[FSUG-Bangalore] Inaugural of Ambedkar Community Computer Center

[renuka prasad]

great job --- really good one ---- smiles all around -

Congrats and thanks for the people who put their valuable time and effort in
bringing smiles on many faces ........

I remember Mr Senthil was discussing in St Josephs college during Free
software awareness camp about not only making people or society aware of
free software but how also free softwares can get the jobs for them........

for which few things  like training on those kind of softwares where
tomorrow they can mke life / carreer for which trainings have to be provided
so on and so forth.

This is one biggest challege for the whole free software community which i
think every one who are part of free software have to address in future and
be prepared to answer or help

creating awareness is one thing and also if people have to stay in the
community means some how a time or situation comes where normally people
would think how is it useful for them, that is the time where they really
decide which one to use ----- anyways today the scenario has changed we have
alternative sfotwares for almost every proprietary software .....

There is a need for trainers ------------- let us make some basic tutorials
however possible ( may be screencasts would be better) so that there will
not be a need for the trainer to be physically present.

Since every one are having shortage of time and in future we need more and
more people who can spare their time na which we cant gurantee -- so if we
have some screencasts then carrying forward the movement or sharing
knowledge would be much easier ........

Can we make some basic tutorials or use the existing ones  (download ) and
make a collection of CD's like basic introductary course about computers ,
for DTP -- may be on GIMP, Inkscape ,Scribus as many free software support
UNICODE we can even make few DTP operators aware of this -


CAN/SHOULD WE HAVE A SESSION FOR THE DTP OPERATORS ALSO IN BANGALORE in
coming days? ---

should we do a collection of tutorials?????

can we conduct a session like above ?????

What way we can take forward this -- can this be done ---- could you all
spend some valuable time on this




On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 6:49 PM, Harish Singh <
kumar.harish.singh at googlemail.com> wrote:

> All,
> Yesterday I attended the opening ceremony of Ambedkar Community Computer
> Center. The center is a volunteer effort from AID and Sthree Jagruthi
> Samithi providing free computer training to any young child in the area.
> There are many reasons why this event is path breaking, but their efforts in
> using GNU and Linux to teach the youth just goes to show that Free Software
> has now reached a maturity and ease of use that everyone claimed was a
> barrier to entry. A few years ago, everyone said Free Software was only a
> niche and could not cater to the general public.
>
> Well, what our friends have shown is this is quite not the case anymore.
> Children as young as 7 years work with computers and Free Software and
> understand how. I saw with some amazement that a young child of 10 (sorry
> don't have his name) start his computer and give a demonstration of his work
> without a single hitch. It was quite humbling to learn the difference in
> hardware and software as body and soul which he described with the help of a
> stand-in volunteer. There was a time when the screen paused for a second,
> and this kid did not blink; using the function key to reload the screen! For
> that this whole community needs to be congratulated. I guess any other child
> his age would have run to his tutor for support. Although there were many
> heroes for the day from among the AID volunteers and Sthree Jagruthi
> Samithi, this young man was the hero of the day.
>
> And the beauty of the approach in this center is that children are being
> taught to dig down and learn computing from the basics and by
> experimentation. By adopting Free Software, this center is teaching some
> higher goals of freedom and community participation (in learning and
> teaching) that Stallman would be proud of. They are being taught that
> software is not necessarily a black box that only a few can master or that
> the restrictions places on by big capital to prevent unrestricted access to
> computers and computing devices are not the only way forward. One day in the
> near future, these children will go into their own and profess the freedoms
> to build and use software as they choose and not as others have chosen for
> them. That indeed would be a solemn and worthy goal to pursue. I'd urge
> everyone in this list to take a trip to this center and give a little
> encouragement to these young people. Then come back and share your stories
> with everyone.
>
> There was singing and dancing with smiles all around. See the pictures<http://picasaweb.google.com/kumar.harish.singh>and
> video <http://www.youtube.com/v/Q3eVm10rf_c> to decide for yourself.
>
>
> Cheers,
> Harish Singh
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>
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