Wouter Tebbens
He was born in the Netherlands at the 6th of May 1974. Although technology has been his focus from an early age, he has a broad interest in social changes. He achieved a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Production and Operations Management at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. He has been working in project management functions in various organisations, most in Europe. He is founder of the Barcelona based company xlocal.com, offering solutions in Free Software web applications. He has more than ten years experience in internet projects and Free Software in the Netherlands, Spain and Latin America.
Besides ongoing initiatives of promoting the use of free technologies from within Internet Society Netherlands (he's founder of the expert group on Free Software in ISOC.nl) and related networks and collectives, Wouter is currently realising one of his most ambitious initiatives which is in the field of education: the Science, Education and Learning in Freedom (SELF) project. The SELF project is a worldwide platform for sharing knowledge in the form of educational and training material about Free Software and Open Standards. (http://selfproject.eu).
Besides ongoing initiatives of promoting the use of free technologies from within Internet Society Netherlands (he's founder of the expert group on Free Software in ISOC.nl) and related networks and collectives, Wouter is currently realising one of his most ambitious initiatives which is in the field of education: the Science, Education and Learning in Freedom (SELF) project. The SELF project is a worldwide platform for sharing knowledge in the form of educational and training material about Free Software and Open Standards. (http://selfproject.eu).
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Training and Education about Open Standards
More and more private and public organisations are including the use of open standards in their.strategies. Open formats and specifications can help provide equal opportunities for both software.developers, software vendors and users. They help users in their need for interoperability, for vendor.independence and innovation as well as for information durability.
Free Software (also known as “open source”) provides software that can be used, copied, studied,.improved and distributed freely. Most Free Software supports one or more Open Standards..Although these are different concepts, Free Software tends to use and help define Open Standards..The reason is clear: Free Software consists by definition of publicly available specifications, while.the availability of its source code promotes an open and democratic debate around the specifications.
Although the need for Open Standards and Free Software is accepted by most experts, and the.applications in most areas are readily available, many governments still stick to the conventional.proprietary software products and formats. As observed by the Barcelona Declaration for the.advance of Free Software, the factors holding back massive adoption of these free technologies include 1) the lack of awareness, 2) the (perceived) lack of qualified support, 3) the lack of qualified teachers and trainers, 4) the lack of quality training materials.
The SELF (Science, Education and Learning in Freedom) project addresses these factors by providing an educational and training platform. SELF aims to facilitate the sharing of knowledge about Free Software and Open Standards by providing an open educational platform based on world class technology with accessible and quality materials by a worldwide community. See: http://selfproject.eu
