<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Stefan Merten</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:smerten@oekonux.de">smerten@oekonux.de</a>></span><br>Date: Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 8:39 PM<br>
Subject: The Kerala experience<br>To: <a href="mailto:list-en@oekonux.org">list-en@oekonux.org</a><br>Cc: Stefan Merten <<a href="mailto:smerten@oekonux.de">smerten@oekonux.de</a>>, Arun M <<a href="mailto:arun@keralaitmission.org">arun@keralaitmission.org</a>>, Yuwei Lin <<a href="mailto:yuwei@ylin.org">yuwei@ylin.org</a>><br>
<br><br>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----<br>
Hash: SHA1<br>
<br>
Hi list!<br>
<br>
I'm just on the way back home from this great conference which took<br>
place in Thiruvananthapuram in the state of Kerala / India. I must say<br>
I'm really deeply impressed. I would wish that Free Software<br>
*including* things like Oekonux says would have that backing in<br>
Germany / Europe / industrialized countries!<br>
<br>
Right now while we are struggling hard to find funding for our 4th<br>
conference I came to a place where the best hotel in town has been<br>
made not only the place for the conference but also gave a great<br>
temporary home for some of the speakers. That's all possible because<br>
the state of Kerala employs an impressingly firm and decided Free<br>
Software strategy. Therefore obviously the government is ready to pay<br>
for such a conference including lunch and tea breaks and dinners...<br>
<br>
And not only this. The Chief Minister of the State of Kerala were<br>
present during the inaugural session and addressed the audience and<br>
emphasized the necessity of Free Software and other Free knowledge<br>
resources. During the final session the chief of the opposition were<br>
present.<br>
<br>
And if I then think of the press coverage this conference got in some<br>
standard news papers. It is really amazing! But not only the<br>
conference got news coverage. In the Sunday paper - i.e. before the<br>
conference and not related to it - there were also an article about a<br>
Free Dictionary for North-East Indian languages. They really mean it!<br>
<br>
The conference itself was really two conferences in one. There were a<br>
technology track and a policy/culture track - though culture were not<br>
really there. I don't know for sure but I think the conference<br>
participants also split between these two tracks. I for one attended<br>
none of the technology presentations. There were also 450+ registered<br>
participants - so it was really a rather big event.<br>
<br>
During personal conversations I learned that in Kerala many are<br>
interested in not only the technology but also in the possible<br>
philosophical / societal meeting.<br>
<br>
But what really amazed me most that the things Oekonux started to talk<br>
about nearly 10 years ago at least in Kerala slowly become an accepted<br>
idea. The potential of peer production is seen by many - though I<br>
still think what we do here is quite elaborated in this regard. In<br>
fact the talk I gave (see<br>
<a href="http://www.oekonux.org/texts/YesWeCanYesWeWill.html" target="_blank">http://www.oekonux.org/texts/YesWeCanYesWeWill.html</a> - which is heavily<br>
revised compared to the version I sent here) was welcomed by a couple<br>
of people afterwards.<br>
<br>
I really would conclude that much of the potential of the whole peer<br>
production movement meanwhile moved to places like Kerala. This<br>
opinion I share for instance with Juan-Carlos (Hipatia) who also names<br>
South America here. I even thought that Thiruvananthapuram could be a<br>
place for the 5th Oekonux Conference. May be in the form of some<br>
partnership...<br>
<br>
What also surprised me that the conference was attended by a<br>
relatively high share of women. I took a few samples and would guess<br>
about 25%. And in sharp contrast to the majority of women I see on<br>
German Free Software conferences these women were not the female part<br>
of a couple. However, the gender distribution of the speakers was as<br>
usual.<br>
<br>
Of course there were a couple of interesting speakers including Eben<br>
Moglen, Richard Stallman, Jimmy Wales, Neville Roy Singham<br>
(ThoughtWorks). Michel Bauwens and Adam Arvidsson gave talks, too.<br>
<br>
For me the best of all talks were the keynote of Eben Moglen. I'll<br>
give some key aspects of it below. First I'd like to share two things:<br>
<br>
* Custom software is not proprietary software<br>
<br>
Richard Stallman said that custom software - i.e. software written<br>
for a fixed customer with no plans to publish it, often created<br>
in-house - is not proprietary software. The reason is that it is not<br>
published. I found this separation quite interesting. It also<br>
reminds me of the discussions we had about the (exchange) value of<br>
software. Graham? StefanMz?<br>
<br>
* What about Oekonux when there is still 50% agriculture?<br>
<br>
I mean that is not really a new question but in India it was<br>
impossible to ignore: What does Oekonux theory has to say for a<br>
country where more than 50% are still doing agriculture and even a<br>
still quite high level of subsistence economy. Good question indeed.<br>
<br>
What I understood from the talks given is that at the moment Free<br>
Software helps people to create a more transparent market - for<br>
instance by knowing the price of a certain agricultural product in<br>
the neighbor city. Well, I'd agree that in a situation like Kerala<br>
Free Software is probably better suited to do the job but then this<br>
is only a modernization step on the way to integrate in capitalism<br>
better.<br>
<br>
Now for the mentioned keynote by Eben Moglen. I took some notes I<br>
happily share below. Words are often by me. Those parts `marked up`<br>
with backticks are quotes.<br>
<br>
<br>
Grüße<br>
<br>
Stefan<br>
<br>
=== 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< ===<br>
<br>
Keynote by Eben Moglen<br>
======================<br>
<br>
* Freedom in computing => freedom in society<br>
<br>
* Idea of Richard Stallman<br>
<br>
* Computers are ubiquitous<br>
<br>
* Computers "control" our lives<br>
<br>
* Thus it's crucial that we are able to control them<br>
<br>
* Sharing is crucial to humans<br>
<br>
* E-mail connected Eben to the world<br>
<br>
* `Internet is the name of a social condition` instead of a<br>
technology<br>
<br>
* Because connections are so important it is crucial that they run<br>
Free Software<br>
<br>
* `We want people never to be thirsty for things which are useful`<br>
<br>
* Make possible that everyone can develop according to her abilities<br>
<br>
* Success story of Wikipedia<br>
<br>
* British encyclopedia criticized for mistakes<br>
<br>
* But mistakes are fixed by everyone<br>
<br>
* Wikipedia reported about Virginia school shooting<br>
<br>
* Created recognition by even the New York Times<br>
<br>
* New York Times accepted that Wikipedia were better in this regard<br>
<br>
* Errors are no news to software<br>
<br>
* Best software on earth is the goal of Free Software<br>
<br>
* Free Software changed the world<br>
<br>
* There are differences in Free Software, encyclopedia, music,<br>
journalism<br>
<br>
* Important: Free Software proved that things can be done in Free<br>
mode<br>
<br>
* Revolution:<br>
<br>
* Knowledge is cheap<br>
<br>
* Knowledge no longer controlled by someone<br>
<br>
* And all by declaring freedoms<br>
<br>
* Not rules, and "ifs"<br>
<br>
* Only exception: If you take you have to share also<br>
<br>
* Meanwhile: Important for governments<br>
<br>
* Everywhere - but in USA<br>
<br>
* Barack Obama knows, that the net elected him<br>
<br>
* `Free government is impossible without Free Software`<br>
<br>
* `We are not only a community of freedom fighters - we are coming to<br>
power`<br>
<br>
* `We need to grow up`<br>
<br>
* Things are changing<br>
<br>
* Communities are crucial in 21st century<br>
<br>
* Products need community nowadays<br>
<br>
* We are changing the meaning of products, networks, ...<br>
<br>
* Still there are some limitations<br>
<br>
* Such as software patents<br>
<br>
* But we are powerful because of good ideas<br>
<br>
* Still there are limitations angering us<br>
<br>
* No longer enough to protest against these limitations<br>
<br>
* Now we need to find solutions for these limitations by inviting<br>
things<br>
<br>
* Make new Free offerings<br>
<br>
* In the past we had to apologize for "free as in beer"<br>
<br>
* `Free as in beer is not a bad thing in the next few years` because<br>
of financial crisis<br>
<br>
* Offering knowledge for zero price<br>
<br>
* Not a small achievement<br>
<br>
* Start of a new era<br>
<br>
* We are in power meanwhile<br>
<br>
* No single person in power<br>
<br>
* Rather the community is powerful<br>
<br>
* "Servant of the servants" (pope) is and should be our mode<br>
<br>
* That is why we are powerful<br>
<br>
* `Proof of concept plus running code - that's our revolution`<br>
<br>
* We have to think for the future of mankind<br>
<br>
* That is a heavy responsibility<br>
<br>
* If we mess up "they" will take over again and this historical<br>
opportunity will vanish<br>
<br>
* So we need to use power wisely<br>
<br>
* `We don't need to change what we believe [...] but we need to get<br>
smarter`<br>
<br>
* We need to welcome more brains to enter the movement<br>
<br>
* Generations struggled for this freedom<br>
<br>
* They failed and have been oppressed<br>
<br>
* Today we are almost there<br>
<br>
* `This time we win`<br>
<br>
<br>
Grüße<br>
<br>
Stefan<br>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----<br>
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)<br>
Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.5.7 <<a href="http://mailcrypt.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">http://mailcrypt.sourceforge.net/</a>><br>
<br>
iQCVAwUBSUJ+nAnTZgC3zSk5AQKDRAP/YWuH5Ii2bo+JDkSSCF1JV0havIvQWT84<br>
OnW7W4STSQz37QZtXmwaTaxHXmWqFs/GoNe8H/Q99gEoheiQrlrh7nX7jR3Dcs/h<br>
HLL/ABZiUe20PLnqHupso+hUQARNv1N/tHIt90DcSNzycnq5mIZiRTyypL9bKfxO<br>
2PRkqbr9CP0=<br>
=j2Db<br>
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----<br>
</div><br>