= FSFE Newsletter - February 2017 =
[ Read online: https://fsfe.org/news/nl/nl-201702.en.html ]
== Why Open Science matters and the FSFE's position on Horizon 2020 ==
"Open Science" is an emerging movement that asks to transfer the four
freedoms that we practice in Free Software into science. Although it is
still emerging, Open Science receives more and more strategic importance
for decision-makers. In the eyes of financial ministers of the European
Union, Open Science produces and uses a lot of Open Data, which in turn
has the potential for big economic benefits. The "European Cloud
Initiative", for example, is part of the European Commission's strategy
for Open Science, intended for building a "competitive data and
knowledge economy in Europe" [1]. It aims at strengthening Europe's
position in data-driven innovation and is thus considered to become an
important part of the European Digital Single Market. Or, as the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development puts it:
"Encouraging the sharing and re-use of research data could generate more
value for public money" [2].
With this in mind, the FSFE targets Free Software to be part of this
emerging field of European Open Science from the beginning. As all
research, data processing and archiving nowadays heavily depends on
software, it is a chance to jump on the bandwagon and define Free
Software as a precondition of Open Science. As one course of action, we
wrote a position paper for the interim evaluation of Horizon 2020 [3],
the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80
billion of funding available.
The FSFE's position paper explains how Free Software and Open Standards
are fundamental to Open Science [4] and we therefore ask for all
publicly-funded research in Europe to mandatorily use and develop Free
Software and Open Standards. With the "European Cloud Initiative" in
mind, we explicitly ask that "Data and software repositories and Data
Management Plans (DMPs) must employ Free Software in order to ensure
unfettered access to their contents and long term preservation" [5].
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Help us now to grow bigger and make a difference in 2017
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== What else have we done? Inside and Outside the FSFE ==
- To underpin the demands of the position paper we wrote for the interim
evaluation of Horizon 2020 (see above), we filed a Freedom of
Information request to the European Commission’s Directorate-General
for Research and Innovation [7] to ask about the use, development and
release of (Free) software under Horizon2020. We will keep you updated
about any response.
- We published our annual report [8] with insights about our policy
work, campaigns and events in 2016 as well as a preview for 2017.
- In August 2016, the FSFE joined the Advisory Board of The Document
Foundation [9]. Now, The Document Foundation opens up the LibreOffice
Certification for Migrations and Trainings [10] to members of not-for-
profit organisations on their Advisory Board, including the FSFE.
- We published a report of the first ever FSFE summit [11] that happened
in September 2016. The report includes reflections, impressions,
pictures and the full schedule with links to the abstract, slides and
video recordings of each talk, if available. If you missed the summit,
this report is your chance to catch up on it.
- The FSFE's assembly during the 33rd edition of the Chaos Communication
Congress (33C3) [12] was a big success thanks to our highly motivated
team behind the booth and the high quality of 21 sessions in three
days that have been realized by our session hosts. Read Erik's report
and see the pictures for more insights [13].
- Like every year, FSFE staff and many team members will be at FOSDEM
and we have a big booth in the K building [14]. If you come to FOSDEM
take the chance to meet the FSFE or individual members.
- "Barcelona Free Software" [15] is a local group in Barcelona and an
open space for coders and users who love Free Software. Following a
team decision at the end of 2016, Barcelona Free Software now is an
associated organisation of the FSFE [16].
- Would you like to work with us in the FSFE or you know somehow who
would like to? In 2017, we are looking for new student interns [17] to
join our team and who like to get to know a world full of Free
Software.
== Get active ==
February 14 is "I love Free Software day", the day to say thank you to
all the people behind Free Software. Use this day to show your love for
your favorite Free Software and check out our campaign page in advance
to get some ideas and inspiration: http://www.ilovefs.org [18]
== Good Free Software News ==
The Paris Declaration on Open Government [19], introduced during the OGP
Paris Summit last December, aims at establishing cooperation between
countries and civil societies throughout 2017. The Declaration is
composed of 21 collective action items with the accomplishment of open
public procurement and formation of effective Free Software policies
listed among them [20].
== Help us to improve our newsletter ==
Do you think we have missed some news, or you'd like specific news to
appear in the next newsletter? Please share this and any other feedback
by writing to newsletter(a)fsfe.org
Thanks to all the volunteers [21], Fellows [22] and corporate donors
[23] who enable our work,
your editors Erik Albers, Olga Gkotsopoulou and Fernando Sanjurjo, FSFE
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Help us now to grow bigger and make a difference in 2017
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1: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/open-science
2: https://www.oecd.org/sti/oecd-science-technology-and-innovation-outlook-251…
3: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170105-01
4: https://fsfe.org/activities/policy/eu/Horizon2020-Position-Paper
5: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170105-01
6: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2017-02
7: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170110-01
8: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170109-01.en.html
9: https://fsfe.org/news/2016/news-20160817-01
10: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2016/12/27/the-document-foundation…
11: https://fsfe.org/community/events/2016/summit/backsight
12: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2016/wiki/Assembly:Free_Software_Foundation_…
13: http://blog.3rik.cc/2017/01/worked-for-us-thank-you-33c3/
14: https://fosdem.org/2017/practical/transportation/
15: http://bcnfs.org/
16: https://fsfe.org/associates/associates
17: https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170116-01
18: http://www.ilovefs.org
19: https://en.ogpsummit.org/paris-declaration/
20: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/opengov/news/paris-declaration-promot…
21: https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.en.html
22: http://fellowship.fsfe.org/join/nltr16
23: https://fsfe.org/donate/thankgnus.en.html
24: https://fsfe.org/join/nl2017-02