BOSTON, September 26, 2006--The Free Software Foundation
(FSF) today released the first discussion draft for version
2 of the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). In addition
to being the official documentation license of the GNU
Project, the GFDL is used by many other free documentation
projects, including Wikipedia.
Accompanying this revision release of the GFDL is a new
companion license, called the GNU Simpler Free Documentation
License (GSFDL).
This release marks the beginning of a public discussion and
review process, with the goal being the production of the
best free documentation licenses possible. The FSF has
invited everyone to read the new drafts and contribute
comments at http://gplv3.fsf.org/doclic-dd1-guide.html.
The new license texts have wording intended to improve
internationalization, to allow for easier excerpting and
distribution, and to be more clear about their application
to media formats other than text.
Documentation licenses exist because free manuals are
essential for free software. But the GFDL and GSFDL are not
limited to software documentation. While the FSF recommends
these licenses "principally for works whose purpose is
instruction or reference," they state clearly in Section 0
of each license that each can be used for "any work of
authorship meant for human appreciation, rather than machine
execution."
The GFDL 1.1 was released in 2000. It was revised and
released in 2002 as version 1.2.
Media contact:
Brett Smith
Compliance Engineer
Free Software Foundation
617-542-5942
brett(a)fsf.org
About the FSF
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated
to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy,
modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes
the development and use of free (as in freedom)
software--particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants--and free documentation for free
software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the
ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of
software. Their Web site, located at www.fsf.org, is an
important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations
to support their work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org.
Their headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA
--
John Sullivan
Program Administrator | Phone: (617)542-5942 x23
51 Franklin Street, 5th Fl. | Fax: (617)542-2652
Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA | GPG: AE8600B6
_______________________________________________
FSF And GNU Press mailing list <info-press(a)gnu.org>
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-press
Nominations are requested by October 31 2006.
BOSTON, September 21, 2006 — The Free Software Foundation (FSF)
announces a request for nominations for the 2006 Free Software Award for
Projects of Social Benefit.
This award is presented to the project or team responsible for applying
free software, or the ideas of the free software movement, in a project
that intentionally and significantly benefits society in other aspects
of life. We look to recognize projects or teams that encourage
collaboration to accomplish social tasks. A long-term commitment to
one's project (or the potential for a long-term commitment) is crucial
to this end.
Last years winner Wikipedia was recognized for creating a free, online,
collaborative, encyclopedia utilizing free software and free document
licensing. As a collaborative project it has achieved enormous success
and given free access to knowledge, which is fundamentally important to
the advancement and freedom of any society.
The Free Software Award for Projects of Social Benefit stresses the use
of free software in the service of humanity. We have deliberately chosen
this broad criterion so that many different areas of activity can be
considered. However, one area that is not included is that of free
software development itself. Projects with a primary goal of promoting
or advancing free software are not eligible for this award (we honor
those projects with our annual Award for the Advancement of Free
Software).
To qualify, a project must use free software, produce free
documentation, or use the idea of free software as defined in the Free
Software Definition. Work done commercially is eligible, but we will
give this award to the project or team that best utilizes resources for
society's greater benefit.
Please send your nominations to <award-nominations(a)gnu.org>, on or
before 31 October 2006. Please submit nominations in the following
format:
- Put the name of the project or team you are nominating in the email
message subject line.
- Please include, in the body of your message, an explanation (40 lines
or less) of the project, how it uses free software or free software
ideas, and why you think it is especially important to society.
- Please state, in the body of your message, where to find the
materials (e.g., software, manuals, or writing) which your nomination
is based on.
The 2005 award committee was composed of: Peter H. Salus (chair),
Richard Stallman, Alan Cox, Lawrence Lessig, Guido van Rossum, Frederic
Couchet, Jonas Oberg, Hong Feng, Bruce Perens, Raju Mathur, Suresh
Ramasubramanian, Enrique A. Chaparro, and Ian Murdock.
Members of the 2006 award committee will shortly be announced.
About The Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software — particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants — and free documentation for free software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software. Their Web site, located at
http://www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about
GNU/Linux. Donations to support their work can be made at
http://donate.fsf.org. Their headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
_______________________________________________
FSF And GNU Press mailing list <info-press(a)gnu.org>
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-press
First International Meeting of the Fellowship of FSFE in Bolzano, Italy
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is delighted to announce
the first international Meeting of the Fellowship of FSFE. [1]
Following up on an idea proposed by the Fellows themselves, and
organised in part by the Fellowship of FSFE, Fellows from all over
Europe will be coming together in the afternoon of 11 November 2006 in
Bolzano, Italy, to discuss issues of digital freedom in general, and
the work of FSFE [2] and the Fellowship in particular.
This meeting will provide an excellent opportunity to meet other
Fellows in person, collect ideas, and plan for the next yet of Free
Software agenda setting in Europe. It will also be a unique chance to
get first hand information from all the people working for FSFE
internationally, and ask for the information you always wanted to
know. Fellows will also be the first to know about FSFE's plans for
the next months and year, including a very special announcement.
"FSFE is a very busy organisation that has grown a lot in the past
years. Although I work full-time for FSFE, it is not always easy to
keep track of all the things that are going on," says Stefano
Maffulli, Italian representative and Fellowship coordinator of
FSFE. "I believe this event will be a unique opportunity for people to
get first-hand information and participate in the intellectual
environment of FSFE."
He concludes: "If you haven't joined the Fellowship so far, this event
is a very good reason to do so immediately. [3]"
"The Fellowship is an integral part of FSFE's work, it has made much
possible that we otherwise could not have done," explains Georg
Greve, FSFE's president. "We believe this meeting will also be an
excellent way for us to say thanks by reporting back to the people who
made much of our work possible and taking their input into the next
round."
In order to accomodate the busy agendas of the Free Software community
and to allow people to make more efficient use of their travel
expense, FSFE has dedided to co-locate the first International Meeting
of the Fellowship of FSFE with the South Tyrol Free Software
Conference (SFSCon) [4], the annual fall gathering hosted by the Free
Software Community in Bolzano. [5]
There is much to be seen: The Plone Sprint [6] from 6th through 9th of
November, the actual SFSCon on 10th and the morning of the 11th, and
then the Fellowship meeting for all Fellows of FSFE on the afternoon
of the 11th. Entrance to the SFSCon event is free and open to the
public, but registration is required. Please visit the web site of the
SFSCon [4] and select "registration". The Fellowship Meeting is for
Fellows only, but it will be possible to sign up to the Fellowship
during the conference.
[1] http://www.fsfe.org/events/
[2] http://www.fsfeurope.org/
[3] http://www.fsfe.org/join/
[4] http://www.sfscon.it/
[5] http://www.sfscon.it/where
[6] http://sfscon.it/data/plone-sprint
About the Free Software Foundation Europe
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSF Europe) is a charitable
non-governmental organisation dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
in a digital society. Therefore the freedoms to use, copy, modify and
redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition -
allow equal participation in the information age. Creating awareness
of these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and
giving people freedom by supporting development of Free Software are
central issues of the FSF Europe, which was founded in 2001 as the
European sister organisation of the Free Software Foundation in the
United States.
www.fsfeurope.org
1. Moving forward in the GPLv3 public consultation process
2. SELF project issues call for material
3. New office in Sweden
4. School of Art and Design Zürich donates hosting services to FSFE
5. Giacomo Poderi ends his internship
6. Alex Antener joins the core team
1. Moving forward in the GPLv3 public consultation process
On 23 and 24 August, the 4th international GPLv3 conference took place
in Bangalore, India. The event was organised by FSFE's sister
organisation, the Free Software Foundation India, and FSFE helped the
organisers by sharing their experiences from the 3rd conference in
Barcelona.
Regarding Europe, the FSFE still keeps a high level of public appearance
to inform people about the essence and the backgrounds of the proposed
changes in GPLv3. Most notably, Jonas Öberg presented the GPLv3 at one
of the regular meetings of Dataföreningen, the Swedish computer
association, and Ciarán O'Riordan did a presentation at the Danish Unix
User Group DKUUG.
http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/gplv3/gplv3.en.html
2. SELF project issues call for material
SELF (Science Education and Learning in Freedom), an EU funded project
to create and collect educational material about Free Software and open
standards, issued a call for material. Everybody who knows of existing
material that might be interesting to the SELF project is encouraged to
register it online so that it can be evaluated and considered for the
SELF platform.
http://www.selfproject.eu/repository/submit
3. New office in Sweden
Thanks to a cooperation with the Göteborg University, the FSFE has been
able to start an office in Sweden. This will help the FSFE to build up an
even stronger presence in the nordic region and give the volunteers and
employees of the FSFE in Sweden a permanent place to work from.
4. School of Art and Design Zürich provides home for new FSFE server
The School of Art and Design Zürich (HGKZ, "Hochschule für Gestaltung
und Kunst Zürich") supports the FSFE by donating rack space and
bandwidth for a new server. This is an important and valuable
contribution to FSFE, which took the summer break opportunity to further
consolidate and improve its server infrastructure.
5. Giacomo Poderi ends his internship
August was the last month of Giacomo Poderi's internship. The FSFE
thanks him for his valuable and reliable work. Giacomo found his
internship a really formative experience, where he also got the chance
of seeing how a lively and active organization like FSFE works to try
ensuring that rights in the 'digital age' are not disregarded. He
remains an active member of the FSFE and will continue to contribute in
the Italian team.
6. Alex Antener joins the core team
Alex Antener from Zürich joined the FSFE core team as the first Swiss
member. The focus of his work with FSFE is building up a strong team
to support Free Software in Switzerland, in cooperation with FSFE's
associate organisations. Having attended a school of arts rather than a
technical school, he also aims to provide a bridge between Free Software
issues on the one side and education and culture on the other.
You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters on
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html