Re: [Fsfe-uk] A new workgroup suggestion

[Tom Chance]

On Friday 20 Feb 2004 17:54, Alex Hudson wrote:
> A new workgroup? We could set one up. But, we have enough trouble
> getting people actively interested in software patents (there are some
> people working on this), education (there are some people working on
> this), and general "government" (law etc., there are no people working
> on this afaik). It is something I would like to look at again - people
> obviously *are* interested in these issues, so the problem is definitely
> with the way we're trying to attract people. However, part of the
> problem is that there isn't really a continual practical basis for work:
> Government/law tends to work fairly slowly, so there tends to be
> cyclical activity which doesn't work well with group-building.

That problem was one of the reasons I came up with the plan I presented in my 
original e-mail. I've spent the past year coordinating a student campaigns 
group that grew from myself and two friends to, according to the national 
student campaigning network People & Planet, the best in the south east :) 
What worked really well was running campaigns where we had achievable aims, 
definite ends to which we could work. And work we did, getting my Union & Uni 
to make significant committments to green electricity and Fairtrade.

When I started working on my own on digital rights issues in my Union, I 
realised that pushing for open standards is the perfect issue in digital 
rights, since it is simply a matter of picking a particular organisation and 
persuading them to adopt open standards policies. I say "simply" when of 
course it could be quite difficult, but it is an objective that one can reach 
and feel one has achieved something, and then, if one wants, take it further 
within the political system.

It is also the sort of thing that most Free Software geeks could do with no 
further specialist knowledge, something that I have no doubt puts people off 
lobbying on software patents and lobbying the government, and to which all 
geeks have immediate access, a strumbling block in education work.

And, of course, if it starts being successful, and we can get, for example, a 
movement going in the NUS, then it is bringing issues to government and 
education through the backdoor.

Anyway, enough of my sales pitch.



> One thing these groups tend to require is an individual/individuals who
> can dedicate time not only in goodly amounts, but on a consistent basis.
> Most people don't tend to have that, not even students these days. There
> must be another way of doing this, but it has eluded me so far.

At the moment I'm able to give ~1 day a week to this, and I'm happy to do so. 
What I need to know is that I will be able to get a core group of people 
giving a small amount of time to start lobbying organisations they're 
involved or associated with to get the ball rolling. I'm confident that once 
we can post a few success stories to Slashdot and the like, with a process 
behind it that geeks can link into, it should begin to grow, at least enough 
to make a difference.

At least, I'd rather spend that time achieving something than developing my 
debating skills by my keyboard!

Tom