Learn | Share | Organise
Free Software Foundation Tamil Nadu (FSFTN) is a not-for-profit organisation and a social
movement which aims at enlightening the masses in Free Software, Free Hardware, Openness, Free Culture
and Knowledge Freedom. We have Regional and College level GLUGs and
conduct Annual Camps, Workshops, etc on FOSS Technologies and Tools
to empower people and contribute Knowledge back to the Commons
GNU/Linux Users Group (GLUG) are the essential place for Knowledge sharing activities for students from Colleges and Regions co-ordinated by FSFTN. There are various GLUGs for FSFTN in and around Tamil Nadu such as in Viluppuram, Puducherry, Salem, Karaikudi, Trichy, etc. Know more about the functions and structure of our GLUGs here
Community Projects are the best way to directly address social issues, needs, etc through FOSS Tools and Technologies. FSFTN also guides
College
students in their Final Year projects towards Community Requirements and Contributions. Several Projects for
Wikipedia,
Mozilla have already been implemented by us. Read about our discussions regarding this here
Taking FOSS to the People? Yes, The primary step in that would be the Institutions. FSFTN conducts College Workshops, One Day Sessions,
Guest Lectures, etc
to reach the College Students and invite them
to work on Projects, Community Initiatives, etc. Learn more our workshops here
FSFTN has defended Net Neutrality and has played a key role in bringing FOSS in Laptops provided to School and College students by the Government. We have organised many public campaigns to create awareness among the people and build a strong FOSS movement.
Swift Women in Free Technologies was a community initiative by FSFTN exclusively for Women. SWIFT was initiated to address the gender gap in FOSS communities and to bring equal contributions from everyone to the community. Learn more about the activities of SWIFT here
We, apart from Regional and College GLUGs, also build Special Interest Group to carry on Community related Projects over a specific
Interest
using a particular Technology or a Tool. We are building SIGs such as Wikipedia, Meshnet, OpenstreetMap, Designing, Programming, etc. They specifically contribute, research and work on projects.
We celebrate events regularly relating to FOSS, Free Hardware, Commons and Free Culture. Celebrating Events regulary increases the Sprit of the Community and encourage us to come together in the road to achieve Knowledge Freedom
Software Freedom Day is an event where Free Software Enthusiasts, Students from College and Schools, Common Public, Researchers, etc come together to share, discuss, debate and demonstrate on various topics including FOSS, Free Culture, Hardware, Tools, etc. Various stalls relating FOSS will be put on for exhibition on the day. Over the past years, this has been a major event for the FOSS Communities all over the world to take FOSS to the people and exhibit its capabilities. Read about our celebrations here.
The usage of FOSS Tools and Technologies needs to be penetrated into the Educational Institutions right from School Education. "Free"-ing the students from proprietory tools right from their learning is tha main goal of this celebration. We, FSFTN go to Schools and organise EFD to talk about FOSS Tools and Tech. and introduce them to start using it. See our EFD celebrations here.
FSFTN has conducted Camps for 6 years in a row. The camps from 2013-15 were held at IIT-Madras and in 2016-17, the camp was held at LICET. The camp also seeks to take forward the ideas and Technologies discussed at the National Conference of the Free Software Movement of India, which was held at B.S. Abdur Rahman University in January 2017 and was attended by over 2,000 people, along with leading speakers from India and abroad.
While Annual Camps and Workshops are for Participants, FSFTN organises Hactivist Camps every year, to train Volunteers on Techno-Social aspects of Free Software ,Hardware and Free Culture. Hactivist Camps make way for the Volunteers to strongly engage themselves with the organisation and they learn why being a Hactivist is important. Building a strong volunteer base is important for the organisation to continue along its path to Free Knowledge.
"Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world’s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitized and locked up by a handful of private corporations" - Aaron Swartz
