FSFE's plans for 2021 +++ IloveFS +++ FOSDEM
Erik AlbersIn our January Newsletter, read about our plans for 2021 including our upcoming birthday celebrations and our participation at FOSDEM. We roll out this year's "I love Free Software" campaign and, as usual, report about our various community activites.
FSFE's plans for 2021
In the last weeks, we have constantly developed our message of software freedom for 2021. And with so many exciting things surrounding FSFE's activities in the upcoming months, we are looking forward to realize them.
The FSFE will celebrate its birthday as we turn 20 in 2021. 20 years of defending user's rights and spreading software freedom. We want to use that momentum to speak, show and reflect on our activities in the past 20 years. And we want to give momentum to our community because it is on their shoulders that we have built our movement and our networks, which form a well-known pan-European Free Software expert interest representation called Free Software Foundation Europe. More information on this in the next newsletter.
As we turn 20, we will continue to have to deal with the current global situation, for instance by running our events online this year. Our running campaigns will be updated and we will launch a brand-new campaign "Upcycling Android" towards the second half of the year – stay tuned.
Now looking a bit into the closer future, our event team is doing its best to offer you a pleasant FSFE online experience at FOSDEM, the biggest Free Software conference in Europe. Not only are we offering a digital booth and our annual pre-FOSDEM community meeting, we will also co-coordinate the Legal and Policy Devroom. For more information, see below. Not to forget that right after FOSDEM there will be the:
I love Free Software day 2021
More than any other year, we feel it is important this year to come together and celebrate the annual "I love Free Software day" on 14. February. After months of a dark and physically distanced winter, we invite you to show your faces and your love towards the philosophy that unites us all, our love for Free Software.
To bring us all together on the same virtual page, we have prepared a brand new "I love Free Software" activity for you. Use our graphics to share your love with your friends, family, colleagues and the Free Software community and to virtually unite. Simply take a picture of yourself that you like and write down in a few words why you love Free Software. Then fill our share-pic generator and share the result in your favourite channels or via social media. By using the hashtag #IloveFS you make sure that we also see it - or by pinging our account directly in the respective social media channel. If none of that works for you, we are also happy to receive your image in an email to contact@fsfe.org.
We are really looking forward to celebrating #IloveFS with you!
Start the new year as a supporter of the Free Software Foundation Europe
Upcoming events
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The FSFE will be present at FOSDEM, the biggest annual Free Software happening in Europe. While FOSDEM normally takes place in Brussels, this year it will happen online. Max Mehl gives a talk about the "Best practices for declaring copyright and licenses" and Lucas Lasota will speak about Router Freedom. The FSFE will be present with a digital booth that you can visit to talk with people. There will also be some events happening "at the booth". Unfortunately, not all details from the organisers are available at the time of writing this newsletter, so we cannot dig into more details or offer links right now. Please follow us on social media (Mastodon / Twitter) or visit the official page during the event to find our booth.
Apart from the digital booth, for the first time the FSFE will co-organise the Legal and Policy Devroom at FOSDEM. We will also continue with our traditional pre-FOSDEM meeting the day before FOSDEM, on Friday 5 February 2021. This meeting is our community get-together and will be kicked-off with a keynote by Cory Doctorow.
- I love Free Software Day: As every year on 14 February the Free Software community is celebrating the "I love Free Software Day". Don't miss showing your love on that day, following the hashtag #IloveFS and listening to our upcoming special IloveFS podcast episode.
What have we done? Inside and outside the FSFE
- The FSFE was present with a digital representation at this year's online Chaos Communication Congress, called "Remote Chaos Experience " or #rC3. Together with our cluster about:freedom we created a map for the rC3-world and produced a joint presentation video. Since we used to sing the Free Software song at our booths at the CCC, we also transferred this happening into the digital world and invited folks to join and sing the Free Software song together in a Jitsi room.
- Our project manager Lucas Lasota gave a talk about Router Freedom at the Remote Chaos Experience rC3. The talk provided an overview of the recent successes for Router Freedom and the legal challenges against net neutrality in Europe.
- Our programme manager Max Mehl participated in the GNU/Linux News Podcast by GNU/Linux.ch (German) with one of the topics covering the principle of "Public Money? Public Code!" to be applied on publicly funded mobile phone apps.
Job vacancy
We are looking for a person with a strong technical background to support projects with software engineering and expertise. The person will work part-time, either in our Berlin office or remotely. The closing date for applications is Sunday, 21 February 2021.
Contribute to our newsletter
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 are looking forward hearing from you!
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