1. FSFE at Linuxtag in Wiesbaden (Germany) 2. Free Software workshop at Academy of German Army 3. FSFE at several events in Milan (Italy) 4. GPLv3 at SANE and UKUUG evening talks 5. Georg Greve at HGKZ university in Zürich (Switzerland) 6. Karsten Gerloff at eIFL workshop in Kiev (Ukraine) 7. FSFE General Assembly in Manchester 8. Linuxwochen in Vienna (Austria)
1. FSFE at Linuxtag in Wiesbaden (Germany)
As in previous years, Linuxtag was an opportunity for FSFE members and Fellows to meet people from FSF Latin America and the Free Software Initiative Japan and share the FSFE booth with them. Karsten Gerloff gave a speech about the Access to Knowledge movement (A2K) and its backgrounds. Ciarán O'Riordan, Georg Greve (FSFE), and Federico Heinz (FSFLA) gave speeches about various aspects of the GPLv3. As usual, Volker Dormeyer did an excellent job organising the booth and the accommodation.
2. Free Software workshop at Academy of German Army
Free Software is penetrating an increasing amount of governmental areas. As part of a meeting to assess the strategic future of Free Software in the German Army, Georg Greve was invited by the Academy of German Army to speak on Free Software and the political and strategic issues that software raises for all sovereign governmental tasks, for which Free Software provides the strongest answers today.
3. FSFE at several events in Milan (Italy)
The Italian team of the FSFE took part in some Milan-based events this month. At the "Linux World Summit", Stefano Maffulli and Cristian Rigamonti ran the Free Software Foundation Europe booth and participated in a panel discussion dedicated to the Italian Free Software communities. Cristian Rigamonti then held a talk about Free Software at the "Gira e Respira" event, and an online talk on oilproject.org about GPLv3. All the events benefitted from the support of the Italian Fellows.
4. GPLv3 at SANE and UKUUG evening talks
Twice last month Georg Greve explained the reasons and overall changes to the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3, and introduced the audience to the GPLv3 update process. The first conference was the 5th System Administration and Network Engineering (SANE) Conference in Delft, in the Netherlands. The second speech took place as a UKUUG evening talk at the University Conference Center in Manchester, UK.
5. Georg Greve at HGKZ university in Zürich (Switzerland)
On request of the School of Art and Design at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Zurich (HGKZ), FSFE president Georg Greve spoke to art and design students about the role that software takes in the digital society, and what Free Software means for society.
6. Karsten Gerloff at eIFL workshop in Kiev (Ukraine)
Libraries are currently struggling with ever-tighter copyright restrictions that make it harder for them to serve their purpose of collecting and disseminating knowledge. An important countermeasure is for librarians to educate themselves about copyright, and about advocating their interests. At a workshop in Kiev, Ukraine (May 26-27), Karsten Gerloff gave talks about Free Software and sharing knowledge, as well as about the WIPO Development Agenda and a Treaty on Access to Knowledge. The audience consisted of librarians from the former Soviet Union, Mongolia, the Middle East and South-East Asia.
7. FSFE General Assembly in Manchester
The FSFE held its General Assembly on 27 May 2006 in Manchester, UK. The members of the General Assembly spent the weekend reviewing the past year and engaging in lively and constructive discussions about future tasks and priorities.
8. Linuxwochen in Vienna (Austria)
FSFE was present at Austria's largest Free Software event, the Linuxwochen in Vienna. On all three days of the event, members of the FSFE, Fellows, and volunteers were available at the booth to inform about the work of the FSFE and about the Fellowship. On the first day, Karin Kosina gave a speech titled "Free Software for free people" in which she introduced the Free Software Foundation Europe. On the last day, David Ayers and Karin Kosina did a presentation of the GPLv3 which was very well received, and the following panel discussion turned out to be very constructive.
You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters on http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html