Monday, April 19, 2010

Free Software Conference at Asuncion, Paraguay

The Government of Paraguay is organising an International Conference on Free Software at Asuncion, the capital of the country. Some important names in the Free Software world - such as Marco Ciurcina, Diego Saravia, David Sugar - will be seen in the list of participants. I am one of the lucky guys to be invited there. It would be nice to see some of my old friends including Marco and Juan Carlos, and meet people whom I have met only through the Net. But, more importantly, this conference is expected to give a boost to migration to Free Software in the whole of Latin America, particularly in Paraguay. The conference is scheduled on the same day that a huge Free Software event, something like the Software Freedom Day, is happening in the whole of Latin America (http://www.flisol.info/). In a way this is unfortunate because are bound to miss one of them. But, in a way, it is good because together they make a great day for Free Software in Latin America.

I am supposed to speak on the Kerala experience, mainly the experience of the IT@School project. Arun of FSF India was also scheduled to go, but he backed out when things got unduly delayed. His case is different from mine because he is doing his MPhil now and cannot be away for long. In my case, I have been told that I may get to participate in other conferences and discussions. So I may have to stay for a couple of weeks or longer.

I am basically not very fond of travelling, so I am not really looking forward to the journey. One thing that I would enjoy is to visit some of the sites of ancient civilisations like the Mayans. I don't know whether I will be able to do that. But if I do, I shall write about it here. Got the visa. Waiting for the ticket now.

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