GoodGNUs

I’m going to put up another collaboration post soon, as I’m having a lot of trouble finding people to help out on various projects. However Dilbert may have encapsulated the problem…

Back from giving my new “Free Software in the UK Voluntary Sector, and why you should care” talk to Manchester Free Software Group. A small audience, but a nice rambling debate over many fields, and good real ale at the Lass, so all-in-all a good evening.

Before travelling up to Manchester I spent a day not listening to Election news (okay, mostly not listening - I tuned in to the Daily Politics Election Debate), and working on websites - always a nice break from pure SysAdmin work. One WordPress site, and three Drupal sites. Not necessarily a good idea.

Drupal is, admittedly, far more complicated than WordPress, but has a lovely modular construction, and is easy to theme and style, so working on just one WP site (out of a total of 4 websites) actually doubled my workload, as I struggled to find ways of doing things on the (admittedly) easier platform.

Counter-intuitive

Why was I doing 3 Drupal and 1 WordPress site? Good question. The three Drupal sites are voluntary efforts for local voluntary groups: they could grow and scale in unpredictable ways, and Drupal offers the simplest way to start, and to grow, without holding you back if your needs suddenly become somewhat complex. Despite its higher price-of-entry (even the text-editing interface for the end user needs to be added manually, never mind the work of adding a custom content type to replace the lamentable standard calendaring), Drupal installations are easily repeatable, easily customisable, and so flexible that grown SysAdmins often weep with the simple joy of it all.

WordPress, on the other hand, works better out-of-the-box, particularly for the end user(s) who will be maintaining content on the site, and so is the obvious choice for low-cost sales to clients wanting rudimentary content management. Obvious choice? Well, obvious doesn’t always mean right. In this case Drupal, the counter-intuitive choice, would have been more efficient - even had I charged my WordPress rate for it (which is half the price of my cheapest Drupal rate), for I’d have got the job done more quickly alongside the other Drupal sites, without thinking my way round WP theming and which modules got around the limitations of the originally-blog-based design.

The lesson learned? Love your tools for the job they do, but charge for the end results, not the use of the tools - less pain all round, however wrong it seems. Tomorrow, more web: Quick, someone book a place on one of my courses before I’m seduced to become purely a web developer ;-)

Saturday saw the annual Chorlton Big Green Festival, one of the country’s largest Green Fairs, and this year blessed with a stall from Manchester Free Software (MFS).

Those of us volunteering to staff the MFS Stall had a great time - not just enjoying the vegan food and drink of the Fair, and catching up with old friends from Manchester’s numerous environmental groups in attendance, but from several hours of talking to the general public about software freedom.

While MFS membership is heavy in Unix admins and programmers, the group is about the philosophy of software freedom, not playing with technology - thus we all enjoyed engaging with the public on why freedom matters in software. Passers by ranged from committed Ubuntu users to those without a computer at home, yet nearly all were responsive to the principle of software built on values of community, education, and sharing knowledge.

Freedom in the 3rd Sector

Indeed, it continues to remain a puzzle why so many in the charity sector actively campaign against Free Software solutions, and promote the sector’s continued reliance on an unsustainable model of dependence on a few tax-subsidised, private companies.

These are issues I hope to tease out a little in my talk on Free Software in the UK Voluntary Sector, and why you should care, at MFS’s 20th April meeting. I’d welcome people with a wide range of views to come along and debate the issue afterwards.

At recent events, when I meet new people, we naturally ask each other “What do you do?”. I’m failing quite badly at summarising my activities, so thought I’d briefly list current projects here, for reference:

1. Gaia University - IT strategy, project management, & SysAdmin, in a programme to gradually upgrade every online aspect of this international sustainability university over the next few years.
2. Social Media & the Accessible Web - the Profitable Conversations courses highlighted on the courses page. Got off to a good start last year, now lining up a number of courses around the North West for the Spring.
3. Hackspace North West - 10 months ago I started bringing people together whom I thought would be interested in getting spaces off the ground. I have done very little on this as fortunately it turned out there were plenty of people also wanting local hackspaces, and they’ve gone on to work towards getting them going. Latest steps in Shropshire & Staffordshire.
4. Credit Unions - Free Software solutions
   Should have been going a long time ago, but a key personnel hiccough has delayed things. Now we’re on the move again, and I’ll be posting announcements on the project here very soon.
5. Other financial software & local currencies…
   Next step is looking for partners to take the core of the Credit Union software, and adapt it for 3rd Sector book-keeping needs. This is something VCOs have been crying out for.
   We’re also talking to those involved with Complementary Currencies in a number of countries - something just beginning to gain ground in the UK after a brief flurry of LETS in the 80s.
6. Cloud Computing for the 3rd Sector.
   Voluntary Groups can’t host sensitive data in the USA, and don’t want to be advertised at by Google. Hoping to work with Fossbox on this, and looking for a sponsor to host the 1U server I have that was donated to the project by Blue Fountain.
7. Permaculture
   I studied for my Permaculture Designers’ Certificate in 1993-94, while also studying for the Royal Botanic Gardens’ diploma at Kew. It was the wrong time, and once back home in Montgomeryshire there was little or no work. Now I find a resurgent interest in sustainable design, and am following recent speaking engagements with more practical work.
8. IT Recycling
   M6-IT cic had a great success here, with Richard Rothwell’s Supported Family Computing project reaching dozens of families with recycled hardware, Free Software, family training, and local support, as well as broadband for people previously blacklisted by the ‘phone companies.
   Search for partners to replicate this has been unsuccessful, but it’s been a privilege to lead workshops on community recycling with ArcSpace in Hulme, Manchester, with an interesting and enthusiastic crowd of local activists.
9. Web
   Preparing new sites for local sustainability groups, campaigns, and VCOs: some Wordpress, blog-based, mostly Drupal CMS. I miss Plone, but it’s unsuitable for the quick and low-resourced sites I’m doing now.
   When a few more get finished I’ll put up some portfolio pages.
10. Blogging?
    I’m developing a horicultural/ethnobotany blog I started designing some time ago, and a *nix introductory blog for NetBook users. Once I can get a 30 hour day I’ll push these through to publication. :^)
11. Journalism - Linux User & Developer magazine recently commissioned me for a few articles. The first of these, on Arduino boards and open hardware hacking, hit the shelves a few days ago.
12. In Transition - the two towns nearest to our village are both in possession of new groups moving towards Transition Town Status. I’ve been lucky enough to meet some very interesting people, and get a chance to begin to investigate local food and power solutions.
    It’s certainly easier to work totally locally, than try to bring people together at a distance as I did at FACT’s Small Steps to Sustainability workshops. More soon here, and on Twitter.

Hope that helps fill a gap until I renew my calls-for-collaboration posts, too. As to Networking events, maybe I should print this list on a postcard?

I’m travelling back from the Connecting 2.0 Communities event held this afternoon and evening at Madlab, in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. An MDDA-sponsored event to give technical and social media advice to community groups. I was arm-twisted into giving a short talk, so rapidly prepared an item on Social Media tactics and strategy culled from our 3hour course.

Firefighting IT problems? Get some IT strategy in your Org!

However the first speaker, Matt Haworth, did such a great job on exactly the same subject, with the wonderful local example of Manchester’s  Lesbian & Gay Foundation’s viral response to US hate adverts, that I mentally ripped up my improvised speech, and settled on the least interesting topic under the sun: IT Strategy. IT Happens, I told the unfortunate audience, it drops from the sky as meteorites of randomly-funded PCs, and volunteer-coded websites, and leaves organisations busy fighting fires as IT fails to do what it should, instead of concentrating on delivering the front-line services for which they have so much enthusiasm.

So, what’s to be done? Organisations with chronic IT problems tend to be those which don’t just lack an IT strategy, but often don’t really realise how essential it is to any modern organisation. These groups usually lack IT expertise not just in staff and volunteers, which is understandable, but in their boards of governance, too. In an age when hardware and software is effectively free, IT funding should first go into bringing in outside help to assess an organisation, and help to draught its strategy; something that would pay for itself in a very short time.

Back in my M6-IT days (and before that at BVSC’s MOST project) we ran courses on IT strategy for decision makers in Voluntary Sector groups. In both cases we relied on carrot and stick from partner organisations to bring in attendees who most needed the courses. What can be done? I’d love to hear ideas for reaching groups (other than springing them on an unsuspecting audience like today ;), otherwise third sector groups will continue to fight fires, instead of using IT to grow and support their organisations.

FeedingManchester #3

Just back from Feeding Manchester #3, an attempt to co-ordinate everyone in the business of sustainable food production in the city, and keep the city council and its ambitious plans for local food on track. Although I do a bit of sustainable and community IT in Hulme, and social media training in the Northern Quarter and elsewhere, I was really there on behalf of Congleton Sustainability Group and of Sandbach Re-Imagined, to see what could be learnt.

And while yes, there was a lot to be learnt (which you’re probably best finding - as it appears over the next few days - on the Kindling Trust website), and I was able to offer some points (despite my rural perspective ;)  - the best thing I heard today has to be comments from Lydia of Sustainable Levenshulme Underground Gardeners, that many of these local efforts to tidy up one’s patch and grow food there for the community are oppositional, and “kind of naughty”, and the fun can go when the authorities are involved, as it’s no longer “fun and a bit deviant”.

If you’re based in Manchester, and concerned with local food, you might like to join in before Feeding Manchester #4 in the summer but, wherever you are, stay naughty, and happy St Valentine’s Day ;-)

Thanks to Michael Sparks, on the GeekUp list, I was recently reminded of this wonderful XKCD cartoon.

Not only did it make me smile, but it reminded me that “now” is always a good time to stop in an argument on an e-mail list, thus freeing up no end of useful time :-)

(It’s more than just blogging)

There’s been a lot of great buzz about hyperlocal sites as the new local press, with added community cohesion. Indeed I posted a couple of months ago about #tal09, the Talk-about-Local unconference for hyperlocal bloggers. Action within and for the local community is essential if we are to fix what the Tories somewhat pessimistically call the Broken Society. Nevertheless there are important issues in the wider world which can also be well addressed locally, so on Day 1 of Copenhagen let’s take a look at “Think Global, Act Local”.

Town in Transition

Last week my eldest two children played with the Lions Youth Brass Band at the Congleton Christmas Lights switch-on. What was different about this switch on was a street full of local stalls, mostly from community groups. One of them was the recently-formed Congleton Sustainability Group (CSG), selling locally-grown apple juice[1] to raise both awareness and funds.

Following this, I spent this morning at CSG’s monthly meeting, and was pleased to see representatives of local businesses and groups, together with a few individuals, getting together to plan practical changes to make their community more sustainable. Hydro power, energy advice, seed swaps, and, closest to my heart, beginning to look at Community Supported Agriculture and local food production.

The aim of the CSG is to prepare for Transition Town status. A refreshing contrast to places that just declare they are transition towns without actually having community buy-in or any practical results - CSG hopes to bring in more local people and organisations, and get real change in motion before declaring Transition Town Congleton.

[1] 450lbs (210kg) of unwanted apples were collected from local trees and
    juiced and bottles at Eddisbury Fruit Farm, producing 106 bottles.
    Next year the group aims to at least quadruple the amount of apples
    it collects.

As the second day of Open09 closes in a (somewhat muted) panel session, what has come out of this?

For me, every session seemed to point towards greater need for collaboration within and across sectors. Creative people, whether artists, coders or web designers, need to let go of the fear of losing control of their ideas, or having them stolen.

There are risks, but the potential benefits for individuals & micro-businesses of sharing ideas, and trying to build on them together are huge.
This is best shown by the success of Free & Open Source software. Projects like Debian GNU/Linux (the foundation on which Ubuntu is built), comes from open sharing with big companies like HP, local governemnts like Extremadura, and small companies and individual programmers.

Network Effect

Techies have the advantage that since the advent of the Internet they’ve collaborated online. Now the whole world’s doing it, so what’s stopping creative people following the Free Software model? No, really, what’s stopping them?

Let me know why you’re not collaborating more. We can only break down the barriers to change if we know where they are.

I don’t normally join this sort of event, but the theme of this year’s Blog Action Day is Climate Change - and that seems a good opportunity to make a confession: I was wrong.

Not about climate change, I’ve been wittering on about the unsustainability of burning fossil fuels since the 1970s, and changed much about my lifestyle (transport, diet) in the 1980s in order to live more lightly on the earth.

No, I was wrong about the potential of popular mass actions focussed on tiny, incremental changes in people’s behaviour. Very specifically I was wrong about 10:10.

A Simple Step

10:10 asks an interesting question:

What if we resolved to cut 10% of our emissions in 2010?

Not a bad start. What if we got everyone we know to do the same? And what if all this made governments sit up and take notice? Maybe this could be the first step towards a brighter future. Time to stop imagining. It’s happening right now. Sign up today and be a part of it.

I had despaired of politicians making a worthwhile change throughout the Major & the Blair/Brown years, but was ready to accept a popular push could create political change. I just didn’t see any popular pushes working.

Happily, I’ve been proved wrong: 10:10 seems to have garnered unexpected support from businesses big & small, numerous individuals, and is pushing the politicians. It has worked because it has taken the vast, overwhelming problem of runaway climate change, and given us all an achievable, practical step we can take with tangible result. I wish it every success, and happily recall the words of 老子 (Lao-Tsu): A thousand mile journey begins with one small step.