"A place for public code" +++ FSFE support +++ Job vacancy

Written by

Erik Albers on 2020-09-23

Read in our September newsletter about a new strong alliance formed by administrations, business and civil society organisations asking for "A place for public code". Also read about our call to apply for FSFE support for your local project, our job vacancy, and about our other diverse community activities.

"A place for public code"

A special interest group composed of the FSFE and many other civil society organisations as well as major German municipalities like Munich and Frankfurt has published a working paper (DE) as a first concept for a common code repository for the public sector. Under the slogan "A place for public code", the interest group now wants to pave the way for one portal through which the public administration in Germany can exchange and jointly develop Free Software in an adequate and legally compliant manner.

Many hands drawn that are all pointing at the same point.

With the slogan "Public Money? Public Code!", the FSFE has been campaigning since 2017 that publicly financed code developments should be published under a Free Software license. Facilitating the exchange of this software is just as important as its publication. And while other countries in Europe lead the way with other approaches but similar initiatives - for example the Technology Transfer Centre in Spain or Etalab in France - in the biggest economy in Europe, "a common place to exchange this software within public institutions is still missing in Germany", explains Alexander Sander, EU Policy Manager of FSFE.

The initiative invites administrations, politicians and the Free Software community and other interested stakeholders to participate in the discussion and to further develop the concept.

Call to apply for FSFE support for your local project

From international campaigns to local information booths, our successful spreading of software freedom is based on many shoulders from active members within our community. The FSFE has always been keen on supporting initiatives and activities from local FSFE groups to single supporters. We happily support you with our expertise, our information material, our networks, or even financially.

To help formalize our support we will from now on run a call for FSFE community projects every two months. Participating in the first edition is as simple as filling out a short online form until 4 October 2020.

The biggest financial impact the FSFE faces in these times of physical distancing is the cancellation of Free Software conferences, including our own events. To keep the software freedom movement solid and alive, please consider donating a part of your conference budget to Free Software organisations, including the FSFE.

Job Vacancy

The FSFE is looking for an office assistant to support our work to empower people to control technology. The person will work 15-35 hours per week with our team in the Berlin office and will support the FSFE's Berlin office operations. Deadline to apply is Sunday 4 October 2020. Please share this with others you know who might be interested.

Bulletin Board with a post saying: Make things happen

What have we done? Inside and outside the FSFE

On Saturday 12 September we ran our first online web-a-thon. Nine participants joined us full- or part-time for one day to update and improve our webpage with translations, content and technical issues. Among the visible things we updated were our about page and our contact page. This is in line with major improvements we already did throughout the year on our activities page, our team page and our front page. If you would like to help us with our web-development, join our web team.
On 18 September, the FSFE's Policy Manager Alexander Sander gave a talk at the esLibre conference about the advantages of using Free Software in the public sector.
On 10 September, Alexander Sander gave a lightning talk at the State of the Source Summit about "Public Money? Public Code! – Global problems need global solutions!"
A local TV station located at the biggest lake of central Europe, the lake of Constance, created a special episode about the background of Free Software and its use in the educational sector and during apprenticeships. Among the interviewees is Peter Bittner who also managed to promote the FSFE with prominent use of our promotion material.

Get Active

If you are a supporter of the FSFE and you have a project you have wanted to do for a long time, apply for funding by the FSFE and make it happen. If you are a supporter but you have no project in hand, look for a local group in your vicinity or create one. And if you are not a supporter yet - time to join the FSFE now.

If you would like to share any thoughts, pictures, or news, please send them to us. As always, the address is newsletter@fsfe.org. We're looking forward hearing from you!

If you also want to support us and our work, join our community and support us with a donation or a monthly contribution: https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=nl-202009

Thanks to our community and all the volunteers, supporters, and donors who make our work possible. And thanks to our translators, who enable you to read this newsletter in your native languages.

Your editor, Erik Albers

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