[Please keep responses to the freed mailing list, CCed in this mail]
Hi Saurabh,
Thanks for the comments. I'm not trying to answer all your questions
here, just give my views on the event. Comments inline...
On Thursday 27 Dec 2007, Saurabh Nanda wrote:
Hi Gora,
I have attended only one Freed (it was called Freedel at that point)
and the focus seems to have shifted quite a bit since that time (open
source s/w focused event to a more social revolution kind of
event). Therefore, please read my comments in that context -- most of
them may be emanating from the fact that the new direction doesn't
fit my notion of the event.
1. How does a focus on the Knowledge Ecosystem tie in with open
source software? It surely ties in with open standards (and file
formats), but not necessarily with free/open source software.
However, freed.in may focus on the use of open source software in
helping create the knowledge system - which is absolutely fine.
Except that (a) this is not stated anywhere explicitly in the
document, and (b) not all content can be managed properly with open
source s/w as of now.
That's actually the crore-Rupee question. Bear with me through this
discussion, since it is the one on which the whole new look of the
event hinges.
If you look at our country (and probably most developing countries), you
will see that the fundamental issues relate to availability of
knowledge, not availability of software. Many of our fellow citizens
do not have access to knowledge critical to their continued, affluent
survival. Whether it is market rates in neighbouring towns (so you can
decide where to sell your grain), movements of fish schools (so you
know where to cast your net), weather information (so you know when and
what to plant), information about social groups helping women (so they
can make their own lives and not be married off into virtual slavery at
the age of 11) or simple primary and secondary education, the majority
of our countrymen (and women!) do not have it. Posting free CDs of
Linux to people who don't have the computers to run them on won't help
in any of these areas -- software isn't the whole solution, it's just
part of it.
Keeping this in mind, the most critical task for this country becomes
provision of knowledge to those who need it but do not have it. You
and I can sit at ease in our offices and bedrooms, with 256 Kb/s
connections and have the world at our fingertips. If we need formal
education we can access any number of university sites that provide
course online; if we need the latest stock quotes we only have to push
a couple of buttons; if we need diversion there is any amount of music,
video and books available. Now if only everyone could have access to
similar classes of information, in a language and format they could use
and on a device they could afford, India would be a much wealthier
nation. Yes, I'm selfish -- the primary reason I want equitable access
to information is not because I want to raise the living standards of
our billion-plus people, but because I want to live in a wealthier
country. Surely some of that wealth will trickle up/down to me too :)
Now let's go one step further...
Knowledge and wisdom aren't the monopoly of the urban and/or wealthier
classes. They exist everywhere, at all levels, in all strata and
classes of society. So far the world has been viewing knowledge
through a producer-consumer tinted lens. But why should that be? Why
should a consumer of music not be a producer of information about water
resources? Why should a producer of weather information not be a
consumer of information about diseases of cows? Is there really that
much of a difference? In my opinion, not today.
I see 2 Internet technologies that have changed the way we look at the
producer-consumer paradigm:
- Wikis. The Wiki as a tool completely rewrites the rules of
authorship, and converts the author/reader combination into a
collaboration paradigm . With a Wiki, anyone who has something to say
about a topic has the ability to say it and add to the global corpus of
knowledge. For example, the document you have critiqued is a Wiki
document, produced through the collaboration of at least 10 people with
more people contributing all the time.
- Blogs. Blogs permit an individual to express her views and share her
knowledge with the world. OK, so many of us don't have anything
particularly exciting to say about anything. Fine -- I may not visit
your blog, but I will definitely fight for your right to blog :) BTW,
I'm including sites like youtube in the blog category -- expression
isn't just through text, it can be any medium you choose.
So where is that huge fund of knowledge that is lying with the
individuals of India? Can I access it? Can I use it? Can I enhance
it? No, since it's hidden away in the minds and collective wisdom in
villages and small towns, whose people do not have any
