The Applied Linux Institute Project (version 0.1.5)

During the last months when working with the idea of The Applied Linux Institute we have found in Finland several small scale efforts promoting "free software ideology", "open source solutions", "copyleft licencies", Linux and OpenOffice training and so on. These efforts are carried out by different universities, NGOs, ministries, cities, enterprises and private citizens.

The Finnish Linux-landscape is fragmented. When we are using the phrase "Linux" loosely, it may mean the software itself, the community around the devolopment and the use of all kinds of FLOSS software, the special licencing policy, the public domain or the business model based not on products but services.

"Linux" means nowadays more than just an operating system. It is a way of production and distribution, an "odd" phenomenon in the field of copyright and intellectual property legislation, a tool for community buildind and for bridging the digital divide.

On the world scale there is going on a significant shift from proprietary software systems to free ones. This transition is now starting to expand into developing countries. The reasons for the changes originate from different sources: the tightening of international intellectual property and patent legislation, the monopolistic price control of proprietary software gigant(s), the maturing of FLOSS solutions and the proliferation of the Internet.

The diffusion of FLOSS solutions is by nature decentralized. When for example public admistration - universities, schools, cities, ministeries - are starting to use free software, the lack of supportive systems in native languages and insufficient interaction may form bottlenecks.

When FLOSS solutions meet the society in Finland and elsewhere at large, and when the open source way of thinking, acting and producing spreads out from the software production itself to other lines of activities, there is a need for research, training, experiments and world wide interaction.

To help to connect existing initiatives and activities the Applied Linux Institute Project (ALI - version 0.1.5) could be helpfull. The following institutions have expressed their interest in a joint effort :

• Department of Communication, University of Helsinki,
• University of Helsinki, Vantaa Institution of Continuing Education,
• Department of Culture and Education, City of Vantaa.

The structure of ALI consists of three different sections:

• The Academy combines research activities in the academic field, organizes seminars, applies funds for joint venture research projects, publishes booklets, collects, organizes and publishes adequate information;
• The School organizes the training of Linux and FLOSS trainers, developes the quality of the training, publishes network based and distance learning material and promotes the use of Linux in schools;
• The Lab maintains a server, organizes the development of applications, studies the usability of different teamwork (possibility to cooperate over networks) applications, distributes Linux and other FLOSS packages, conciders the localization problem i.e. the quality and uniformity of Finnish language used in software translations.

Some ideas are under development:

• the training of trainers - is starting with The Vantaa Institution of Continuing Education;
• Linux for kids - to find out / to put together a distro for kids;
• Linux and FLOSS in devoloping countries - the Service Centre for Development Cooperation (KePa) and the ALI project are starting to develop training programs;
• "Linux Portal" - an attempt to bring together all the usefull information around the topic.

On behalf of the Applied Linux Institute Project :

21.5.2003

Aulis Pitkälä, Director of Culture and Education, City of Vantaa

Helena Karento, Director, University of Helsinki, Vantaa Institution for Continuing Education,

Leif Åberg, Head of Department of Communication, University of Helsinki

Seppo Koskela, Project Coordinator, Department of Communication, University of Helsinki

Sinikka Sassi, Professor, Department of Communication, University of Helsinki

More information: seppo dot koskela at helsinki dot fi