a)ssji.net> PGP fingerprint: 4435 CF6A 7C8D DD9B E2DE F5F9 F012 A6E2 98C6 6655 Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed on emails sent or received unencrypted.

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FSM Workshop - Announce
by Ben M 03 Aug '16

03 Aug '16

Hi everyone, Don't forget that tomorrow night we start our Free Software Melbourne Working Group (I've set us up a meetup event if anyone else wants a calendar link). We'll be looking at our submission to Casey, thinking about 'what next' (other councils/organizations) and planning the future direction and activities of the Working Group. So come along to enjoy some fine Italian food and help move Australia towards a brighter and free-er future! We'll be at La Porchetta (308 Victoria St, North Melbourne) from 6:30pm Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow, ~~ Ben M. Meetup event for calendar: https://www.meetup.com/Free-Software-Melbourne/events/233082518/

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