On Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 6:31 PM, Mark Holmquist marktraceur@gmail.com wrote:
OK, so very clearly my answering questions was not a good idea. I will leave it, then, at this:
There is no political concern right now. The only concern is one of agnostic terms.
Even "Free/Libre/Open Source Software" could potentially be perceived as too specific by the Public Domain/Open Access/Free Culture community members who happened to be at the conference. And even the mere exclusion of someone's community can make them feel uncomfortable, even if the person speaking means no offense.
I don't expect that the conference can be perfect, even in this respect, but I think starting at "Free/Libre/Open Source" would at least be a step forward. Talking to presenters and staff members, encouraging use of that term in place of anything more specific, would benefit *everyone*, and not just any one community.
So how do we become more "inclusive"?
By the by--and this is still on the matter of inclusion, nothing else--it is probably not a good idea for conference volunteers to refer to others' ideals as "silly", thereby immediately making others uncomfortable in the conversation. I happen to forgo theatres and DVDs for the very reasons listed above--I don't think it makes me "silly", I think it makes me a concerned citizen who doesn't like corporate influence over my personal life. I don't know about the software in my car, but it is very limited. I would almost certainly ask about the software in my car if it did anything more than control a simple CD changer--GPS, for example, would greatly concern me. I imagine that people who have reached the same point in Free Software adoption would think very similarly.
Just to let you know, if your car is less then 30 years old almost every aspect of the the engine, transmission, Anti-lock brakes, and airbags are controlled by software.
Finally, please don't respond to this email (or any others) to weigh in on the merits of the Free Software philosoph(y|ies). I merely brought them up to illustrate points relating to the main topic, which is laid out in the first few paragraphs of this email.
Cheers,
-- Mark Holmquist Student, Computer Science University of Redlands MarkTraceur@gmail.com
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