PRESS RELEASE
Asia Source 3
Building Capacities and Empowering Humanity through FOSS
Manila. Asia Source 3 is a hands-on training camp to increase the awareness, integration and adoption of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) tools in Asia. It aims at building capacities and empowering humanity with the use of FOSS to connect, cooperate, and collaborate. From November 7 to 12, 2009 Asia Source 3 will gather representatives from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and youth networks to focus on the practical elements of FOSS deployment within an economic and social context.
Asia Source 3 will bring together more than 140 participants from 17 Asian countries and take place at the Yen-Center in Silang, located in Cavite, Philippines.
There is a steadily growing demand for open source software throughout Asia. FOSS stands for independency of expensive commercial software licences and international software manufacturers. It stands for high stability and dependability of its systems. And it especially stands for the adaptability and possibility for development of these systems as they concern the needs of the local economy. Particularly for SMEs, FOSS therefore holds considerable promise: As it is adaptable to local needs and languages, it can help to grow a local service industry.
In the tradition of the previous camps held in Bangalore, India in 2005 and Sukabumi,
Indonesia in 2007, Asia Source 3 emphasis is on building capacity amongst existing practitioners from both the technical and content end of the spectrum. The camp as a learn-and-share event is an opportunity to broaden expertise, forge new ideas and connections. It encourages the creative use of FOSS as a viable option to maximize the impact of information practices within the projects and initiatives in the region.
This year’s event will in particular deal with the topics of managing and broadcasting information through FOSS. It will further demonstrate how to migrate from proprietary software to FOSS as well as how to easily and efficiently use the FOSS tools.
Asia Source 3 will also be the official ending of five years of regional FOSS support by InWEnt in Southeast Asia. Under the program "it@foss - Promoting Free and Open Source Software in Southeast Asia" InWEnt trained and connected more than 1000 experts from Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines in more than 30 training courses.
Funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), ASEAN Foundation and Open Society Institute, Asia Source 3 is jointly organized by InWEnt - Capacity Building International, Germany, UNDP's International Open Source Network (UNDP-IOSN) through its ASEAN+3 Centre of Excellence, Tactical Technology Collective (Netherlands), Aspiration (USA) and The Centre for Internet and Society.
On November 13, 2009 at 10:00 am a press conference will take place at the Yen-Center in Silang, Cavite. The organisers can provide shuttle transfer for journalists on this day. Pick-up place and time will be forwarded to you upon your confirmation to attend.
Please contact Dr. Francis Sarmiento III at 09158 50 1111 or via email francis.sarmiento3@gmail.com on or before November 6, 2009.
Contact at InWEnt
Balthas Seibold, balthas.seibold@inwent.org; Ursula van Look
ursula.van.look@inwent.org
More information:
www.asiasource3.net
InWEnt programme it@foss:
www.inwent.org/it-foss/
InWEnt – Capacity Building International, Germany, is a non-profit organisation with worldwide operations dedicated to human resource development, advanced training and dialogue. InWEnt works together with people in key positions, assisting them in shaping change processes in their own countries. Our capacity building programmes are directed at experts and executives from politics, administration, the business community, and civil society. InWEnt qualifies people who pass on their knowledge, thereby working towards long-term, structural change. Through exchange programmes, InWEnt also offers young people from Germany the opportunity to gain professional experience abroad.