In September 2006, APC launched a new prize called the Chris Nicol FOSS Prize. It’s meant to encourage projects that make use of innovative free and open source software technologies in their activities. Coordinator Karel Novotny was asked by Brazilian journalist Luisa Gockel why the ordinary user should care about this relatively new F-O-S-S acronym.
In September 2006, APC launched a new prize called the Chris Nicol FOSS Prize. It’s meant to encourage projects that make use of innovative free and open source software technologies in their activities. Coordinator Karel Novotny (34) was asked why the ordinary user should care about this relatively new F-O-S-S acronym by Brazilian journalist Luisa Gockel -working with APC’s Brazilian member The Third Sector Network (Rits).
Q: What’s the importance of making FOSS accessible to ordinary computer users?
FOSS still has only a marginal stake among commonly used computer applications and people don’t trust something that is not "common" or something that they suspect is experimental or let alone "activist". For an ordinary computer user writing a text simply means clicking on an MS Word icon; email equals Outlook and internet boils down to the little blue "e" icon. Most people prefer to pay for the software or use unlicensed copies rather then using similar FOSS applications that are not that widely used. That is true even if they have to put up with some annoyances which they wouldn’t have to deal with, were they to use some of the FOSS applications out there (addware, higher virus risk etc.)
In this conserved climate it is difficult to promote FOSS software, no matter how good it is. One of the ways of making it accessible is therefore making it less scary to common users. This means you need to show that a common Windows/MS user doesn’t usually need any special additional knowledge to start using FOSS alternatives to MS applications such as email client Thunderbird or web-browser Firefox… Making it accessible also means to be objective when promoting FOSS. Instead of convincing users that FOSS is simply technically superior (often it is not), we must show in which aspects it IS better than common MS software, how it can meet users particular needs etc. Making FOSS more accessible is not important because it is "better". It is important because it gives the user much more possibilities to use ICTs more effectively, which IS better than not having this choice.
Q: What are the main challenges of making ICTs access more democratic?
The main challenges I see are related to connectivity, as well as the still relatively high price of hardware and software, which in some regions is unaffordable for most potential users.
Among other challenges, you’ll find the limited interest of service providers and application developers in regions that they don’t consider profitable. Consequently, common applications are not localized into languages that are considered marginal, and they are unavailable to people who don’t speak some of the "common computer languages". This is an example of an area in which FOSS can play a crucial role, as its development and localization are often driven by community needs and demands.
Q: What profile is expected for a candidate or organisation wanting to compete for the FOSS Prize? Can small-scale activities apply?
As stated on the website of the APC FOSS Chris Nicol Prize, any organisation, group or individual from any part of the world can apply. We intentionally left the criteria very open, since it doesn’t make much sense to discriminate who is and who isn’t eligible to be publicly recognised for their work in opening the eyes of common computer users to FOSS.
Small scale initiatives are very welcome to apply for the prize!
Q: What’s the importance of Chris Nicol’s work as an activist?
That’s a tough one for me to answer. Not having worked with him directly I can just refer you to the FOSS Prize page: http://old.apc.org/english/chrisnicol/about_chris_nicol.shtml
I met Chris only once and relatively shortly. APC’s networking manager Karen Banks and Chris’ colleague at APC member Pangea (in Catalonia), Leandro Navarro, are definitely the best placed to answer that in detail.
Karel Novotny is Knowledge sharing projects coordinator at the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). He coordinates the FOSS Prize and moderates the APC FOSS discussion list.
Photo by Alain Loupin.