ROME: 3rd June 2006 -- Personal experience over a
number of years including some particular experiences in parts of the
world where software piracy rates are high, the growth of a
massive global movement, a maturing Salesian awareness of the ethical,
educational and practical issues at stake (cf AGC 390, Letter of the
Rector Major): these are three motivations that bring me to launch a
new item of service called F'OSSERVATORE
for use by members of the Salesian Family. For further comment on
that title, and a direct invitation to make your contribution to the
service, contact the author via the bosconet admin address below.
F'OSSERVATORE is all
about uniting principle with practice. As one of the leading
exponents of Free and Open Source Software, staunchly Catholic Marco
Fioretti, regular contributor to Newsforge (the online 'bible' of the
FOSS movement) put it to me recently, "in today's world, everyone's
quality of life is influenced by the software being used around
him/her". We Salesians have been encouraged to 'learn the new
digital languages'; we are educators, we have also been reminded to
play our part in overcoming the digital divide. These phrases
with the word 'digital' in them are not simply throwaway lines or
recent fads. What they talk about is here to stay. Our task
is to understand what is at stake and to try to do our little bit in
the new culture they are creating.
F'OSSERVATORE is not
austraLasia. I am using this starting point, however, given the
thousands that already read austraLasia. The latter has readers
in East Asia-Oceania, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa, which are
also areas where software piracy is high.
F'OSSERVATORE will
only go to those who ask to receive it - so (1) please let me know if
you wish to be on the list and (2) feel free to pass this item on to
someone who you think might wish to be on the list, letting them know
that they need to positively indicate this themselves through an
email. But F'OSSERVATORE is more
than an e-letter: it is also a wiki, and the 'click here' can take you
to that site whenever you wish - I will include it from now on with
austraLasia.
F'OSSERVATORE's aim is
entirely positive. I mentioned 'piracy' above, just to indicate a
certain reality that we cannot and should not ignore. But the
e-letter and the wiki intend to focus on positive responses to a set of
needs: the need to establish clear links between the Church's teaching
and the use we make of digital culture's 'gateway' - software; the need
to ensure that our approach to these issues is an educational one; the
need to be practical.
F'OSSERVATORE the
e-letter, will be weekly. It will deal with the ethical, the
educational, the practical - and will point to the developing
discussion in the wiki by the same name. The wiki enables anyone
to join in and offer their own experience, ask their own questions,
provide their own answers. For the moment it and the
newsletter will be in English, but if anyone wishes to offer help
in other languages, feel free. FOSS is a global question, across
languages and cultures. I can help in English, but my Italian is
an embarassment, my Spanish babyish, my French and German minimal, my
Fijian of little use outside Fiji - so any assistance by others in
these or other languages will be welcome.
Don't forget to let me
know if you wish to receive copy #1 of F'OSSERVATORE
(which should be due out by Wednesday 7th.
I was looking for a Saint's day then realised we will be in the Octave
of Pentecost - what could be better for such a venture!).
____________________________________________
AustraLasia
is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific.
It also
functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please
contact admin@bosconet.aust.com
Try
out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm
A separate service entirely is called F'OSSERVATORE
to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world.
