Report of Software Freedom Day 2006 in Belize.
For Software Freedom Day in 2006, we had a collaborative effort by Linux.bz and Corozal Community College and Corozal Junior College. CCC had just inaugurated a new computer lab using open source and free software and were eager to show the benefits. The SFD team was composed of the administrators of both schools, CCC and CJC, the IT faculty at both schools, and Jan and Judy Wilson, former school personnel now working independently to support open source through Linux.bz. They are, left to right, first row, Emir Pérez, José Mai, Nydia Correa, Judy Wilson, Geraldo Vallejos, (second row) Kareem Young, Jan Wilson, Omar Riverol, (third row) Trevor Young, Maria Jorgenson, and Debbie Jorgenson.
This was our first Software Freedom Day participation, so we were not sure what the response would be. Publicity was widespread: we distributed fliers and invitations to all secondary and tertiary schools in the country, we had ads in both major national newspapers, and announcements on local TV stations.
We had lightning presentations on several open source applications scheduled that we publicized. Included were The Gimp, OpenOffice.org, and Ubuntu with Firefox was running on all the computers. There was also a presentation of how to set up a lab with open source software, and of Markus, an open source grades program being developed by Jan Wilson.
Because of the difficulty of the mail system in Belize, we did not get our t-shirts and goodies until one month after the event. We know that is being remedied!
There are several factors that we believed contributed to the small turnout. One is that we are located in the northern most district of Belize, and from the major metropolitan areas, it is a two-and-a-half or more hour drive. Another is that the event was held during the month of Belize's September Celebrations. We think it's great to add a Software Freedom celebration, but we think it may have interfered with our turnout. For next year, we have a plan.
We will be renting a booth in the Belize Chamber of Commerce's annual business Expo held in Belize City, the days scheduled for Software Freedom Day! It's perfect timing and we will have an opportunity to be exposed to hundreds and hundreds of people. And we'll be outstanding in our lime green t-shirts!
NOTEWORTHY: Our team leader, Judy Wilson, won a prize for the best localized version of the SFD logo and got a t-shirt signed by big open source names. She was invited to serve for a year on the Software Freedom International board, and is doing so!
