[OT] TV, Internet, and Democracy

[JoeHill]

Evan Leibovitch left a post-it on the fridge:

> JoeHill wrote:
> >> What I would really like to see (and, as I'd hoped to point out in another
> >> branch of this conversation) is for the various, outspoken, components
> >> (alternatively, proponents) of our community working together to find an
> >> effective way to advertise our interests and concerns to the general
> >> public. 
> >
> > Ditto!
> > 

I think your attribution is a bit off, I only said 'ditto' ;)
  
> On that we appear to be in violent agreement. I'd go a step further and
> suggest that the necessary advocacy work is not the exclusive domain of
> the outspoken -- or even extroverted -- advocates. IMO more work needs
> to be done on low-profile work that's less popular because it's less
> personally rewarding, but anyone can do it.
> 
> For example: there's some important research to be done in finding out
> who the right people are in governments (city, regional and Queen's
> Park) considered experts (or decision makers) regarding issues of public
> IT policy, and especially in education where a number of jurisdictions
> around the world are introducing FOSS. Not just elected officials, but
> also senior bureaucrats. And then we need to talk to them.

Agreed, though we might disagree over the value of senior bureaucrats, beyond
being a good source of protein ;)
  
> A few months ago, CLUE's Russell McOrmond sent an information package to
> each MP educating them on open source, and related policy regarding IT
> procurement, "piracy", software patents etc. It would be great to be
> able to attempt this at a more local level, but it needs energy and
> bodies. This is the kind of work that doesn't get someone mentioned on
> Digg or Slashdot, but quietly goes a long way towards elevating FOSS
> from novelty to mainstream to preference.
> 
> Part of my points deal with the fact that FOSS is out of the
> novelty/curiosity phase, which require a change in tactics compared to a
> decade ago.

Ten years ago, the people at the Ice House would have been instantly arrested
and portrayed in the media as some kind of whacked out doomsday cult.

> While the average person on the street may not know what Linux is, they
> likely won't know a lot of other important things about the workings of
> computers. People who make it their business to know and make decisions)
> about IT are at least aware of Linux, even if that awareness is negative or
> just enough to be the source of FUD. That's why I said that the message --
> and the target audience -- is now more about the answer to "why FOSS" rather
> than "what is FOSS".

I dunno, keep in mind the crowd you hang out with. A *lot* of the people I meet
on a daily basis really haven't the faintest clue 'what' the hell I'm talking
about when I start babbling about 'why'. Clearly some of that can be
ameliorated by getting FOSS where it should be, in the classrooms and
curriculum of our schools and such, and that requires the involvement of
'senior bureaucrats'; but in the end we need to speak to everybody, hell even
the bums on the street (maybe *especially* the bums in the street, eh?)
 
> Yes, Microsoft does publicity stunts. But it probably spends far more on
> behind-the-scenes lobbyists and PR than on special-event stunts, which
> is the part of the balance which we don't do. Folks in the community
> such as Colin, Marcel and myself have a great awareness of the value of
> PR; but we don't have the cycles to do it ourselves. Spending all one's
> advocacy resouces on stunts is very visible (thus what I referred to as
> a "feel-good" effect) tactic, but without less-visible gruntwork (and
> followup!) its net effects are dubious.

That's the thing, though, right? Guaranteed is someone is committed enough to
stand outside in the cold distributing CD's next to a giant inflated penguin,
there's a very good chance that they are going to have the same level of
commitment to more grassroots activities such as the ones you allude to.

I think that perhaps I got the impression in the earlier discussion that it
was an either/or thing, or that the giant penguin people were just completely
wrong.
 
> I'm _not_ saying that stunts are bad, just that they're spectacularly
> ineffective and inefficient _if_ that tactic is the only dimension to
> our advocacy. There's plenty of work to do, it just needs people with
> the energy and cycles to keep it going.

I can't disagree with that. Well, I could, but I gotta go inflate the giant
Stallman in my back yard. 

-- 
JoeHill
++++++++++++++++++++
Bender: Fry, of all the friends I've had, you're the first.
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