FLOSS... and in-sourcing

An interesting perspective:

http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/odonnell/index.html

A case for Indian insourcing: Open Source interest in IT job expansion

by Casey O'Donell

Abstract The controversy surrounding the "off–shoring" of IT jobs from the United States to other countries, in particular to India, has become a focal point in American political discourse and has been widely represented in the media. Disturbingly, little attention has been paid to this occurrence beyond its implications for American employment opportunities. Representing Indian and American IT workers as unified groups whose interests are mutually exclusive and opposed to one another is problematic given the material realities that propel "outsourcing." Among the potential benefits of growing demand for, and supply of, skilled IT workers is increased participation in the Open Source Software (OSS) movement. Expanding global involvement offers a significant opportunity for developing countries to influence the direction, importance, and future of OSS.

Saligao site... saligao.goa-india.org

Kindly visit a new site on Saligao -- http://saligao.goa-india.org/

Derek Cordeiro recommended CivicSpace (based on Drupal) and it works great. We can unleash the power of GNU/Linux and Free Software by demonstrating to people how easy and useful it can be in real-life!

If you know of anyone who'd like to build a village site, do get in touch. My dream is to have a lot of villages and schools from Goa in cyberspace. But to make that happen, we need a lot of volunteers. It would probably also help the local society if more people took to expressing themselves in writing.

Gender is FLOSSIble? Good news from Uganda...

Milton Aineruhanga <milton@wougnet.org> informs us that after the recent Africa Source 2 event (see their mailing list at africasource2-l@lists.tacticaltech.org ) the Linux Chix Africa- Uganda chapter was born.

Milton writes: "It is now in existence and is seeking membership from women in Uganda. The targeted audience is decision makers, end users as well as women computer technicians. The primary focus of Linux Chix Africa- Uganda chapter will be FOSS [Free/Libre and Open Source Software] and women in Uganda. The chapter seeks to advocate for the use of FOSS by women at all levels i.e. both the urban and the rural woman.

For more information about Linux Chix Africa, visit: http://www.africalinuxchix.org

Maybe we in South Asia should try and promote the formation of LinuxChix chapters in Indian states too. I would love to see one happen in Goa (and am willing to help, without interfering!). But there are so few potential members I can think of!