Topics in Digital Divide

Oct 1 - Oct 3

0.5 hr, non-technical, Prelude 1: Human Right Issues in the Information Age
0.5 hr, non-technical, Prelude 2: Free Software: Past and Future
1 hr, non-technical, "FLOSS and the Government"
Governments have a much longer span of life than most businesses. It is unacceptable for the operation of a government to depend exclusively on any company, be it local or international. The choice of a technological solution must be made from a long term perspective that encompasses issues including archive preservation, national security, and citizen privacy, instead of the short term conveniences of prices, flashy functionalities, and migration difficulties.
1 hr, slightly technical, "Migration Strategies and Tools"
Migration from proprietary solutions that are purposefully designed to lock in customers is no easy task. Foremost important is explaining the reasons and providing motivations for the office workers. It is also advisable to migrate gradually by switching to cross-platform applications before making a complete switch of the operating system. FLOSS solutions such as VNC, colinux, DRBL, and so on can ease the migration.
3 hr, heavily technical, "USB Memory Stick as a Notebook Computer"
Many computers today can boot from USB memory sticks, and newer USB memory sticks have a capacity large enough to hold an entire operating system with a rich set of applications. Using such a memory stick as a notbook computer can prove very convenient and productive in environments such as classrooms and business travels.
2 hr, heavily technical, "Regular Expressions for Batch Processing (I)"
Repetitive and monotonous tasks are to be performed by computers, not humans, whether such tasks involve typing or mouse clicking. Regular Expressions is an anceint (in computer chronology) tool that replaces such repetitive tasks with a few lines of commands. It also has two properties that make it very different from most of the ephemeral application programs. It has a long life span and it encourages combinatorial usages. Both properties make it more like mathematics or natural languages, which are very economical investments from a learning point of view.
1 hr, non-technical, "FLOSS and the Business"
The FLOSS movement is changing the ecology of the software business. Software production no longer generates high profits. Intead, it helps the producer earn recognition. The new profit opportunities lie in the usage front. By cooperating with non-ICT businesses and helping them use software in creative ways, the ICT sector can switch to the service business model and continue thriving.
1 hr, slightly technical, "Long Term Learning Strategy for IT Professionals"
Mathematics and natural languages have two properties that make them very distinct from current hot subjects in the ICT industry. (1) They do not change very much over centuries. (2) Their structures encourage their users to combine a relatively small number of pieces of elements to create an infinite number of possible formulas and/or sentences. Can we find subjects in ICT that share these two properties?
2 hr, heavily technical, Regular Expressions for Batch Processing (II)
This is the continuation of the first day's RE class. It works better when learners are given enough time to ruminate on the idea of this very different way of learning computers.

The Speaker

Chao-Kuei Hung has been using free software such as djgpp and emxgcc since early 1990's, and has become a free software advocate after reading the GNU manifesto in 1996. He has written a few dozen articles (mostly in Chinese) explaning the rationale, phenomenon, and possible future of the paradigm shift brought about by the FLOSS movement. He has also given more than 100 technical and non-technical talks about various topics of free software, open file formats, and the invasion of consumer right and privacy by the large ICT companies. Most of the talks are addressed to primary and high school teachers in Taiwan, though he has also been invited to speak in Macao and France as well. He believes that the education sector and the governments are among those who will see the benefits of FLOSS most readily. He was the vice president of Taiwn for OFSET, Organization for Free Software in Education and Teaching. He is also on the board of directors of SLAT, Software Liberty Association, Taiwan. Currently he works at the CSIE (Computer Science and Information Engineering) Department of Shu-Te University as an associate professor.

Most updated version of this page: http://people.ofset.org/~ckhung/e/e077.en.php; the version you're reading: September 29 2007 21:58:31.
Author: Chao-Kuei Hung at Chaoyang University Information Management Department
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