Image: “Keep calm and use open source” (MedithIT/CC by)
Good social and environmental practices
Free is a philosophy (where open source – almost synonymous for software – is a method) which goes well beyond IT: it would therefore be paradoxical to defend its values without taking into account under other aspects of its social and environmental responsibility (CSR). This is what April promotes, which mentions among other gestures and actions:
“• As elsewhere, male domination is a problem in the IT world and in librarian communities. To avoid maintaining this status quo and allow women and gender minorities to feel at ease (legitimate and comfortable) at April, and by extension (at least this is our wish) in the librist world. , we carry out actions:
◦ existence of a code of conduct which applies to everything organized by April (actions, events, etc.).
◦ use of inclusive language (…)
◦ taking diversity into account when we are invited to participate in a round table, or to lead it, which may lead to declining the invitation to speak
• choice of ethical suppliers for our products (t-shirts, etc.)
• aperitifs, meals most often vegetarian with the provision of containers and cutlery in order to avoid everything being disposable (…)
• favor train travel when participating in distant events or carpooling
• order our laptops from a refurbished computer supplier who employs people with disabilities, or from an eco-responsible store
• use of free software which consumes less energy and allows the computer hardware to last longer.”
This list, indicates the association, was inspired by that of “small gestures” which end up having not-so-small impacts put forward by Easter Eggs, a free digital company (ENL) with around twenty employees, created in 1997 (in whose premises April sublets space).
There are many practical tips there such as:
• “sort our paper/cardboard waste
• make our coffee in a filter coffee maker (with organic coffee and tap water)
• use low energy bulbs
• program the radiators in our offices at 19° during the day and 7° at night and on weekends (…)
• order our office supplies either from ESATs or from eco-responsible stores
• only use light weight recycled paper
• provide a place to park bicycles
• pay our suppliers within 30 days (…)
• send our documents electronically (invoices, contracts) (…)”
Richard Stallman has cancer
During the celebration day in Switzerland of the 40th anniversary of the GNU project that he initiated, Richard Stallman, 70, announced that he was suffering from a form of lymphoma, a malignant tumor of the lymphatic system – a blood cancer, which in Fortunately, his case would progress slowly (The Register). Spectacular “Florent Pagny” effect of the treatment suffered by the pioneer libriste, RMS, who for decades had a beard and long hair, no longer has any at all at the moment.
Indicating that the prognosis is good, he said he would continue to work for free software and seemed optimistic, hoping to “be around for many more years.” We wish him a speedy recovery… and we will remember that his hasty funeral oration for Steve Jobs in 2011 earned him this sarcasm from Joe Brockmeier (formerly of Red Hat and Apache, among others, at the time at the Linux foundation): ” I hope Stallman lives to be 120. As long as he lives, there will be hope that he will change.”
“The fight for free software is not dead”: two testimonies
“‘Do something, share it’, without commercial aim: the fight for free software is not dead”: under this title, the online media Basta publishes an article, with the testimony of two librarians in their thirties, both developers – one amateur and the other professional. “Gaëtan Chabert, alias Booteille, has been a volunteer at the free software promotion association Framasoft since 2021. Framasoft’s motto is “change the world, one byte at a time”. “I believe in that,” confirms Gaëtan.” “He therefore developed two extensions for Firefox, called Invidition and PeerTube Companion, which redirect YouTube pages to another interface. It’s as much about avoiding Google tracking as it is about raising awareness of alternative platforms to YouTube like PeerTube, developed by Framasoft.”
“Maud Royer is a freelance developer and divides her time between her profession and various activist activities. Responsible for the digital tools of La France insoumise for six years, she developed, among other things, the activist social network Action populaire based on free software. She also carries out other personal projects in parallel and deplores “four to five unfinished projects” that she will never be able to finish due to lack of “being paid to do it”. “Anyone who makes free software finds themselves in this situation,” she regrets. “But being also an LGBT and feminist activist, I have to make agenda choices.”
Read also
Framasoft, “Digital Amap”, is twenty years old – November 8, 2021
Why hard work and low pay stress free software maintainers? -June 7, 2021
April is 20 years old, and all its teeth to defend free software – February 12, 2017
Richard Stallman, an authorized biography and a tour – January 13, 2010