Charter

Preamble : TO DO

Draft Charter:

1. Developing and supporting the use of FOSS for learning, creating and sharing of knowledge
2. Exchanging and storing digital media and documents in open standards , unencumbered (to be defined, copy editing required)
3. Promoting inclusion through accessibility of applications, media and documents. (localization, translation, assistive technologies)
4. Availability of public funded project results under share and share alike licenses (no consensus on whether this should be just software or extended to other forms of knowledge) knowledge, documentation, source code, software, dictionaries, that are created through public funding ... create an open access SIG)
5. Ensuring a legislative framework for software freedom and resisting legislations that affect software freedom.

6. Promotion of efforts to build distributed, publicly available archives of free and open source software & knowledge

7. FOSS drivers and protocols for all marketed hardware, and work towards free/open hardware (like Simputer, OpenMoko)

8. Promoting the creation of distributed information infrastructure (as against centralised information infrastructures).

1. These are very specific. The CMP should be as minimal and abstracted as possible. In short it could be as simple as:

• "Adoption, promotion and support of Free/Open Source Software

(F/OSS) and standards"

2. People interested in specific goals, implementation should create Special Interest Groups (SIGs) within FOSSCOM, and possibly have their own mailing lists for discussions. But, then user groups are already doing it, so why have SIGs here?

(a) Unfortunately, user groups don't have the "branding" and visibility among the public. This is one of the reasons why FOSSCOM is essential. In high-context cultures such as ours, people give lot of importance to "branding". Sad, but true!

(b) Unlike SIGs in technical projects where they may have to work with each other, SIGs under FOSSCOM could work independently, although collaboration helps, and should be optional.

3. People who want to work or support a particular SIG will participate in it. Others will have "no say" in it. Our greatest strength is in our diversity, and it is not uncommon to have differences of opinion.

But, what is important is how we maximize the SIGs' goals while we minimize/reduce the *noises* or differences of opinion between SIGs, and maximize all the SIG efforts under one roof - FOSSCOM.

-- Glossory and Fosscomm definitions of terms used

• Free: The term refers to freedom. Specifically to the four freedoms applicable to all FLOSS software http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

  • The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
  • The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
  • The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
  • The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

• Open Standards: The term refers to standards that meet the following critirea http://selfproject.eu/OSD

  • subject to full public assessment and use without constraints in a manner equally available to all parties;
  • without any components or extensions that have dependencies on formats or protocols that do not meet the definition of an Open Standard themselves;
  • free from legal or technical clauses that limit its utilisation by any party or in any business model;
  • managed and further developed independently of any single vendor in a process open to the equal participation of competitors and third parties;
  • available in multiple complete implementations by competing vendors, or as a complete implementation equally available to all parties.

Special Interest Groups (SIGs) for promoting FOSS

1. Accessibility

2. Localization (please change this to local langauge computing or indic computing to address a wider space - SanthoshThottingal )

3. Software Patents
4. Open Standards
5. Public Institutions
6. e-Governance
7. Hardware
8. Networks
9. Education
10. Distributed Information Infrastructure
11. Community based FOSS usage