ubuntu-us-ohio team mailing list archive

["Stephen Michael Kellat" <skellat@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Also stashed at http://ubuntuone.com/p/CHV/ for easier printing)

Software Freedom Day is coming up on September 18th.  Unfortunately this
will come up really quickly after Ohio LinuxFest 2010.  With a little
ingenuity we might still be able to have a presence out there in our
state.  I'm also going to be talking about this at Ohio LinuxFest as I
just found out Tuesday night late in the night.

I am a duly-trained librarian.  At present I am the Head Writer for a
library-realm podcast talking about tech and current affairs in the
profession.  A fertile ground I know of that we have available to us for
Software Freedom Day would be Ohio's libraries.  As it is, Ohio
libraries are leaders in the nation for new tech trends and otherwise
set the drumbeat that others march to.

Libraries remain stuck in financial paralysis as there is much
uncertainty over funding priorities from state legislatures.  Any
presence by our LoCo will have to follow some basic ground rules.  Many
libraries will not allow a presence that is only involving disc
distribution especially if it is from only one distro.  Libraries also
can sometimes lack funding to put on programs about technology.  While
outsiders can put on programs from time to time it is necessary that
such not be a financial burden to libraries.

For our LoCo we could have an easy presence on Software Freedom Day. 
Presenting programs tailored to our really local communities would be
key.  Programs would have to deal with three questions at their core:

1.  What is “software freedom”?
2.  Why should I care?
3.  What does this Ubuntu thingy have to do with software freedom and
why should I care?

Bear in mind that you must not be making a sales pitch.  Normally
library guidelines will prohibit that.  If you mention Ubuntu, you need
to at least also mention Debian and openSUSE for example.  Just as there
are many flavors of ice cream there are also many flavors of distro. 
Being slightly ecumenical in talking about distros will be necessary if
you want to be allowed to speak at a library.

Bringing your own laptop along with some VGA cable would let you hook up
to a projector if such is available.  Using tools like OpenOffice.org to
actually give the presentation helps shows your points while
demonstrating the power of software freedom.  A twenty minute
presentation followed by a ten minute Q&A period would be a basic format
that would fit into the mold of your average library program.  Using
MagicPoint for your slides back-end might wow teeny-boppers as to how
you can make cool slides with less overhead than PowerPoint, too.

Ohio is a state rich in diversity.  From the “black swamp” that
Toledo arose from to our capital in Columbus to our gateway to
Appalachia in Marietta and more, Ohio somehow survived two hundred years
of being made up of such divergent communities.  There need not be one
cookie-cutter approach but there needs to be at least one approach in
our state on that day.

As a trained librarian I am willing to collaborate if you need help in
pitching a program to your local library.  If you want to film your
rehearsal run and either point me to online video or mail me a DVD I can
try to help critique things.  This is an advantage our fellow LoCo teams
may not necessarily have.

Ohio LinuxFest is our opportunity to preach to the choir, so to say, in
the Linux landscape.  We still have to preach to the masses too. 
Software Freedom Day is when we really should be approaching the masses.

In an already busy September, is anybody up to the challenge of an
additional bit of proselytizing right after a big show?