FOSS in the Public Consciousness
This is inspired by @Muneer_S’s thread on how to engage the average citizen to care about FOSS,
Background
To paraphrase the linked discussion: we have numerous FOSS events, and while they have their purpose, a lot of them are “preaching to the converted” in the sense that they are limited in getting more people to learn about FOSS. If you look at the reach of such meetups and conference outside tech circles, this reach plummets to nearly zero.
We need to think of ways to spread awareness about FOSS to people outside tech circles. Often, this could start with simply making people aware about better alternatives for the services they use—whether that “better” means ad-free, using less resources, or other practical benefits. This could be creators realising their platform of choice is slowly locking them down and squeezing their assets; small business having a niggling feeling that the data they share in benefiting platforms more than the platforms are benefitting them; or simply people thinking they’ve been asked to share their phone number in one place too many.
On the other hand, there are groups of people who share similar ideas to to FOSS (and the Free Software movement especially) such as wanting things to be run by the community in an open way and with people having a say, but they may not know how to apply this to software. One example at the institutional level: NGOs or research institutes collecting research data meant for the public good, but using proprietary software which causes the data to be locked down into proprietary formats.
Brief
How does one spread awareness of FOSS outside of tech circles?
One idea I had was to go and give talks about FOSS related topics in non-tech events and aimed at a non-tech audience. Other ideas included creating social media graphics and videos, advertising on buses and in metro stations, and sitting and interacting with people in public spaces (such as Church Street in Bangalore).
Coming up with more such ideas and turning them into concrete action points is, in essence, the agenda of this BoF.
Possible discussion points
These can be fine-tuned later based on feedback or live based on how the discussion progresses, but this would be the general idea.
- What does FOSS have to offer people outside tech circles? Are existing FOSS solutions competitive enough to be used outside tech circles (and which ones)?
- Identifying specific groups/demographics among whom we want to spread awareness
- What strategies have social and political movements done in the past to spread awareness?
- Ideas for FOSS awareness campaigns and their goals
- How to sustain interaction beyond just a single campaign?
Discussion format
An introduction to set the context, followed by a round-table discussion. We will leave a few minutes open at the end for free-flowing discussion and to exchange contacts in case people want to take this beyond the BoF and coordinate further.
Moderators
- @Badri_Sunderarajan (that’s me!)
- A co-moderator would be welcome; ideally someone who has been part of active publicity/community engagement, but anyone interested really