The Community Education Computer Society (CECS), an ICT training NGO established in 1985 in South Africa, will be conducting two-day workshops on free and open source software (FOSS) in five Southern African countries.
COUNTRIES AND WORKSHOP DATES
The workshops will be conducted as follows:
- Maseru, Lesotho (20 & 21 August 2009)
- Blantyre, Malawi (1 & 2 September 2009)
- Windhoek, Namibia (1 & 2 October 2009)
- Luanda, Angola (21 & 22 October 2009)
- Lubumbashi, DRC (18 & 19 November 2009)
WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the workshops, which are supported by OSISA, are to:
- Create an awareness of FOSS and the potential thereof.
- Build capacity to conduct OpenOffice Writer courses in Lesotho, Malawi, and Namibia.
- Build partnerships with organisations and individuals in Angola and DRC for the purpose of translating the FOSS portal to Portuguese and French.
WORKSHOP OUTLINE
Day one is an open day to anyone who has an interest in free and open source software (FOSS). The following are some of the aspects to be covered:
- Introductions
- Overview of free and open source software
- FOSS business models in Africa
- Demonstrations and how to use the following software:
- Joomla (an easy Content Management System for website development)
- Open Workbench (project management software; similar to MS Project)
- TurboCASH (accounting software; similar to Pastel and QuickBooks)
- FreeMind (mindmapping software)
- OpenOffice (productivity software; similar to MS Office)
- Ubuntu Linux (operating system; similar to MS Windows)
- Questions and answer session
Those attending will receive a CD with the software which is mentioned above and the software which is listed below. Please let us know if you would like to get a CD but will be unable to attend.
Day two is aimed at trainers or potential trainers in Lesotho, Malawi, and Namibia. CECS has developed a reference manual for OpenOffice Writer – Level one. This manual contains the same course outline as the MS Word 2003 – Level one course outline. The objective is to peruse and comment on the course material as well as strategise conducting courses within the mentioned countries. CECS wants to build partnerships with organisations and individuals in Angola and DRC with a view of translating the FOSS portal to Portuguese and French respectively.
All the workshops will be conducted in English.
HOW TO REGISTER?
If you are interested in attending this workshop then complete the registration form which can be found on the FLOSSLit website (www.flosslit.org.za). The venues for the workshops will be provided to those who registers.
WORKSHOP CD
The CD will contain the following free and open source software:
- 7-Zip — compression software [WinZip]
- Blender — an animation program [Maya | Lightwave | Cinema 4D]
- Dia — a diagram creation tool [MS Visio]
- FileZilla — an FTP program to upload files to your website
- Gimp — an image manipulation program [Adobe Photoshop]
- Httrack — to copy websites to be viewed offline
- Inkscape — vector graphics editor [Adobe Illustrator]
- Kompozer — for the design of static websites [Dreamweaver | Frontpage]
- Firefox — a robust web browser [Internet Explorer]
- Thunderbird — a e-mail client [Outlook Express]
- Scribus — layout and DTP software [Coreldraw | Adobe Indesign]
- Tuxpaint — interactive paint program for children
- Wamp — to set up your computer as a web server
The proprietary equivalent is shown in brackets [ ]
The CD will also contain the following free software:
- Adobe Reader 9 — for viewing PDF files
- Avg 8 — antivirus program
- PdfCreator — creating PDF files
- Spybot — anti-spyware software
For more information contact Arnold Pietersen at
arnold.pietersen@cecs.org.za