A Globe and Mail newspaper article on Toronto being one of the new centres of open source technology and thinking inspired this post. It is well known that Toronto is one of the larger hubs of information technology in the world, whether due to the number of Canadian corporate headquarters situated here, or the influx of skilled immigrants every year with a knowledge of new technology and diverse ideas, or a large city that is not only tolerant of diversity but celebrates it, providing fertile ground for formation of a critical mass for what University of Toronto professor Richard Florida calls the Creative Class.
So my first question is: Is there a strong level of open source leadership in Toronto ?
Open Source Technology Leadership is thriving in Toronto. A long list of Toronto, and Ontario Open Source groups can be found on the Canadian Association for Open Source website. A smaller but more Toronto specific list can be found on the Toronto Technology Map. The number of unconference camps held in Toronto and the surrounding area, including the Public Transit related TransitCamp and Government and Democracy related ChangeCamp which I attended, indicate not only a strong diversity of open source technology, but also open source approaches to solving social problems in Toronto. For those unfamiliar with the whole BarCamp concept, check out the Wikipedia definition of BarCamp or the Barcamp Community Wiki, and then go attend or start one in your city.
My second question is can open source leadership energy be directed towards helping disadvantaged groups use open source technology to start businesses ?
In accordance with the theme of this blog, can I persuade the Toronto Open Source Community to put together the resources (software, hardware, support) to help people with few resources to start their own business ? i.e. open source operating system, open source word processing and spreadsheet software, open source web publishing and blogging software, etc.
I believe there is a sufficient suite of open source software tools, that will enable people with few resources to avoid the higher costs of licensed software. Small business requirements tend to be satisfied with the basic functionality available in open source applications, without the bells and whistles typically available in commercially licensed software. More importantly, the ethos of open source will encourage the participant to learn some software skills along the way, and eventually contribute back to the open source community in some form.
I will let you know what results emailing, calling, and networking with the Toronto Open Source community provides through this blog.
Any suggestions for Open Source software applications required for a business ?
Any particular people or organizations I should contact ?
Some interesting sessions I led at Metronauts TransitCamp and ChangeCamp Toronto:
Transforming Transit Union Employees into Transit Evangelists
ChangeCamp: Business Involvement in the Promotion of Civic Participation