Discover more YH4F projects and learn about the participants Héctor and Leonardo

Are you thinking about registering for the second edition of Youth Hacking 4 Freedom? But you are not yet sure? Two participants from the last edition, Héctor and Leonardo, talked with us about the projects they developed and their journey throughout the Free Software world! Discover their experiences during the first edition of YH4F.

While the second edition of the YH4F contest is now open for registration, the first edition of the Youth Hacking 4 Freedom contest has ended with 35 amazingly well done projects. There are no limits to the possibilities of projects that could be submitted and every technical idea is welcome. Among those great inspiring ones were Héctor's and Leonardo's projects: LibreHomework and Presents, respectively.

Leonardo is studying Computer Science Engineering in Milan. He has been an active member of the European Youth Parliament since 2019 and among his hobbies was already hacking, even before participating in the contest. Our second guest is Héctor, the youngest winner of the first edition of the Youth Hacking 4 Freedom contest. Héctor has always been interested in science and in understanding the world around him in greater detail. He has created LibreHomework out of the desire to help others with learning and organising their homework.

FSFE: Hello Leonardo and Héctor. Thank you for joining us.

FSFE: Leonardo, you have already been in contact with Free Software before the YH4F contest but you have not always loved it. When did you start to appreciate Free Software for the concept itself?

Leonardo: I would say that I am aware of Free Software since I have started using computers, using LibreOffice instead of Microsoft Office, GIMP instead of Adobe Photoshop, etc. but I have always seen them as the cheaper (and worse) alternatives to the popular programs that everyone was using. Someone would say, I was seeing it free as in free beer and not as in freedom.

My actual interest in Free Software is way more recent and probably started about 2 years ago after I saw the documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’ and started educating myself a bit about digital privacy and the ethical use of technology. I asked myself how some products I was using every day could be free for everyone. I started looking for some alternatives to them, and joined some communities on Mastodon and Reddit of people who care about those topics. This whole process of digging online, getting in touch with new people and caring about the consequences of my approach to technology led me to (re)discover the big world of Free Software: this time together with its philosophy and principles that made me fall in love with it.

FSFE: And how did you learn programming?

Leonardo: My first contact with programming dates back to when I was 13: my middle school technology teacher showed us one day a website where you had to solve some Angry Birds puzzles using block-coding. I enjoyed it so much that I kept on playing it as soon as I came home. Then, I thought, if that game was so fun, coding something from scratch could be even better!

I started watching some videos online on how to start coding with JavaScript, even though I have never actually learned it. But the first programming language I can say I learned is Python, thanks to a "Summer Camp": I attended at a school called H-Farm near my home city. This course has been followed, in the past 6 years, by many other courses and tutorials about other languages such as C# and Flutter/Dart, which is the one I used for my YH4F project.

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Héctor: Like most people I started with Scratch at the age of 10-11 and then I moved towards more advanced languages like Javascript and Python. I was initially fond of game development but now I like working on servers and backend stuff.

FSFE: So, you already had some knowledge about coding. Why did you join the YH4F contest?

Héctor: My IT teacher encouraged me to participate in the contest, so the project would decide my final mark. Working on an actual programming project was way more exciting than doing what my classmates were doing. I joined the contest in October and worked, since then, on the idea: the app, the server and the daemon.

FSFE: And what about you, Leonardo, what motivated you to join our competition?

Leonardo: Not long after the "change" I mentioned, I saw an advertisement for this contest, organized by the Free Software Foundation Europe, that was aiming to promote and encourage the Free Software culture among young minds. I thought it was not only a commendable idea, but also a great opportunity for me to merge my recent interest for FOSS with my passion for coding. So I decided to participate, re-building from scratch my recent coding project in order to make it fully Free Software, and ready to be used by large communities.

FSFE: How did you came up with your individual project idea?

Leonardo:The idea for "Presents" came into my mind back in 2020. After the lockdown period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was time to think about birthday gifts for all the friends that had turned 18 during the lockdown (which were a lot, since my classmates and I are born in 2002). Since it takes me some time to come up with a good gift idea for a friend, and I'm definitely a lazy person, I thought: shouldn't there be an easier way for all this?

The App "Presents" developed from Leonardo.

That is how I started shaping the idea of this app in which people could add their wishes and forget about them while their friends or family could get inspiration from it to make the perfect gift without ruining the surprise effect. I started looking online for the best tech stack to realize this project. I ended up following some really great quality tutorials about the programming language Flutter and Googles App development platform Firebase. They made me publish the first version of the app in October 2020! But then I didn't like the fact that my own app wasn't following the Free Software philosophy, so I took the YH4F contest as an opportunity to develop a better, fresher and free version of Presents, Presents 2.0.

Héctor: Since I started learning programming I always wanted to make a task manager, so it was an idea that was already in my head, well, kind of. I also felt that the Free Software community lacked a good app for students, to help us manage our time and tasks, so an app like LibreHomework was a good target.

LibreHomework is an open-source tool made for students by students. It can schedule tasks, exams, organise your documents and lock your device screen to help you focus on your tasks.

FSFE: Are there some special functions in the application?

Héctor: The lock your screen function. It basically blocks the user from accessing the computer until a button is pressed or a timer finishes. It is achieved by putting the app in full screen and setting it “always on top”. It is not 100% effective but for someone with little to no knowledge of programming/computers it’s more than enough. In fact, making it more secure would imply making the app more aggressive on a system/kernel level.

LibreHomework will also be able to send you reminders. This is achieved by the daemon, written in Rust. It is a completely different program from the app and it’s not so well integrated yet, so it is a milestone.

FSFE: What is your favourite function?

Héctor:I don’t really have one because the app is supposed to be useful with all of them, but if I have to choose one I’ll choose the network/server. It’s completely coded and running, but the User Interface is not done yet, so it’s planned for the near future.

FSFE: Now that we have learned more about your projects, what kind of problems have both of you encountered during the coding period?

Leonardo: I would say I encountered many problems during the coding phase: some minor ones that could have been easily solved with a quick search on Stack Overflow. Some others took me several days and a lot of effort to be fixed.

Actually, the majority of the issues I faced from the latter category were related with AppWrite: the open-source backend I adopted to replace Google Firebase. I didn't know AppWrite before starting Presents 2.0, and I learned using their official documentation during this competition. But, even so it has strong and well-done documentations, AppWrite is missing all the "unofficial resources" like articles, video tutorials, and so on that other proprietary backends can count on and that make life for beginner-programmers like me way easier.

That's why, I started thinking about writing a series of articles about my experience with AppWrite, why I find it a great alternative to Google Firebase, and how to use it as a backend for your next Flutter app.

Héctor: A lot of bugs as expected. Some of them were really weird but I ended up solving them with some technical help. I also faced some decisions about the design or the network’s security, so I hope they didn’t backfire.

FSFE: Despite these challenges, will you continue to work on your project?

Héctor: Yes, there are some planned things and they are specified in the README: managing exams/documents, finishing the network’s tab, integrating the daemon, and making the project available in more languages.

Leonardo:I am continuously working on Presents, and I will keep on doing it since I don't see it just as a project for a competition but as an actual app that could help many people during their daily life. Up until now, the development has been focused on bridging the gap between version 1 and 2 in terms of functionalities and availability. As soon as this gap won't exist any more, Presents 2.0 will replace its ancestor both on the app stores and on the website. Then I will start working on some new features, hopefully following also community's suggestions (that by the way I'm always happy to accept and discuss in the Issues page of the project repository on Codeberg).

FSFE: Thank you for your time and we wish you good luck with your next steps.

The registration for the second edition of YH4F is now open. For more information on the contest please visit yh4f.org.

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EU Declaration of Digital Rights and Principles falls short of its ambitions

Member states, the European Parliament, and the Commission have reached a consensus on the Declaration of Digital Rights and Principles. Although it aims to serve as a reference point for the digital transformation of Europe, it instead descends into murky waters, causing ambiguity. Its wording is unclear and it overlooks existing good proposals.

Whereas the EU institutions claim that digital sovereignty and openness are crucial for the digital transformation of Europe, the declaration lacks clear definition of such values. The text of the declaration makes reference to promoting interoperability, open technologies and standards. However, it is not clear what exactly the signatory institutions mean with such wording. By contrast, the European Parliament proposal had a clear reference to Free Software as a way to ensure transparency in the use of algorithms and artificial intelligence, as well as the importance of Open Standards. Unfortunately, this wording failed to be upheld during the inter-institutional negotiations, and the final text ended up being rather unclear.

“In a fast-pace digitalised society, the importance of such declaration of digital rights is crucial. This text will serve as a benchmark for decision makers in the journey of shaping our digital sphere. It is problematic for our software freedom that such declaration lacks clear definitions and that solid existing frameworks are not being taken into consideration”, explains Lina Ceballos, FSFE Policy Project Manager.

It is also not clear if the declaration is consistent with existing frameworks. According to its text, it is built upon previous initiatives such as the Berlin and Tallinn declarations. These aforementioned frameworks already refer to Free Software when it comes to digital sovereignty and interoperability, while they also require more use of Free Software, and strengthening the requirement for its use. However, when it comes to interoperability, Free Software is not explicitly mentioned in the Declaration of Digital Rights and Principles.

Last but not least, “the declaration misses to name reusability of software and hardware through Free Software licenses as an important step towards a more sustainable digital society. Having said this, the current negotiations about the Ecodesign Directive will have to do it right where the declaration falls short” says Erik Albers, FSFE's Digital Sustainability Program Manager.

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5 reasons why your contribution is crucial for the promotion of Free Software

Your support and contribution for the promotion of Free Software are important for securing our continuous work, ensuring our independence, strengthening our democratic society, promoting and implementing concrete steps towards software freedom, and making it easier to use and develop Free Software.

1. Your engagement is what keeps us going

The backbone of the Free Software Foundation Europe's work is an active network of Free Software advocates and volunteers who contribute to the promotion and spreading of the benefits of Free Software within Europe.

Your contribution and commitment allow us to continue running our campaigns, lending a hand to our team during our events and helping setting up a booth. These actions all over Europe are creating a stable and strong Free Software movement. Our small actions are really contributing to changing the world!

Want to join us but not sure where to start? We are convinced that you will find a way to help us that fits your interests and skills. For example, you can join our community and be an active member of a local group, you can show your affiliation and love for Free Software by wearing our clothes, or you can spread the word at different events related to Free Software and give away stickers and leaflets.

You can help us by proofreading and translating our messages and documents into the different European languages, helping to improve our website. Or stand up for Free Software in your community, in your regional administration, or in your country. And there's even more you can do!

2. Your support ensures our independence

The Free Software Foundation Europe is a non-profit organisation. We depend on the financial contributions of individuals who, like you, put their trust in us and support our work. Indeed, over one third of our budget comes from individual donors.

This allows us to be independent of governments and companies and only follow what is best for software freedom.

Achieving our And there's even more you can do">fundraising goal of 212.000 € by 12 February 2023 will put us in position to continue our long term approach. This is crucial to abolishing barriers to Free Software adoption, for example by establishing the right to install any software on any device.

In our transparency commitment, you can find out more information about the FSFE and where your donations are going.

3. You can contribute to empowering our society

Your support allow us to run diverse activities and campaigns that are raising awareness about the benefits of Free Software. We promote Free Software programming and tinkering among children and teenagers regardless of their ability or disability, gender identity, sex, race, religion, or sexual orientation. Thereby we provide new generations with the skills to build a more democratic and transparent society, where users have full control of their devices and technologies.

Thanks to your contribution, we can provide resources to enable everyone to further promote Free Software in Europe. We are able to attend various conferences, organise activities and workshops, and create content and material to spread the message.

Learn more about our Public Awareness activities.

4. You can help promote and implement Free Software

Our team includes policy experts who are working with policy makers and public bodies in Europe, from local administrators to EU decision makers. Our financial independence allows us to provide in-depth analysis on different topics and issues, getting involved in political processes or campaigning towards the implementation of Free Software, and also to criticise decision makers if necessary.

Your support allows us to create campaigns such as ‘Public Money, Public Code!’, to advocate for the use of Free Software in public administrations, and to promote best practise examples.

5. You can chip in to make Free Software usage and development easier

We are continuously working to make difficult topics easier to understand, such as usage of Free Software, as well as helping people to run Free Software on their devices.

Education is a key pillar in our work, from a “Legal Education Day” to activities targeting the young generation, for instance with a children’s book and the Youth Hacking 4 Freedom hacking competition. We are also supporting Free Software developers through Next Generation Internet Zero, helping European projects with their technical, legal and licensing needs.

If you want to learn more about our activities and campaigns as well as get a deeper understanding of our work during this past year, check our yearly report Software Freedom 2022.

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Sign our open letter about the right to install any software on any device

More than 100 civil society organisations across sectors have already signed our open letter about “The universal right to install any software on any device”. Now, in the European Week for Waste Reduction, we open up the letter to be signed by individuals. Join our cause and make your voice heard!

The European Union is about to redefine its ecodesign criteria for products within several legislative proposals in the upcoming months. The European Commission has already published a proposal for the “Sustainable Products Initiative” as well as the “Directive on empowering consumers for the green transition”. Now it is time for the European Parliament and Council to start its reading and come to a conclusion. We have written an open letter to help them do things right and use the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) to make our voice heard!

Sign the letter now!

We want users to have the “The universal right to install any software on any device” because the possibility to install a Free Software operating system can help users to overcome software obsolescence and to extend hardware lifetimes. That is why the universal right to freely choose operating systems, software and services is crucial for a more sustainable digital society.

Background

The Open Letter about the universal right to install any software on any device is written by the FSFE and meanwhile backed and signed by more than 100 civil society organisations. We want users to have the right to hardware and to keep using their software as long as they want. Together we demand that:

• Users have the right to freely choose operating systems and software running on their devices
• Users have the right to freely choose between service providers to connect their devices with
• Devices are interoperable and compatible with open standards
• Source code of drivers, tools, and interfaces are published under a free license

Related information

• Upcyling Android Initiative
• Study On the Sustainability of Software

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YH4F winners awarded in ceremony in Brussels

The awards for the winners from the first edition of the Youth Hacking 4 Freedom competition, Stavros, Miquel, Artur, Ekaterina, Hector, and Mark were handed over in a ceremony in Brussels. We wish them a bright future, with many contributions to software freedom.

Four of the six winners of the first Youth Hacking 4 Freedom competition. From left to right: Ekaterina, Miquel, Hector, Stavros.

After five months of coding and the subsequent evaluation,the last and super exciting part of the competition finally took place at the beginning of October with a two-day trip to Brussels where the winners received the awards!

Watch the video of the two day trip to Brussels where the winners met, explored the city, and received their awards. For subtitles, watch it in our Peertube instance

The award ceremony was held at the lovely setting of the BELvue Museum in Brussels, where the winners went after a city tour. Reinhard Wiesemann, donor of the YH4F, opened the ceremony and shared a few words about his own experience of winning a hacking competition.

Artur presents Aspinwall, which won third place in YH4F competition.

The three winners – the Ultimate Hacker, the Elite Hacker and the Awesome Hacker awards – were given the chance to present their projects. Attendees got a glimpse of Artur’s Aspinwall project and the Smart Table Assistant robot created by Miquel. They watched Sign Track in action, the software coded by Stravos.

“After winning the YH4F, I have received a lot of support from my school, in particular from the Sign Language team, which is especially motivating me to further expand my project”, added Stavros.

Stavros demonstrating how Sign Track reads sign language in real time. CC BY 4.0 Stavros Piperakis

Next to those three awards the Youth Hacking 4 Freedom awarded three more prizes: the Youngest Hacker Award, the Special Hacker Award and the Ultimate Hacker Girl Award. These three rewards want to focus on the importance of equal opportunities and diversity in the technological field.

Unfortunately, Mark, the winner of the Special Hacker Award from Ukraine, could not travel to Brussels. But to highlight Mark’s work for the Youth Hacking 4 Freedom contest and to give everybody the chance to see his amazing project “Sharik”, it was presented by a member of the jury on his behalf.

The final two special-award-winners, Hector -Youngest Hacker award- and Ekaterina -Ultimate Hacker Girl- presented their projects, LibreHomework and Music Companion respectively. “I had no prior knowledge of coding and started learning after hearing the news about Youth Hacking 4 Freedom and deciding to take part”, explained Ekaterina to the audience.

Congrats to all the participants

We want to congratulate all the Youth Hacking 4 Freedom participants. The quality of all the projects was great and we hope that everyone enjoyed this experience, while further improving their hacking skills. We wish everyone a bright path in the field of Free Software.

Discover the projects

Miquel presenting Smart Table Assistant which won second place in YH4F competition. CC BY 4.0 Stavros Piperakis

Find more about the exciting winning projects, read about the experience of three of the participants and stay tuned for more interviews!

Compete next year!

The new edition of the competition just started! Join until 31 December and share the opportunity with your friends.

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