Skip to main content

Free and Open Source Software ; challenges and opportunities in telecentres


This article is extracted from one of the discussions on telecentre.org, in 2009. It highlights various issues on Open Source Software.


Free and Open Source Software ; challenges and opportunities in telecentres

by Wandila Simon
Dec 23, 2009
Open source software (OSS) is computer software for which the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that meets the Open Source Definition or that is in the public domain. This permits users to use, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified forms. It is very often developed in a public, collaborative manner. Open source software is the most prominent example of open source development and often compared to user-generated content. The term open source software originated as part of a marketing campaign for free software.A report by Standish Group states that adoption of open source software models has resulted in savings of about $60 billion per year to consumers.

Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with minimal restrictions only to ensure that further recipients can also do these things and that manufacturers of consumer-facing hardware allow user modifications to their hardware. Free software is available gratis (free of charge) in most cases.

In practice, for software to be distributed as free software, the human-readable form of the program (the source code) must be made available to the recipient along with a notice granting the above permissions. Such a notice either is a "free software license", or a notice that the source code is released into the public domain.

Many organisations are now finding the use of free and open source software as way to serve costs asssociated with the purchase of sowftware that best suit their needs. With the great need for different types of software to accomplish several tasks , telecentres needs to include a huge sum of money in their budget to purchase just the right software that will help them deliver services and products effectinently and effectively to the users of a particular telecentre. Som eof the most critical software needed includes courseware to deliver coursess or provide content that best serves the clients , perhaps in a local lan guage. In this case e-learning ussually in local languages becomes one of the most useful ways of delive ry , yet the challenge comes with the selection of cheap and easy to use software.For those that have libraries , digital librray software is another challenge .

However opportunities are ava ilable , thanks to the many free and open source software developres who provides a wide range of software to provide an oppportunity for these telecentres , so telecentres would not spend much to deploy the software , but would rather need technical skills to make good use of the software.

Below is a number of links to the portals for such software:

http://www.unesco-ci.org/cgi-bin/portals/foss/page.cgi?g=Software%2...

http://www.unesco-ci.org/cgi-bin/portals/foss/page.cgi?d=1&g=108

http://www.unesco-ci.org/cgi-bin/portals/foss/page.cgi?d=1&g=18

http://www.schooltool.org/

http://www.unesco-ci.org/cgi-bin/portals/foss/page.cgi?d=1&g=62

http://www.unesco-ci.org/cgi-bin/portals/libraries/page.cgi?d=1&...

http://www.inveneo.org/?q=newsfeed/community_bundle

Iam inviting all community members to share more resources and dicsuss this topic in full.

Find more information at:community.telecentre.org/m/discussion?id=2086278%3ATopic%3A47704

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You Think Youths are Useful Idiots? Hold your tongue- We are Innovators.

"Youths are jobless and them developing Apps is just something to fulfill their hobbies.” Can you imagine? That's the comment that came from one of the Delegates at the ICT4Ag 2013 International Conference, Kigali, Rwanda. Put yourself in the shoes of the the youth, sit your self on that chair, and imagine listening to a respected person, a leader and credible consultant utter those words in the full presence of the youth. Like a sharp double edged sword, they would pierce in your heart, like a sharp stick accidentally plucking your ear they would resonate. This is just an example of many other humiliations youths undergo as they struggle to achieve their career goals. Youths are usually perceived as not so serious folks, who have no direction or clearly set goals. In many cases they are used as rubber stamps, just as some useful idiots not so important. Seemingly, not so important that the world can do without them. Yet, the youth are in the fore front of the gre...
Post a Comment
Read more

The struggle is real: Schools need help to deliver ICT education in Zambian schools

My heart bleeds, so this Teacher called me, he narrated how challenging it is for him to teach ICT to hundreds of grade nine students - it is an examination class and he has other subjects to handle, his colleagues are not yet up to the desired level in practical. So the burden is on him. He was trying to find out if we will offer Teaching Support in ICT at their secondary school, this year. First, I helplessly felt tears running down my cheeks, knowing  exactly what he is going through (I cant hold my emotions when it comes to such issues), knowing how eager the children/students are to learn, yet in so difficult circumstances, knowing the struggle the school management embrace to mobilize computers and other essential logistics just to build the future for children in this suburb . I took a deep breath and gave him the good news. "Mr.X, do not worry, things will work as planned earlier. This year, we will assign 2 Teaching Support Volunteers to your school..." I could ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Social reporting is not just about writing, but a learning and practice opportunity

Youth involvement in agriculture and rural development through ICTs , has recently been on a rise in ACP countries. Among the factors that have attributed to this development is the penetration and adoption of ICT in these regions. Across the agricultural sector, ICT tools and processes have facilitated various Agricultural Value Chain stages to yield sustainable growth. More so, the integration of ICT innovations has brought about a paradigm shift in Finance for Agriculture. While this development remains of  great importance to the ACP regions and the world over , the dissemination and exchange of information on best practices, emerging innovations, challenges and opportunities remains an important aspect of sustained development in the sector. The sharing of this stipulated information and knowledge through the use of  Social Media has proven to be successful . With ambitious youth and ICT, in particular digital media enthusiastic generation, social media i...
2 comments
Read more