ubuntu-us-ohio team mailing list archive

[Joseph Zitt <jzitt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

One mis-step on the Diversity bandwagon: scheduling Software Freedom Day on
Yom Kippur means that a whole lot of people around here won't be available.

Is your podcast generally available? I suspect that I might enjoy and
benefit from it, though I'm a lowly bookstore worker rather than a real
librarian.

On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 11:05 PM, Stephen Michael Kellat <
skellat@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> (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?
>
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-- 
Joseph Zitt ::http://www.josephzitt.com