20th April is Hardware Freedom Day

Here’s something that’s bound to appeal to our friends at Bristol Hackspace and Dorkbot Bristol: 20th April has been announced as the date for Hardware Freedom Day 2013. Hardware Freedom Day (HFD) is an annual celebration of Open Hardware.

Open Hardware Day was initiated in 2012 by the Digital Freedom Foundation, the organisation responsible for Software Freedom Day; its aim is to educate the worldwide public about the benefits of using and promoting Open Hardware. It also provides an international day to serve as a platform to raise awareness to existing projects and communities around the world as well as encourage participation in local Open Hardware initiatives. The Digital Freedom Foundation coordinates HFD at a global level, providing support, give-aways and a point of collaboration, but volunteer teams around the world organise the local HFD events to involve their own communities.

HFD’s vision is to empower all people to freely connect, create and share in a digital world that is participatory, transparent, and sustainable, whilst HFD’s objectives are:

• To celebrate Hardware freedom and the people making this vibrant community;
• To foster a general understanding of hardware freedom, and encourage adoption of open hardware;
• To create greater opportunities by encouraging people to learn to use and hack “their stuff” and share their knowledge about it;
• To be inclusive of organisations and individuals that share our vision;
• To be pragmatic, transparent and responsible as an organisation.

If you’re organising an event for HFD 2013, you can register it here.