Re: [Libreplanet-us-wa] Thx for a great meetup.

[Andrew Kane]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

On 12/25/2015 05:54 AM, Jon Erlichman wrote:
> I'm not sure how hackathons could possibly be for users. I'd like
> to
hear this explanation.

Not *solely* for users, unless those users are also hackers... but a
hackathon with user engagement, that is to say one in which people use
the software and demonstrate problems with it or specify desired
enhancements to it, is a better guided hackathon than one without such
engagement IMO. In a way, all hackathons, like all software activity,
is for users. Unused software is pointless.

> I've been trying to get activists to come to this meetup for a
> while and all I keep hearing is, "oh but I'm not technical." I tell
> them it's an activist meetup--I would hate to try bringing in
> serious activists only to drive them away with any kind of coding,
> etc.

"Serious activists" aren't a separate category from coders. Software
hacking is certainly an activity for those who have the relevant
skills, but proper organization can integrate would-be "mere users" of
the software. Or we could have separate-ish gatherings at the same
venue at which the two or more groups could intermix.

> 
> I agree on the FSF campaigns part wholeheartedly, although we
> could do
whatever other campaigns we wanted as well. Let's start with the FSF
ones. For January, why don't we set some goals, like maybe for an agenda
and whatever else we can think of. I'm not sure if AJ wants to manage
this or what but there's only one way to move forward and that's to be
more organized and to do activism some sort.
> 
> One thing I was interested in, which I still am, is pressuring
> Metro
to release the Trip Planner app as free software. Just wanted to put
that out there. Also, I am still in the planning phase but intend to
start an organization and software platform for managing donations to
leftist organizations (called ActRed) if anyone is interested. I want to
form a solidarity network on the left immersed in technology and freedom
.
> 

I'm on board with the idea of getting Trip Planner open-sourced. As
elcaset points out it is considered less useful than other similar
programs, but if we had source code we could change that.

I also am interested in your ActRed idea. It seems like something that
would benefit from integration with RiseUp. I also am planning a new
organization, tentatively called libremake, which would manage
donations (similarly to spi.org) for Washington organizations which
are Freedom-respecting (I admit to an ulterior motive: I want to
expand the enumerated Freedoms of Free Software to other forms of code
which are not generally considered software. For this reason libremake
will not be restricted to "technical" organizations.)

I think the libreplanet-us-wa list is a good venue for all of us to
discuss our activism goals for the coming year, and for us to figure
out how we can help one another achieve those goals.

Happy end-of-year times to all who read this, and thanks again for all
the great stuff you do. Cheers!

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2

iQEcBAEBCAAGBQJWfbOfAAoJEAa852fG4/6BK/AH/3TYSQGLA05UQ1EcoQP3tgfI
UBJXtuSO2lcXskRpveOBG2sSIRCSPELZU4+Mh+5RbzEW3+5oNm2fx9uF3h0SSYG2
961Sqzl+ymyNotKlYhz8TLMlEA0VcTJcsT7oYJl5FYD0x8vfX2SkBCz45a0oSaDv
dcX/LhiK00c5i4O6uIeTa42kmUlIAwbnnMwApRKasNG3SpRQK4BaAKTF6MBmdi4W
ENrBbBQyNtGeqFUK3I0b/De6QPerUdGicHnE5JU4mTopiL+N461u8vGS6kcCNoGd
VALzhcLd8+WhF+fz+hv4u5E6HBsNIGneTrMtohKlTpxVIQnuIm+hujcKWgRrTIc=
=n3Yn
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----