UASD: Computers and Internet: sources of social exclusion or engines of education and human development?

Computers and Internet:
sources of social exclusion or
engines of education and human development?
Marco Fioretti

http://mfioretti.com
http://digifreedom.net

Marco Fioretti (marco@digifreedom.net)

September 17th, 2009, UASD Santo Domingo
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Some rights reserved

Questions discussed in this talk
What is software anyway?
Do computers and Internet unite or divide?
Do they help educate and empower, or do they divide
and estrange?
What is the contribution of Universities to the effects of
these technologies? What could it be?


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Important!!!
This is not a talk about software and programming
This is not a technical talk
This is a talk about civic education and making
(or not) the world a better place


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Author introduction
Marco Fioretti
Member of
OpenDocument Fellowship (www.opendocumentfellowship.com)
Digistan.org (www.digistan.org)
www.eleutheros.org – a Catholic approach to Information Technology
RULE (Run Up to date Linux Everywhere, www.rule-project.org)

Writer for Linux Journal, Linux Format, Pc Professionale and other
magazines
Author of the Family Guide to Digital Freedom (http://digifreedom.net)
Home page and writings:
http://stop.zona-m.net


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Some Rights Reserved

4

Agenda
Basic concepts
Practical guidelines
Conclusions and discussion


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5

The basics: human rights
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; this right includes freedom to hold
opinions without interference and to seek, receive
and impart information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19, www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/


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6

Why are SW and digital technologies so important?

Software is not a stand-alone industry or set of tools, but
something that:
makes every other “physical” economic activity work,
from agriculture to space travel
run every service used by humankind, from mere
bureaucracy to healthcare, education, tourism, lotteries...
has an exclusive mandate to package and access in
digital format every kind of information we need to live

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7

Why is digital information good?
If all conceivable
kinds of
information (from
texts to music,
images and 3D
models) can be
represented as a
series of bits

55 73 65 20 4f 70 65 6e 44 6f 63 75 6d 65 6e 74 21

We only need:
ONE class of generic storage devices: bit containers which can change shape and technology
without particular problems and are very cheap
ONE (ok, very large...) class of telecom networks, ie bit transporters
And all these data can be preserved or distributed with much less money, time and effort than before!


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Why is software relevant?
What matters isn't software, but what is done
through and thanks to software
Your own civil rights and the quality of your own
life heavily depend on how software is used
around you
(Family Guide to Digital Freedom, http://digifreedom.net)


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Software and public money
Regardless of license costs, software can make us save or waste huge
amounts of public money
Quick example from Italy (2007):
"costs and inefficiencies in management of paper documents cost from 3 and 5%
of GNP, that is between 42 and 70 billions of Euro"
"digital documents could save from 50/60% (electronic billing, digital-only
archives) to 90% (certified electronic mail)"


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10

Software, infrastructures and services
"Increased use of digital information” is one of the essential prerequisites to build a
Smart Energy Grid that will reduce CO2 emissions in USA from 60 to 211 million metric
tons of CO2 per year in 2030
(www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/Overviews_Misc/The_Green_Grid_Energy_Savings_and_Carbon_Emi
ssions_Reductions_Enabled_by_a_Smart_Grid, www.consortiuminfo.org/bulletins/apr09.php#feature)

The Obama administration calculated that Electronic Health Records (personal
medical histories in digital format) could save up to $77 billion USD in annual
health care costs


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11

Software and human beings
Software makes the difference in:
Relationships
Education
Business

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12

Good uses of software
Software is used well when:
solves actual problems that YOU really have
does what YOU need, how YOU need it
provide more opportunities for quality education and rewarding jobs
protects, spreads, provides and preserves culture and cultural diversity
gives more control on government
reduces social (vs "digital-only") divides
saves money

In one sentence: when it brings more freedom at all levels in your life


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13

Bad uses of software
Software is used badly when:
you were forced to use it, or to use the wrong software
you force others to use the same software YOU like
it is an end, instead of a tool
it is used without a clear purpose


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14

Digital is a culture, therefore...
“the ‘digital’ in today’s life is no longer a range of individual
things, anything from digital clocks to cellphones to
computers to..., but a culture, something which calls upon
habits or inculcates habits”.

Fr Julian Fox, SDB, Digital Virtues, http://stores.lulu.com/Bosconet

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15

2008: Hague Declaration on Digital Rights
Government information, services and resources are increasingly
provided virtually rather than physically;
Freedom of speech and association are increasingly exercised on
line rather than in person;
The Internet and the Web provide an unprecedented avenue to
equality of education and opportunity for all peoples throughout
the world;
Source: www.digistan.org/hague-declaration:en


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16

What is that makes software different?
There are some big potential differences for

“New and old car in Prishtina Market”
www.flickr.com/photos/blandm/297556309/

society between production of software and that
of most material goods: when your car breaks or
spare parts for it go out of production, there is no
retroactive damage.
Your next car won't have to be compatible with
everything you did with the old one: all the
memories of all the trips made with your old car,
all the business relationships built thanks to it,
will still be there.
Secondly, your new car needs not be "compatible" with the cars that your neighbours or co-workers
use.


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Why and how is software dangerous?
If a software maker goes bankrupt or simply
discontinues a product, instead, it can put out
of your reach for good all the files you
created with it.
If that's the case, the damages caused
through software have one characteristic
common, even if in an infinitely less serious
way, with those caused by nuclear plants
without waste management policies, or by
depleted uranium weapons:
It will hurt even people who weren't there
when it was used, for a long time after it was
used.
Using software in the wrong way, you also
limit the freedom of choice of everybody
else.

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For all these reasons...
●

Technology (especially digital) is legislation
(derived by C. Einfeldt)

●

“those who control the code for the software
that makes much of the world go round, can
control things that might once have been left
to various legislatures to control”
Fr J. Fox,SDB, Media and priestly formation today 2009, unpublished


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What is really important?

FSF, 1984:
"So that I can continue to use computers
without dishonour, I have decided to put
together a sufficient body of free software so
that I will be able to get along without any
software that is not free"
R.M. Stallman, The GNU Manifesto
www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html


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What is really important? (2)

FSF Latin America, 2009:
Software Freedom activists have a responsibility to present values,
defending and disseminating the essential Freedoms that define
Free Software
...
Governments must... ensure the control of the goods they
administrate and regulate... through Software that brings with it
freedom to run it for any purpose, to study its source code to
understand its functioning and adapt it to their own needs
Caracas Declaration

www.fsfla.org/svnwiki/anuncio/2009-07-declaracion-de-caracas


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2005:
Almost all software applications are used to manage
information so these applications are worthless without
information to process, store and display...
the result of [proprietary file formats (not software)... is that
digital information isn’t always under the complete control of
the person who created it.
M. Fioretti, Format wars

www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/focus_format_history


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2009:
“these databases that grow through user
contributions are the real source of lock-in.
Eventually, these guys probably will make their
software open source because it won't matter. The
value lies in having the data.”
Tim O'Reilly
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10264471-16.html


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The nature of digital file formats

What is this?

Answer:
the Bula In Apostolatus Culmine, that is
the Papal document that 471 years
ago created UASD

Why can we still read it?
Because the document format is
completely known and its specifications
are completely separated from those of
the tool used to create it

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The nature of digital file formats (2)

Software is like pens, formats like
alphabets: if the alphabet is free, it
doesn't matter which pens are used or
if their design is proprietary
(to know more about the huge negative impact of proprietary or otherwise unknown file formats,
read http://mfioretti.com/how-file-formats-can-be-used-favor-or-hamper-innovation-activecitizenship-and-really-free-markets)


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Practical guidelines
If software, formats and everything digital are all these
things, it is evident how big the influence of Universities
is:
they have little money and must spend it well, in the interest of both
their students and society as a whole.
Universities must spread and advance knowledge and its practical
benefits as much as possible to the greatest possible number of
people
Universities form the people who will make decisions about public
money and individual freedoms tomorrow.
Since software is ubiquitous, they must teach to all their students to
use it well.
Here are some practical suggestions


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Use only Free Software for software teaching
Usage of proprietary software may be unavoidable
in some cases, but not when teaching
programming
"What I cannot create, I do not understand"
Feynman
If you have no occasion to read, you cannot learn
to write

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“Software-neutral” teaching in all disciplines
Never distribute or accept from the students files in
proprietary format
“sending proprietary attachments with email is as socially
unacceptable as smoking in a closed room full of people” (real
email signature of a Hong Kong University professor)

Never set up activities that can only be performed with one single
program, even if it's gratis
Never force student to install and use software illegally (especially
expensive business products e.g. Autocad)
Protest, students and teachers together, when this doesn't happen


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Promote OpenDocument!!!
Remember the comparison between proprietary
attachments and smoking
The OpenDocument Format (ODF) is the only
viable alternative to the .doc, .ppt and ..xls files
which are the main, if not only, real reason of the
Microsoft monopoly on the desktop
Imposing inside the University the adoption of
OpenDocument office files is the best and most
effective strategy to educate all students to the
benefits of open digital technologies
To know more: www.opendocumentfellowship.com

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Saturday is Software Freedom Day!!!

worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS):
To educate the worldwide public about of the benefits of using high
quality FOSS in education, in government, at home, and in business
In order to empower all people to freely connect, create and share
in a digital world that is participatory, transparent, and sustainable.

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“Software-neutral” teaching: a true story
In November 2005, the Italian Conference of University
Rectors started to promote on its website “students' use of
MS products, available at steep discounts...”
Eleven days later, thanks to protests from teachers and
students, it “added a page on "Free and Open Source SW
(FOSS): a fundamental tool for Italian Universities"
All details at www.linuxjournal.com/article/8739


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Spread awareness of digital rights
Promote study and discussion in all faculties of the Hague Declaration:
Considering that all countries are moving, at different rates and from
different starting points, towards a society in which full and effective
participation in government and society, and access to public services,
education and opportunity, are increasingly dependent upon access to
electronic communications... We call on all governments to:
1. Procure only information technology that implements free and open

standards;

2. Deliver e-government services based exclusively on free and open
standards;
3. Use only free and open digital standards in their own activities.

www.digistan.org/hague-declaration:en

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Teach to look at people, not computer users
Software affects everybody in every moment, not just those who use it
Therefore:
Don't let students stop at converting everybody to FOSS because it is:
stable, customizable, safer, open, cheaper etc...
Teach them to:
ask people in need “which concrete problems do you already
have today?”
figure out how software can help solve those problems and do it


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Protect cultural diversity and local traditions
Unesco declaration on cultural diversity, 2001:
... cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature. (Art. 1)
It widens the range of options open to everyone; it is one of the roots of development, understood not
simply in terms of economic growth, but also as a means to achieve a more satisfactory intellectual,
emotional, moral and spiritual existence (Art. 3)
Its defence is an ethical imperative, inseparable from respect for human dignity. (Art. 4)
All persons have therefore the right to express themselves and to create and disseminate their work in
the language of their choice, and particularly in their mother tongue; (Art 5)
heritage in all its forms must be preserved, enhanced and handed on to future generations (Art. 7)

Source: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001271/127160m.pdf


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Protect cultural diversity and local traditions
Through Free Software, of course!!
And also cheap hardware (more on this later)
Organize campaigns in the field to capture
recipes, legends, songs, traditional medicine
Using, if necessary, self built digital recorders
like those of LiteracyBridge.org
Then index and publish everything online in
free formats


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Open knowledge, of course

Open access to raw research data
and educational material, research
papers
(this topic is only mentioned here because it is widely discussed in other
talks of this congress)


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Educate to digital communication

Handing down computers and connectivity to
students without also giving them a vision is
not enough to guarantee that they (and
society) will receive any meaningful benefit
from the experience

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Never forget a clear purpose

Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract
our attention from serious things. They are but improved
means to an unimproved end,… We are in great haste to
construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but
Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to
communicate.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU, Walden, 1854

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Slacktivism is the new apathy
Problem: something is wrong in the
world
First step: start a Facebook Group
Second and Final step: feel good
without leaving home
Slacktivism: “feel-good online
activism that has zero political or
social impact”
http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/19/the_brave
_new_world_of_slacktivism
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/69805768@N00/3292899689/


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Real communication, action in the real world
Does this mean that social networks, instant messaging and so on
are intrinsically and always evil?
Absolutely no, of course!!!
It just means that they are so powerful that it would be a
real shame to use them only to feel good and kill time
●

"perhaps the greatest service that virtual reality can give
to today’s culture is the recovery of reality"
Fr J. Fox, SDB, “Digital Virtues”


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Fight the myth that just being connected is good
the promise is often made to place "a computer in every village", scatter
"info kiosks" throughout the state or nation, or establish "universal
computer-based education."...without any real assessment of local needs.
They take for granted that providing computers and/or Web connections
will (without additional efforts) provide increased social justice, enable
local peoples to sell their products in the world market, feed the hungry,
meet unmet medical needs, and so on.
Source: Bridging the Digital Divide: Lessons from India,
www.mit.edu/people/kken/PAPERS/Intro_Sage.html

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Take advantage of open hardware!!!
Why restrict yourself to building new virtual worlds
when it is becoming cheaper and easier every year to
build your tools to make THIS world a better place?

There is plenty of useful hardware to build which is much
simpler than it looks, relatively cheap, can and should be
carried on by non technical students!!!

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FPGAs: build your own Integrated Circuits
“microprocessors are always and
only microprocessors: singlepurpose hardware that is capable
only of executing (relatively
slowly) instructions in one
machine language. An FPGA,
instead, becomes whatever
hardware you need.”
www.linuxjournal.com/article/10330


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Arduino is what you want it to be
“Arduino (www.arduino.cc) is an opensource electronics prototyping platform
based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware
and software.
can be built by hand or purchased
preassembled; the software can be
downloaded for free. The hardware
reference designs (CAD files) are
available under an open-source license


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Arduino is useful to everybody
Garduino: a gardening Arduino
Waters my plants whenever their soil moisture level
drops below a predefined value.
Turns on grow lights, but only when it's dark out and
only long enough to make the plants get 15 hours of
total light (sunlight + supplemental light) daily.
Alerts me if the temperature around the plants drops
below 50 degrees.
http://garduino.dirtnail.com/
www.instructables.com/id/Garduino_Gardening_Arduino/

automated hydroponics with arduino:
www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1237559923

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Open source, cheap electronic whiteboards

Commercial products can cost 18K Euro
But you can build your own with a Nintendo Wii or similar home made remote and a
Gnu/Linux computer
http://unixsadm.blogspot.com/2007/12/turn-wii-into-whiteboard-or-tracking.html
http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/

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Above all...

make sure that students (and teachers!!!)
really understand why this happens and
why it should always be this way


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Conclusions
All the data we need to live decently are, or will soon be, in digital format: therefore,
closed/secrets data formats are never, ever acceptable. This is not negotiable
Software is ubiquitous and saves lots of money, but only if you use it to solve the
problems you have and you use it the one that does what YOU need and doesn't
steal YOUR data
We must never escape in cyberspace, but use it to improve the real space we keep
living in.
Free Software is not gratis, but is modifiable at will and works for you like you
want, instead of the other way around, so it is the only one that can be used as above


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Conclusions (2)
Digital awareness is a matter of civic education, not software
engineering.
If the goal is to fight social exclusion and promote education and
human development:
Universities, especially in developing Countries, have a
crucial role in these spaces
As shown in these slides, what they can and should do goes
far beyond teaching of software programming, and is in no
way limited to technical faculties and classes

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Final thoughts
What do you think? I want to hear from you!!!
Questions?
Contact info:
●

marco@digifreedom.net

●


●

http://stop.zona-m.net


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