Fellows unite UK environmentalists through "Green Bridge"

Environmentalists will be joined together by Free Software on March 31st when Manchester's "Big Green Festival" and Leicester's "Green Light Festival" are bridged by Free Software for participants to share thoughts and pictures between locations in real-time.

Dubbed the "Green Bridge", festival-goers at both locations will be in touch by text and imagestream powered using Free Software systems. Sam Tuke and Anna Morris will be at the Manchester site providing information and demonstrations of freedom-respecting software, while FSFE Fellows will be connecting environmentalists on the other side from a booth in Leicester.

"The ability to communicate without restrictions in a private and trustworthy way is very important to the green movement, and is something that only Free Software can provide," said Mr Tuke, FSFE's UK Coordinator. "Many environmentalists understand the importance of freedom, especially when it comes to fighting for political issues."

"Free Software allows us to learn about the tools we use, and adapt them to the needs of particular projects. Free Software communities are less hierarchical, grow organically, and are perfectly suited to supporting green movements," said Ms Morris, a member of the FSFE and Deputy Coordinator of its Manchester Fellowship group.

The "Green Bridge" serves as a demonstration of how Free Software can provide reliable services such as social networking and image sharing. Much like the future of our natural environment, Free Software is in the hands of communities, and represents viable options to replace non-Free and proprietary alternatives like Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook. Proprietary software does not maintain a freely-accessible codebase, and by its centralised nature is more susceptible to security threats and beurocratic control. Free Software provides powerful alternatives for environmental and freedom loving activists around the world.

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Fellows unite UK environmentalists through "Green Bridge"

Environmentalists will be joined together by Free Software on March 31st when Manchester's "Big Green Festival" and Leicester's "Green Light Festival" are bridged by Free Software for participants to share thoughts and pictures between locations in real-time.

Dubbed the "Green Bridge", festival-goers at both locations will be in touch by text and imagestream powered using Free Software systems. Sam Tuke and Anna Morris will be at the Manchester site providing information and demonstrations of freedom-respecting software, while FSFE Fellows will be connecting environmentalists on the other side from a booth in Leicester.

"The ability to communicate without restrictions in a private and trustworthy way is very important to the green movement, and is something that only Free Software can provide," said Mr Tuke, FSFE's UK Coordinator. "Many environmentalists understand the importance of freedom, especially when it comes to fighting for political issues."

"Free Software allows us to learn about the tools we use, and adapt them to the needs of particular projects. Free Software communities are less hierarchical, grow organically, and are perfectly suited to supporting green movements," said Ms Morris, a member of the FSFE and Deputy Coordinator of its Manchester Fellowship group.

The "Green Bridge" serves as a demonstration of how Free Software can provide reliable services such as social networking and image sharing. Much like the future of our natural environment, Free Software is in the hands of communities, and represents viable options to replace non-Free and proprietary alternatives like Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook. Proprietary software does not maintain a freely-accessible codebase, and by its centralised nature is more susceptible to security threats and beurocratic control. Free Software provides powerful alternatives for environmental and freedom loving activists around the world.

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taz.die tageszeitung receives Document Freedom Germany Award

The German newspaper taz.die tageszeitung (TAZ) receives this year's Document Freedom Day award. With this award, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) honour organisations that make exemplary use of Open Standards.

Ralf Klever (in charge of Document Freedom inside the TAZ-IT) holding the DFD-certificate - sourrounded by the teams from TAZ, FSFE and FFII

The TAZ receives the Document Freedom award because it delivers its electronic paper to its subscribers in a choice of open formats, and without digital restrictions (DRM). "We are awarding the TAZ with the Document Freedom Award for their longstanding commitment to Open Standards and continuos efforts in offering their newspaper without restrictions" says Erik Albers, Fellowship Coordinator Berlin.

TAZ subscribers can receive their paper in HTML, PDF, ePub, and even plain text formats. HTML files form the basis of the World Wide Web. The Portable Document Format (PDF) was published as a standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2008. Adobe has granted anyone the right to make and distribute PDF files without restrictions. Plain text files (.txt) can easily be read or opened by any thousands of applications, independent of any platform, product, or vendor. "Plain text files have great benefits for libraries," highlights Elisabeth Klein, a humanities scholar with close connections to academic libraries in Germany. "They can offer easy access to works using a lot of different devices. Users and researchers can efficiently search and analyse them."

ePub is an Open Standard for electronic books. Rather than being bound to a particular vendor, users can open files with the .epub extension with a wide range of programs and devices. "We use Free and Open formats, because we don't like to put our readers in a cage - even it it's made of gold. Only by using Open Standards without DRM we are able to spread TAZ news media as widely as possible" says Ralf Klever, Head of IT in the TAZ.

Stephan Uhlmann, FFII board member, adds: "We congratulate TAZ for their firm stance on the usage of Open Standards. The TAZ has a history of covering contemporary political movements very closely, which makes this an important contribution to preserve this documentation in open and accessible document formats for future generations."

Document Freedom Awards are given annually on Document Freedom Day - the international day for Open Standards. Previous winners include 1&1 Internet AG, tagesschau.de and Deutschland Radio.

Background information:

Press pictures of the award ceremony Document Freedom Day - Celebrating information accessibility and raising awareness of Open Standards About Free Software PDF readers and about the removal of proprietary software advertising on public websites

Other activities and events in Germany during Document Freedom Day 2013:

Freedom and Art Workshops presentation in Berlin Document Freedom Day in Berlin Document Freedom Day in München "Alles verbieten", Düsseldorf

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Document Freedom Day from Brussels to Taiwan: Open Standards celebrated in 30 countries

In 30 countries around the world, activists are celebrating Open Standards on today's Document Freedom Day, an annual campaign to promote Open Standards. More than 50 groups are hosting events around the world, from Brussels to Nicaragua to Taiwan.

Open Standards are crucial to ensure that different computer systems can work together, and that users can access documents regardless of the computing platform or device they use. They are the foundation of the Internet and the World Wide Web.

"Markets for digital products such as audiobooks and cloud documents have grown dramatically. Open Standards let users break free from vendor lock-in and corporate control," said Sam Tuke, Campaign Manager at the Free Software Foundation Europe.

This year the campaign focuses on web-streaming technologies. "In 2012 trail-blazing Open Standards advocates introduced thousands of people to better standards" said Erik Albers, Community Manager. "This time, we are encouraging people to switch to HTML5 technologies".

The campaign calls on websites to replace Flash with Open Standards-based HTML5 technologies. Activists are reporting Flash-dependent web pages and donating to educational packs including blacked-out "Flash Player required" glasses, illustrating the exclusive and inaccessible nature of closed formats for media streaming.

Document Freedom Day 2013 is facilitated by the Free Software Foundation Europe, and supported by campaign sponsors Google and openSUSE.

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And the winner of the election for FSFE's Fellowship GA seat is… Election results

…Heiki "Repentinus" Ojasild! The election period for this year's Fellowship GA seat has ended on March 15 and it was exciting until the end. Albert Dengg who also stood for the Fellowship GA seat promised to stay around and continue his great work for FSFE in their area.

The results of the election are:

Heiki "Repentinus" Ojasild, condorcet winner: wins contests with all other choices Albert Dengg, loses to Heiki "Repentinus" Ojasild by 122–81

Thanks to all Fellows who participated in the whole process and made this a valuable experience for the Fellowship and for FSFE. In particular, thanks to Albert for running as a candidate and for his efforts during the campaign. Last but not least, congratulations to Heiki!

Result details 1. 2. 1. s – 122 2. Albert Dengg 81 – Ballot report Heiki "Repentinus" Ojasild Albert Dengg 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 No opinion No opinion 2 1 1 2 No opinion No opinion 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 No opinion 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 No opinion No opinion 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 No opinion No opinion 2 1 No opinion No opinion 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 No opinion 1 2 2 1 1 No opinion 1 1 No opinion 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 No opinion 1 2 2 1 No opinion No opinion 1 No opinion 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 No opinion 1 2 1 No opinion 2 1 1 2 1 No opinion 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 No opinion 1 2 1 1 2 No opinion 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 No opinion 2 1 No opinion No opinion 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 No opinion No opinion 1 2 1 2 1 No opinion 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 No opinion 2 1 2 2 No opinion No opinion 2 1 1 2 2 1 No opinion No opinion 2 1 1 2 1 2 No opinion No opinion 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 No opinion 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 2 No opinion No opinion 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 No opinion 1 1 2 1 No opinion 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1

Ballots are shown in a randomly generated order.

You can download the ballots as a CSV.

The following matrix shows the strength of the strongest beatpath connecting each pair of choices. Choice 1 is ranked above choice 2 if there is a stronger beatpath leading from 1 to 2 than any leading from 2 to 1.

1. 2. 1. Heiki "Repentinus" Ojasild - 122–81 2. Albert Dengg . -

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