It is a contract job for an Italian University, funded with EU money. I am looking for real world examples of the availability of public data like these have actually been good for local businesses, making them sustainable or cheaper to run. Every feedback is welcome.
Here are more details on the project:
Open Data, Open Society: a research project about openness of public data in EU local administrations.
Again, thanks to all who will provide relevant pointers & info!
I was myself the "victim" of a similar case, that is a magazine that says you can't copy their articles without at least attribution, then fully copied one of mine... without attribution, of course. When I said "you should replace the full text with an abstract and link to source" they simply removed the whole page:-|
Can you fight DRM with patience? Of course you can, but patience requires (as others have already pointed out) a working brain. It's the same with music and movies. If people had had patience to think and wait a bit we would have solved for good the problem with RIAA, MPAA and similar ten years ago: staying a few months without buying nor dowloading music would have left them with no cash AND, above all, with no argument at all to use as basis for things like ACTA. I already explained this in a format that, hopefully, most teenagers could understand in "Mr Label's nightmare: what really, really scares him", a very short novel I wrote six years ago.
just a few days ago, when I found a real magazine had copied without permission, integrally and without attribution, an article of mine. I wrote this: http://stop.zona-m.net/node/112 then asked them to please cancel their copy and they immediately did it.
"I submit that the best supporters are impassioned users."
Sure, no question about that. The point of my article is to just say "such supporters aren't enough to guarantee FOSS survival, so it is urgent that they find ways to convince others to support (which is not necessarily equivalent to "use") FOSS and open standards by governments.
"I'm having trouble understanding some of the earlier posts; should I have my grandma use Foo v1.0 because it's free, and ethical,..."
You're right, but that may be because most posts seem to have completely missed the point, if not even the actual title, of the article: Turn people into FOSS _supporters_, not users. See the first paragraph of TFA, which explicitly says "Don't bother to convert grandma to Linux: focus on converting her to demand adoption of OpenDocument and FOSS in public administration because THAT is surely in her own interest too"
"I don't think promoting free software to users who don't care will do the free software movement any good"
see my other comment and the actual title of TFA. I say "supporters", not users. The first paragraph is where I say, just as you, "don't bother to make people USE something they don't like or need. DO try to convince them that it is surely in THEIR interest if Open standards and FOSS are protected and preferred by governments, school and similar".
Thanks for all your comments.
Just one note: the actual, complete title of the piece is "How to turn into Free Software supporters people who couldn't care less". Please notice the difference: supporters, not users. The first paragraph is "Focus on making people support Free Software, rather than using it". Make them ask to their representatives, school boards, whatever... that Free standards and software are duly protected
and preferred in some institutional settings. That is more urgent and necessary than converting everybody and their cat to _personally_ using Linux. Once you are sure that you can use only FOSS in any possible situation, because websites follow standards, Opendocument is preferred to OpenXML and so on, then you can concentrate on making more users, even if it will take decades, but only then.
"Students should definitely use Wikipedia as a good place to find real sources. Of course, if they actually cite it, they're freakin' insane and should go back and re-learn how to research."
I couldn't have said it better, see my own thoughts on why Wikipedia should never be used as a real source here: http://digifreedom.net/node/61
Slashdot Mirror
It is a contract job for an Italian University, funded with EU money. I am looking for real world examples of the availability of public data like these have actually been good for local businesses, making them sustainable or cheaper to run. Every feedback is welcome. Here are more details on the project: Open Data, Open Society: a research project about openness of public data in EU local administrations. Again, thanks to all who will provide relevant pointers & info!
I was myself the "victim" of a similar case, that is a magazine that says you can't copy their articles without at least attribution, then fully copied one of mine... without attribution, of course. When I said "you should replace the full text with an abstract and link to source" they simply removed the whole page :-|
Can you fight DRM with patience? Of course you can, but patience requires (as others have already pointed out) a working brain. It's the same with music and movies. If people had had patience to think and wait a bit we would have solved for good the problem with RIAA, MPAA and similar ten years ago: staying a few months without buying nor dowloading music would have left them with no cash AND, above all, with no argument at all to use as basis for things like ACTA. I already explained this in a format that, hopefully, most teenagers could understand in "Mr Label's nightmare: what really, really scares him", a very short novel I wrote six years ago.
just a few days ago, when I found a real magazine had copied without permission, integrally and without attribution, an article of mine. I wrote this: http://stop.zona-m.net/node/112 then asked them to please cancel their copy and they immediately did it.
"I submit that the best supporters are impassioned users."
Sure, no question about that. The point of my article is to just say
"such supporters aren't enough to guarantee FOSS survival, so it is
urgent that they find ways to convince others to support (which is
not necessarily equivalent to "use") FOSS and open standards by governments.
Marco F.
"I'm having trouble understanding some of the earlier posts; should I have my grandma use Foo v1.0 because it's free, and ethical,..."
You're right, but that may be because most posts seem to have completely missed the point, if not even the actual title, of the article: Turn people into FOSS _supporters_, not users. See the first paragraph of TFA, which explicitly says "Don't bother to convert grandma to Linux: focus on
converting her to demand adoption of OpenDocument and FOSS in public administration because
THAT is surely in her own interest too"
Marco F.
"I don't think promoting free software to users who don't care will do the free software movement any good"
see my other comment and the actual title of TFA. I say "supporters", not users. The first paragraph is where I say, just as you, "don't bother to make people USE something they don't like or need. DO try to convince them that it is surely in THEIR interest if Open standards and FOSS are protected and preferred by governments, school and similar".
Thanks for all your comments. Just one note: the actual, complete title of the piece is "How to turn into Free Software supporters people who couldn't care less". Please notice the difference: supporters, not users. The first paragraph is "Focus on making people support Free Software, rather than using it". Make them ask to their representatives, school boards, whatever... that Free standards and software are duly protected and preferred in some institutional settings. That is more urgent and necessary than converting everybody and their cat to _personally_ using Linux. Once you are sure that you can use only FOSS in any possible situation, because websites follow standards, Opendocument is preferred to OpenXML and so on, then you can concentrate on making more users, even if it will take decades, but only then.
More exactly, this is the same basic point of the proposal I made one month ago at Digifreedom.net: http://digifreedom.net/node/59
"Students should definitely use Wikipedia as a good place to find real sources. Of course, if they actually cite it, they're freakin' insane and should go back and re-learn how to research." I couldn't have said it better, see my own thoughts on why Wikipedia should never be used as a real source here: http://digifreedom.net/node/61