[okfn-coord] Fwd: Request for Open Standards in EC Projects

Wed Mar 11 22:58:33 UTC 2009

Do we have any interest in co-signing this?

J.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Wouter Tebbens <wouter at freeknowledge.eu>
Date: Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 4:21 PM
Subject: Re: Request for Open Standards in EC Projects
To: Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org>

Hi Jonathan,

I have subscribed to the Communia Network. I think Hinde was already on
it, as I remember from last time when you were in AMsterdam with us.

Regarding the Open Standards Letter, the text is almost completed and
several people undersigned. Probably next week we will send it to the EC
representatives. So if you are willing, you are welcome to undersign it.

http://freeknowledge.eu/wiki/index.php/OpenStandardsLetter

best,

Wouter

Jonathan Gray wrote:
> Hi Wouter,
>
> Good to hear from you, and good to hear of so many interesting things
> you've been up to!
>
> Have you heard of the COMMUNIA Network?
>
> It would probably worth contacting their public list about this:
>
>   http://communia-project.eu/listinfo
>
> Also, as usual, it would be great to have you at any of our London
> events - coming up in March:
>
>   http://okfn.org/okcon
>   http://communia-project.eu/ws05
>
> Warm regards,
>
> Jonathan
>
> On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 12:22 PM, Wouter Tebbens
> <wouter at freeknowledge.eu> wrote:
>> Dear all,
>>
>> as some of you know we are very much concerned about the European Commission
>> using and requiring the use of proprietary document formats within their
>> projects.
>>
>> Many EU Member States have in recent years adopted government policies to
>> require Open Standard file formats, such as the Open Document Format (ODF),
>> PDF, etc. And in fact, the EC agency for interoperability and eGovernment,
>> IDABC, does strongly recommend the use of ODF and Open Standards in general.
>>
>> As we have seen in R&D FrameWork projects, and especially in the Lifelong
>> Learning Programme, Excel spreadsheets and .doc documents are still the
>> formats required for communicating between the EC and the projects they
>> fund. They do not only force other organisations to purchase that specific
>> software, but they give a completely wrong example of how in Europe we want
>> to give shape to the Knowledge Society.
>>
>> Therefore the idea was born to write a letter requesting the EC
>> representatives of funding agencies like the Lifelong Learning Programme
>> (LLP) to adhere to existing policies for the use of Open Standards.
>>
>> We had this idea initially in the Free Knowledge Institute and in the Free
>> Technology Academy Consortium. And then we found out that many project
>> coordinators and European organisations share this concern with us. So why
>> not write such a letter together and join our effort in presenting it to the
>> various EC representatives.
>>
>> In the FKI wiki I made a start of such letter, in this case to the LLP, but
>> that we can later use for other EC bodies. see here: [1]
>>
>> Please comment on the text, improve it, comment on the possible contacts we
>> should send it to and whether you are willing to undersign the letter.
>>
>> If you find this effort interesting, most practical would be to just join
>> the FKI's general discussion list at [2] and subscribe to the wiki at [3].
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>>    Wouter Tebbens
>>    Free Knowledge Institute
>>
>> References:
>> [1] http://freeknowledge.eu/wiki/index.php/OpenStandardsLetter
>> [2] http://mail.freeknowledge.eu/mailman/listinfo/discussion
>> [3]
>> http://freeknowledge.eu/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Userlogin&returnto=OpenStandardsLetter
>>
>
>
>

--
best,
Wouter Tebbens
--
Free Knowledge Institute - http://FreeKnowledge.eu
Office phone: +31.20.8910.319 - Fax: +31.877.844.107
Be SELFish, Share Your Knowledge - http://SELFproject.eu
Peer production in education: http://beta.selfplatform.eu

-- 
Jonathan Gray

Community Coordinator
The Open Knowledge Foundation
http://www.okfn.org