hiyee Luggers,
This is a draft as posted by "Khuzaima A. Lakdawala"
on the fsf list. I intend to enhace and modify the
proposal to suit our needs so as to speear ahead our
movement in taking gnu/linux and free software in
general to the budding students of our country.
Pliss go thro the proposal and letter that we will
be drafting asap tp be dispatched on either the
ilug-bom/fsf letter head to all the technical
institutes in and around maharashtra.
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There should be no doubt that the most important
places where free software should be advocated and
propagated are schools and colleges. Instead of trying
to wean away people at a later stage when
they are used to, or worse, addicted to proprietary
software, we must educate people about free software
when their exposure to
proprietary software is minimal and when they are most
amenable to absorbing progressive ideas and beliefs.
The long term goal of LUGs also should of course be to
ensure that the school and college syllabi are free of
all proprietary software and
that students are introduced at an early stage to the
simple philosophy of free software. This would require
petitioning the various bodies responsible for framing
these syllabi and that involves
going through a labyrinth of bureaucratic red tape.
This obviously is not an easy goal to achieve although
we must make a start on this
front sooner rather than later.
In the mean time, we can involve ourselves in a more
grass roots approach of contacting individual schools
and colleges and requesting
them to arrange talks on free software to be given by
local volunteers of LUGs. This approach has no major
bureaucratic hurdles, except
perhaps for the convincing of individual principals or
head masters, and promises the immediate benefit of
more and more young and
impressionable minds getting exposed to the simple
philosophy of free software.
Here's a draft plan:
Volunteers in each town/city/suburb should compile a
list of schools where they could go and give a talk on
free software and submit this
list to LUG. The LUG should then in turn send request
letters to these chools, including the contact
details of the particular volunteers
whom the school should contact for scheduling the
talk.
A preliminary draft of the request letter follows:
To,
The Principal
name and address of school
Dear sir or madam,
Sub: A request for arranging a talk on Free Software
in your institution.
The Linux Users Group is a non-profit
organisation formed for the purpose of advocating
and propagating the use and development of Free
Software in India. Please see the
enclosed literature for an explanation of and a brief
introduction to Free Software. Please also visit our
website at www.ilug-bom.org.in and the Free Software
Foundations website at www.fsf.org.in for further
information on our activities and goals.
As part of our efforts to spread awareness and educate
people about Free Software, we have started a program
of holding talks in various technical institutions
with the aim of exposing youngsters to the simple
philosophy behind Free Software and educating them
about the moral, ethical, and practical advantages of
using and developing Free Software. We believe that
this exposure is important for all students who have
any interest or connection with computers and computer
software, as it will enable them to make a more
informed choice, based on virtues other than mere
technical and marketing facts, when the time comes for
them to choose which software to study, use, buy or
develop.
Sir / madam, we hereby request you to arrange for
such a talk to be given in your institution by one or
more local volunteers of our organisation. This talk
would span over 5-6 hours. We also would like to
arrange for a 2-3 day workshop on gnu/Linux to teach
the students about the basics of using Linux and
serve as a platform for them to learn and clarify the
basic concepts of GNU/Linux.
The names and contact details of the volunteers
with whom you can discuss the schedule of the talk are
as follows:
1. volunteer name and contact details
2. Volunteer name and contact details
We propose addressing this talk to students of Years
SE,TE nd BE.
However, we leave the actual composition of the
target audience entirely up to your discretion and
judgment depending on the current level of exposure of
your students to computers and computer software.
You may please distribute the enclosed literature on
Free Software among the intended audience as a
preparatory step in advance of the talk.
Thank you very much for your cooperation and time.
Yours sincerely,
Sd.
for
Linux Users Gropus
&
Free Software Foundation of India
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