austraLasia 1573
F'OSSERVATORE - a new service is born
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.
F'OSSERVATORE - a new service is born
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.
