OpenCafeBlog

New combined OpenCafe blog

2006-08-08T14:04:00.000+02:00

Hi there all,

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

OOoAuthors.org - The OpenOffice documentation project

2006-06-29T12:14:00.000+02:00

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

2006-06-26T22:44:00.000+02:00

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

2006-06-24T17:23:00.000+02:00

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”

2006-06-23T18:12:00.001+02:00

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

2006-06-20T23:39:00.000+02:00

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

2006-06-16T15:02:00.000+02:00

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

BarCamp CapeTown

2006-06-16T13:09:00.000+02:00

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

2006-06-16T12:45:00.000+02:00

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

2006-06-01T20:34:00.000+02:00

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

Discussions around the fireplace

2006-05-27T18:44:00.000+02:00

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"

2006-05-06T09:37:00.000+02:00

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

2006-04-29T17:03:00.000+02:00

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

2006-04-23T23:19:00.000+02:00

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

2006-04-13T00:08:00.000+02:00

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.

Opencafe in partnership with Australian Football League South Africa.

2006-04-11T16:23:00.000+02:00

It really feels like a long time when the above NGOs came to an agreement of working together.

It has truly been three good years of support from the Opencafe. AFL South Africa is an Australian Football federation in South Africa that is still on a development stage.

When our offices moved to Potchefstroom, likely enough we landed on the Opencafe's warm hands. They provide our federation with full support of website maintenance weekly, which include free usage of the Internet once a week, web development training, fixing minor problems in our computers and marketing.

Because of the support and co-operation we are giving each other, I believe the two will grow stronger and continue working good together.

In case you were wondering what Australian Football is, well it is a combination of different sports because it has the elements of Rugby, Soccer, Basketball, Handball and Cricket. To find out more, click here.

Exciting project for ArtMarketOnline

2006-04-05T19:20:00.000+02:00

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!

2006-03-25T19:30:00.000+02:00

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"

2006-03-16T21:55:00.000+02:00

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

2006-03-13T08:12:00.000+02:00

Click to visit our new PanAfrican Blog!

New slideshow on the OpenCafe home page

2006-03-09T18:24:00.000+02:00

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

A response to tonight's Carte Blanche story entitled "stealing music"

2006-02-26T22:11:00.000+02:00

The music "industry" - should songs or poetry be looked at merely as a product?

The artists in the story were very concerned about the fact that others are stealing their money by pirating their songs - and rightly so. Since as a rule copyright applies to all creative work - and noone has the right to copy it without the artists' permission.

But the question remains - is it right for the artists to look at their profession as a job - is it right to call their songs "products" - a once-off thing sold to the audience.

In today's consumer society once-off products are sold - once consumed - they end up in the bin - noone reuses them - but rather - buy new products and consume them. The products once in the bin - are considered "waste". When it comes to music - can one ever look at a song as "waste" - never to be reused again?

If one looks at folk culture - stories and songs go from person to person freely - noone really knows who was the original author - the stories, poems, songs were part of culture and were not part of a "consumer culture". If one looks at jazz music - it is based on the constant "reusing" of melodies and rhytms - just like - anything else in our society since nothing exists in a vacuum.

This way of thinking results in artists and audiences separated - no little concern for each other - so not surprising that artists talk about people that listen to their music as pirates and the audience - so far removed from the artists - are not concerned any more about the well-being of the artists. Should all those people that listen to the music be called pirates - or is there another way to make sure that the music gets to its audience without calling them pirates?

While it is highly unfair to take and resell music without the artists' permission - are the artists sure that they themselves have created a culture where there are legal mechanisms in place to share and reuse their own music ( which they also compiled based on previous influences from other artists ).

Another important point is that an artists' responsibility is not merely providing and selling a product but also highlighting issues in their societies and making their audiences aware of problems.

These are some of the questions open source communities / open content initiatives all around the world try to address and make sure that authors like artists, musicians, poets, writers are acknowledged - and in the same time the audience has legal tools to reuse materials and provide very valuable feedback about all published materials. The audience then also has the option to become artists/creators themselves - just like in folk culture where absolutely everyone has the right to sing a song and change it they way he/she likes to sing it.

Creative Commons (www.creativecommons.org) offers authors various open licenses that they can use should they wish to make sure that their creative work is later reused, modified or even resold.

The question is : if pirating of a certain material (like software or music or any other product ) becomes the norm - shouldn't the "industry" or the authors rethink the basic rules of music/software production or should they carry on the same way.

Teach - a great Creative Commons movie

2006-02-26T12:39:00.000+02:00

Ever thought of being a teacher?

Here at the OpenCafe all students are encouraged to teach their new computer skills to new students - as part of their training - as a volunteer - or as a trainee.

Once you know something - you can teach it. But do you? Ever thought of teaching your skills to others? I think we are all students and teachers in the same time and once we stop thinking of ourselves that way - we lose out on some great experiences.

Teach is a great film about four Americans who decided to teach in some of America's toughest schools. The film takes you through the first year of their teaching careers - all the problems and rewarding experiences ....

You can download this film (free download) from http://www.teachnow.org/downloads.html or come and get a copy at the OpenCafe.

Go_open is now available for download from the Internet Archive

2006-02-26T11:49:00.000+02:00

I just read on Charl's blog that Go_open is now available for download from the Internet Archive.

Or click here for other Creative Commons licensed movies hosted at the archive.

Overwhelming interest in our basic computer skills course

2006-02-24T22:51:00.000+02:00

We started 2006 with getting right into training - by the end of February - we completed the course with nearly everyone in our first group of 9 students - and many more have already signed up.

Our basic computer skills training source is based on using our Mandrake Linux setup - and the use of OpenOffice, Ktouch, Kate, Mozilla and GIMP and Konqueror. It is a 12 lesson course - by the end of which the students are able to create basic business related tasks like creating documents like invoices, letterheads, CVs, and also are able to perform basic image editing tasks like creating a business logo and business card with GIMP.

The training material is almost complete and will be published soon under an open license on the OpenCafe site. Once uploaded - everyone else can use it as well - when creating their training materials - one of our students is already planning to use them to teach other educators like him in one of the local primary schools.

On Fridays we start training with watching a new episod of Go_open - which gives all the tasks the students perform a special meaning - the TV program is a fun way of introducing students to the world of computers.

Our basic skills course is our first step into the OpenCafe experience - once students complete this task - we introduce them to all the other projects we have - they can sign up for volunteer tasks, or they can start the trainee program or our art program, they can stay and assist with teaching the new students and even sign up for free basic music skills classes.

Some of the older students who have chosen to continue the training - have been very successful in their new programs, they have learnt various complex tasks :

Phindi ( community project support project )

Since she is the member of the local Australian Football League - she decided to learn all skills necessary to maintain their WebGUI based website - ( click here the site she is working on )

Jane ( OpenCafe Trainee program )

Jane is at home with most tasks around running the cafe and handling clients and students

and Netanya (ArtMarketOnline ) -

She has designed and redesigned her website look and content many times already - she also has compiled and published her first book of poetry and is busy exploring options to sell her art work online and setting up her own art business.
She has also picked up basic music skills in the process and is busy giving her new skills on to Cymba - another artist in the ArtMarketOnline program.

So come and do the basic computer skills course and you will have the opportunity to pick up a lot of additional skills once you have passed your first exam!