New combined OpenCafe blog

Hi there all,

Our new blog address is : http://opencafe.wordpress.com/.

OOoAuthors.org - The OpenOffice documentation project

OOoAuthors.org is a documentation project where members can take part in the creation of OpenOffice resources published under open licenses.

iCommons summit coverage site

The iCommons summit has ended yesterday.

Though most of us couldn't go to Rio - we get the opportunity to read about all the discussions on the isummit coverage site. You will find there podcasts and multiligual blog and vlog posts about Gilberto Gil and free beer, an interview with Heather Ford of ccSA, the summit DVD's material is also available from the site.

OpenDay this month

We had a great open day - our regulars have come as always - friends popped in and we also had some new visitors.

Click to visit our Flickr page to see the photos for the day.

iCommons Summit, Rio de Janeiro, 23-25 June - “Towards a global digital commons”

The Icommons summit started today.

iCommons is an organisation that has grown out of the Creative Commons movement. It aims to establish a global commons – a worldwide system that allows people to use the internet to collaborate and access knowledge without the restraints of traditional copyright law.

If you'd like to learn more about commons culture click here to read the article "Icommons for beginners" on the OpenDemocracy site.

There is a lot of info available already - click to read the programme, here to read an article about Lessig's opening speech, see Flickr photos, a new site will soon be launched as well which will cover the event with podcasts, photos, blogs and more.

Unconferences rock

Barcamp Cape Town was a huge success visit this page and follow the links to read more and see photos.

If you need even more info on barcamps, read this Tectonic article.

Great OpenOffice blog

If you are busy with OpenOffice training - here is a blog with lots of tips and useful info!

BarCamp CapeTown

The idea is to bring the South African tech/geek/creative community together under one roof in the informal "un-conference" environment as per the Bar Camp Ethos. Think of it as Open-Source conferencing, this is YOUR conference, you present, you discuss, you attend, you spread the word.


Though this BarCamp is today and tomorrow - it is good to know about it and see how it was done so that others cna then organize their own barcamp. Click here for more info on this barcamp.

The Cape Town barcamp will be on topics like:

• Introduction to Drupal
• Introduction to Plone
• Introduction to Joomla! OR Things to face up to using an open source CMS
• The business of tech: Creating "Startup Culture"
• Enterprise Java, Java web development, Java GUI development, Java tools
• Introduction to Podcasting by Glen Verran from The ZA Show Podcast
• Introduction to PHP
• Python
• A talk on Search Marketing
• A Freedom Toaster will be available for burning distros to CD or DVD
• Dapper Desktop, Alternative and Server available,
• Suse 10.1 (5 CDs)
• Go Open TV show on DVD
• Lots more, so bring blank disks
• A look at some useful PEAR packages, or something about MySQL? What would interest people?
• XHTML and CSS (was: HTML for visual markup: what's wrong with it, what should it be and what can we do about it?)
• What is it?
• Why should we use it?
• Does it make business sense?

Sounds very interesting - hoepfully we can organize one during the Aardklop festival here in Potch. If you are interested in organizing your own - remember to send us a mail about it - may be we can help one way or another.

List your blog on Devkungfoo

Devkungfoo, a blog on all things Web. Aimed at web developers, webmasters, anyone who owns a site - provides tutorials, hints and tips regarding best practices, design, development, standards, optimization and a few other things

Blogs are websites that are updated regularly - they are usually commentaries on a specific subject. Well you are reading a blog right now - so you can see what it is. You can search for interesting blogs via the Google blog search, and you can follow the latest news on your favourite blogs by getting a free account at Bloglines.com. You can also start your free blog on Blogger.com, or on the many other free blog hosting sites on the NET. If you are thinking of getting into blogging you are welcome to send us a mail and we send you all the info you need to start.

Blog culture is still young in South Africa - there are already great blogs and bloggers, if done right - blogs can replace mainstream media - giving you a wide range oif choices when it comes to news, magazines, music, education etc. so get into blogging - and your life will never be the same again:-) and remember to register your new blog on devkungfoo.

OpenCafe photos

We have gathered lots of photos about the OpenCafe project over the years. Click here to see some of them!

Discussions around the fireplace

This month's open day started quite slow and cold - we started the day with making the fire which helped a bit with warming up.

We spent the day with gathering info, photos and text for the Ngoma Vuma Afrika website, (hopefully we can upload it within the next few days ) watching a few episodes of Go_open, and spent time discussing whatever came to mind while sitting and warming up by the fireplace.

Click here to see some photos.

NetSquared: "I want change"

NetSquared has a Flickr slideshow called "I want change". Click here to have a look and add your own slide.

"NetSquared, (a project of Tech Soup) is working to bring the social web to nonprofits and NGOs by sharing stories and building tools.

Imagine a world where the 10 million nonprofits and NGOs across the globe are using tools like blogging, podcasting, tagging, social bookmarking, RSS feeds and wikis to grow their membership, fund raise, recruit volunteers, do low-cost publicity, raise awareness about issues and collaborate.

We've created the NetSquared "I Want Change" group because we believe in the power of tools like these to change the world.

We're hoping that you'll add a photo of yourself with a sign (6 words or less) that describes what you believe is the most important change that needs to happen to make the world a better place and tell your friends to do the same.

Together, we can use the social web for social change."

OpenDay with Audacity

This has been a quiet open day with just a few people browsing and spending time downloading software & bruning Linux CDs with the toaster.

We also went to see how our NgomaVuma artists perform at the shopping mall.

Once back in the cafe - we spent time jamming to swahili songs and experimented with Audacity.

Open downloads blog

We have decided to start a blog and introduce the sites that we use daily to download open content materials from.

We call it our Open downloads blog and you can find it here.

Since we download content regularly - by now the OpenCafe has gathered a lot of great open content works from the Internet - included in our download collection you will find music, books, training materials, radio shows, TV programs. We also have printed copies of a few of them.

Our Freedom Toaster has the Gutenberg CD as well - and hopefully soon the toaster will have other great material as well.

If you are not sure how to upload your materials to these online databases - contact us for more info - or if you have found an interesting open content work on the NET and would like to share it with us - send us a mail.

OpenCafe Presentation

We have prepared a detailed presentation in preparation for the Open Source Impact conference (19-21 April, Sandton Hilton Hotel).

If interested in a detailed description of all OpenCafe tools, concepts, projects and events we build our initiative on - click here to visit the OpenCafe site to download the PDF version.

Exciting project for ArtMarketOnline

Great news for our art project, ArtMarketOnline.

Local percussion group, Ngoma Vuma Afrika is joining the team - to learn computer skills and web design skills.

Click here to read more.

The best OpenDay ever!

We had prepared - contacted a lot of people - and most people came - and had a great time.

There was lots of browsing, lots of music, bring&braai, and never-ending discussions about the ways of the world.

Click here to see some pictures!

Fun ways to learn about "Copyright, copyleft and everything in between"

Choosing the right license for your creative work is not always straightforward.

Luckily there are great easy-to-read multimedia materials and comics available to help you to learn the basics.

Creative Commons site has a collection of movies and comics.








Or you can watch the Creative Commons South Africa flash movie.












Then there is the Learning Commons flash movie called 'Copyright, copyleft and everything in between' - it explains all about open source / open content concepts.
Another great comic book I discovered on the Creative Commons blog: "Bound by law" - released by the Duke Law School's Center for Study of the Public Domain.


By the time you finish reading / listening to all of these - you will definitely have a much better idea what license to choose for your book or song.

All of the above are freely available as free downloads and are all available at the OpenCafe - just bring a blank CD!

PanAfrican Blog for FOSS&open content info from Africa

Click to visit our new PanAfrican Blog!

New slideshow on the OpenCafe home page

We have decided to put some of our favourite photos on the home page.
Click here to have a look!