Category: open source
Technology is a powerful tool for economic, social, and political development. However not all tech tools are created equal, and not all tech tools have the same impact on the development we care about. For those reasons, RootSpace focuses on training, promoting, supporting, and assisting other groups (non-profits, for-profit SMEs, educational and government institutions, and more) in:
• open source technologies (for web, desktop applications, collaboration, and more)
• collaboration and productivit tools
Dear all,
We had another good meeting for the OpenSesame Initiative last night (July 6)... aiming to promote the development and use of open source, social media, and free collaboration tools online...
Some great events coming up!!! (All at RootSpace, though we will plan some events elsewhere soon.)
Drupal intro. on Wednesday, July 8, 6:30-8:30pm
Linux install and basics training on Sunday, July 12, 6pm-9pm
Phone/PBX basics on Tuesday, July 14, 6:30-8:30pm
The gathering this past Monday on developing OpenSesame Consulting (an professional/training collaborative consultancy focusing on open source tools, collaboration tools, and social media) was fantastic... :-) About 15 people... great diversity in skills and interest... and overall, an amazing amount of brains and brainpower combined with social concern. From what I saw, I was pretty damn excited.
As part of RootSpace efforts to build a more sustainable, collaborative, open, knowledge-based, and technology-driven Lebanon, RootSpace is launching the OpenSesame Consultancy (OSC) to provide low-cost, high-quality, open source web and tech services to non-profit non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and small/medium companies (SMEs). NGOs and SMEs will receive not just technical services, but also training in how to maximize the use of such technologies, plus how to do basic administration and management tasks. The OSC will also train NGOs and SMEs in how to use collaboration and social media tools, with an emphasis on free and open source tools.
Right now, we are recruiting both mentors and interns to help us develop this project further, and to work on this project in the fields of web/tech development and implementation, graphic design, and business/marketing. (Tech saavy people with a social science interest/background are also encouraged to come to the intro meeting.)
"Openness" provides many benefits in education, society and social development, technology, innovation, government, the business world, civil society, arts and creativity, intellectual development, and much much more. "Closed systems", "closed minds", obsessive protection, and hording of information and knowledge all slow down innovation, ideas, and development.
Just went to an interesting gathering of universities from around the Arab World, working on the seeds of a project (Ma3bar) to promote FOSS in the region... was a very interesting gathering, with people from Qatar, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, Kuwait. Program was at Balamand University in north Lebanon, and supported by UNESCO and ICTDAR. It was a great gathering, some very bright people working on very interesting projects throughout the region. I'll add updates with more info later, but for now, some interesting resources...
