"THE ROLE OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SOCIETY" CONFERENCE IN ARMENIA

Metamorphosis, Macedonia
Nov 6 2006

The conference "The Role of Open Source Software for the Development
of Information Society" was held in Yerevan, capital of Armenia from
October 31 to November 1, 2006. The conference aimed at exchange of
experience in open source promotion policy and in the use of open
source software in specific areas such as public administration
and education.

The Conference was organised by Center for Information Law and Policy
(CILP) and was attended by representatives of non-governmental
organizations from Eastern Europe (Macedonia and Bulgaria), CIS
countries (Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and
Tajikistan), and Armenian officials responsible for the development
of information policies.

Ms. Larisa Minasyan, director of Open Society Institute Assistance
Foundation – Armenia noted that "EU integration is a big open source
project" in which member countries consider the ways for changing
the way they function.

Presenting the Free and Open Source Software situation in Armenia,
Ms. Taguhi Tumayan, CILP noted that one of the main issues is lack
of comprehensive applied policies. Good news is that international
donors ask for use of licensed software and 79% of the universities in
Armenia use Free and Open Source Software for e-learning applications.

Presenting the applied policies in Eastern Europe, Ms. Julia Velkova,
ISOC Bulgaria , noted that publishing laws licensed under free licenses
can be considered as a step towards development of appropriate applied
policies. She stressed the high value of Free and Open Source Software
in education and in creating added value in local economy.

She presented State ICT Agency in Bulgaria as an example. The ICT
Agency creates registry of open source projects that can be used
by the governmental bodies. The municipalities use Linux due to the
outdated hardware, despite the fact that the Government has bought
MS Windows XP licenses. Ms. Velkova said the Extremadura region in
Spain developed its own Linux version for the project within which
a computer for each two students in primary school is provided.

Mr. Filip Stojanovski, Metamorphosis Foundation representative
presented the Macedonian experience in applied policies development
through the example of National Strategy for Development of Information
Society , situation in local self-government units in Macedonia with
the research conducted in May and June 2006, as well as innovative
ways for raising awareness for free and open source software, and
Get Your Job Done CD that has notable public reaction.

Speaking of Governmental OSS Policies, Mr. Asomiddin Atoev, Director of
the Civil Initiative on Policy of Internet from Tajikistan referred to
CSIS report Global Policies on OSS , adding that "a major difference
between FOSS and proprietary software (PS) is in the way they provide
access to the benefits of information society." While PS promotes
consumption and passivity of the users, FOSS turns the users into
developers. He mentioned the examples of Tajikistan, whose e-Strategy
considers FOSS as a tool to narrow the growing digital divide, and
Singapore, where the state provides tax incentives for organizations
using FOSS.

Comprehensive public debates on use of the free and open source
software in education and public administration, as well as related
legal framework and implications were organised at the second day
of the conference. Major issues were discussed through concrete
experiences: training and retraining of users, which depends on whether
they are thought to use technologies, and not individual products
(Mr. Atoev); lack of individual motivation of government employees,
especially teachers, to increase their skill levels in Kazakhstan
(Mr. Alexader Borovitsin from Information Initiatives Foundation);
need for increased usability (Mr. Vyacheslav Baharev from Kiberkultura
Kazakhstan); example of extensive use of localized FOSS in Armenian
Army, aimed at untrained recruits who don’t know English (Mr. Ruben
Muradyan of Public TV Company of Armenia); and copyright and/or
patenting of software and algorithms in the legal framework session.

In the closing session of the conference, Mr. David Sandukhchyan
from CILP affirmed the general impression of the effect of productive
knowledge exchange and basis for networking of stakeholders from the
wider region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

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