Wikimedia UK, the UK charity which supports the work of the Wikimedia Foundation (a global movement whose mission is to bring free educational content to the world and whose best known project is Wikipedia. Ed.), is looking to recruit some additional staff and has this week published the following post on its blog: In order […]
Courtesy of a news report today on governmental lists of open source alternatives to proprietary software on EU public sector open source news website Joinup, the chief scribe duly downloaded and read the Open Source Software Options for Government publication (pdf), which forms the basis for a Joinup case study. A quick glance through the […]
One of the common complaints of novice editors of Wikipedia is the awkwardness of learning wiki mark-up combined with the lack of a visual (WYSIWYG) editor. This has now been remedied with the launch of the VisualEditor on the English-language version of Wikipedia (and other sites using MediaWiki, the software upon which Wikipedia runs). However, […]
After looking over the Channel at the forthcoming Belgian local authority and provincial elections (news passim), we’re coming a bit closer to home. It cannot have escaped the attention of any Bristolian who hasn’t been in a coma for many months that an election will take place in November to select an elected mayor for […]
LeggiOggi.it reports (in Italian) that the Puglia region has passed Italy’s first regional law that combines free software with open data. On Wednesday this week all 48 members of the regional council voted in favour of a new law promoting the use of free software and granting citizens access to all the information and services […]
Clearly not, if the following exchange in the House of Lords between Lord Rennard and Baroness Verma is accurately reported. First the question by LibDem Lord Rennard: My Lords, will the Minister tell the House the Government’s policies in relation to the development of the computer code or software they pay for and whether it […]
The dust has now settled over the launch of Monmouthpedia on Saturday, when Monmouth was officially launched as the world’s first Wikipedia town (news passim). Monmouth, an historic town close to the border between England and Wales, is now sell covered in QR codes, enabling visitors with smart phones (e.g. Android, Jesusphone) to scan them […]
World launch for Wikipedia town paves way for global roll out across local communities. Innovative collaborative project puts Monmouth on the world map and provides access to almost half a billion people.
Bristol’s bid to host Wikimania in 2013 (news passim) has been unsuccessful.The following email was posted to the Wikimania mailing list yesterday: Dear all, It is my pleasure to announce that the jury has been able to come up with an intermediate result – and I would like to share with you the fact that […]
Wikimania is an annual international conference for users of the various projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation (e.g. Wikipedia and its sister projects). It includes presentations and discussions include Wikimedia Foundation projects, other wikis, open source software, free knowledge and free content, and the different social and technical aspects which relate to these topics. It’s […]
Do you know a certain politician who should really learn more about Open Standards? This is the question that the Free Software Foundation Europe has asked in the last couple of days. The article goes on to ask readers if they have tried to explain the importance of Open Standards to your boss, friends, local […]
The British Library, whose main reading room has in the past played home from home for such diverse characters as Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Mahatma Gandhi, Rudyard Kipling, George Orwell, George Bernard Shaw, Mark Twain, Lenin, Virginia Woolf, Arthur Rimbaud and H. G. Wells, is at present recruiting an experienced […]
At the end of last week, both houses of the New Hampshire legislature passed HB418 (2012). This bill is “relative to the use of open source software and open data formats by state agencies and relative to the adoption of a statewide information policy regarding open government data standards.” That means that New Hampshire has […]
France has released the beta version of its open government data website, data.gouv.fr, Joinup reports. Data.gouv.fr aims to foster collaboration and innovation and to increase government transparency by facilitating access to and the re-use of public sector information. The portal brings together data from many public agencies, including the French institute for statistics INSEE, most […]
Our friends at Trinity Community Arts today joined in with the protest being staged in the USA against SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) (news passim). Trinity supported the protest by adding the pop-up in the screenshot below, thus blocking access to their site. The text on the pop-up reads: Imagine a world without free knowledge […]
In the USA thousands of websites are currently involved in a protest against 2 bills known as SOPA and PIPA by blacking out their websites for 24 hours starting at midnight (local time) on 18th January 2012. A screenshot of Wikipedia’s blacked out site is shown below. Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) ( What does […]
Regular users of Wikipedia will be aware that the main page showcases a different article every day; this is known as the featured article. Yesterday’s featured article was the one on Bristol’s Knowle West area. Those familiar with the Wikipedia article grading process will know just how much effort has gone into getting an article […]
To promote the implementation of the National Infrastructure for Open Data (INDA), the Brazilian Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management last week launched the beta version of the Brazilian Open Data Portal. The full version is scheduled for launch in 2012. INDA is a set of standards, technologies, procedures and control instruments for meeting the […]
But who said it? According to Joinup, it was Christian Ude, the Mayor of Munich, whose local authority is a European leader in the deployment of open source by the public sector in general and local authorities in particular. It was said in a letter to Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the EU Commission, a great […]
The business section of the BBC website carries an article on freeing up government data within EU Member States for re-use by anyone. This would give rise to a market worth some €40 bn per year, according to the author. As advocates of open source, along with open standards, we have long believed in open […]