Inclusão Digital
A photograph
of children at a Sao Paolo telecentro (like the girl below)
appears in today's New York Times on the front page of its Business section. Todd Benson's article reports on the Brazilian
government's initiative to bring computers to its citizens. The effort is similar
to one launched by the Ministry of Information and Communication in South Korea
four years ago. It may be
unusual for a major U.S. newspaper to run a image
of children in a developing country using computers on a business page, but Brasil is probably the only
country where global companies selling hardware and software to the government have in-country managers with job titles that include "digital inclusion."
A Happy GNOME User in a Telecentro
Wake up and smell the chimarrao
Brasil has no Grand Canyon to give relevance to the term
digital divide, yet it does have enormous barriers to including
its population in the information society.
Digital inclusion is a term popularized by the PT (Worker's
Party) in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, the country's first oasis for free software. Since the election of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2002, many of the IT leaders who deployed Software Livre in Rio Grande
do Sul are supporting the digital inclusion efforts of other Brazilian states. Marcos Mazoni went to oversee IT in Paraná. Rogério Santanna dos Santos and Patricia Pessi are in Brasilia working on Governo Eletrônico (Electronic Government) at the Ministry of Planning.
 Sao Paolo Developers
GNOME has been a cornerstone in the telecentros deployment, as illustrated in this testimonial
from Frederico Camara, who recently left
the Sao Paolo city hall to join Coletivo Digital, a non-government organization.
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Passion for Fashion
If
Barbie has Linux, can the Bratz be far behind?
Sleeping in Baden-Württemberg
There is a range of GUADEC accommodation available
in Stuttgart. GUADEC discounts are available at selected hotels. A number of beds in the local hostel will also be available (27 - 31 May) for booking when the registration opens in a week's time.
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Your Favorite Menu
Stuttgart-bound GUADEC, the sixth annual GNOME Users and Developers European Conference, joins its Spanish language sibling GUADEC-ES in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain to make May a
true EuroGNOME desktop celebration and hackfest.
Two menus, same API.
Flying with the Cosmonauts
Today's announcement
illustrates how GUADEC has grown from 100 hackers in Paris (2000) to this year's event
featuring Canonical founder/outer space
traveller Mark Shuttleworth and top analyst Dan Kusnetzky (he speaks, business leaders listen.)
The Pinata Factor
Technical talks are not scheduled to be announced until Monday. However, reliable sources have it that Mr. Robert Love, author and pinata companion, is among speakers from 16 countries, including his native Florida.
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