I had been wondering for some time if I was going about things the wrong way by doing #OpenStreetMap workshops (where I teach people to use iD) at #FOSS meetups and conferences.

While I’d also try to cover why #OSM is important and how to use it, most of the time was taken up in learning to edit…which seemed backward. Why would someone continue editing afterwards if they weren’t convinced of the importance of the project?

There was also another thought stewing in my head…most of the people who have attended our mapping parties, and all the people who are regular participants, are all big on #SoftwareFreedom and #privacy. Maybe we should try focusing more on software freedom, and promote OSM in that context?

With these ideas in mind and after discussions with @ravi, I decided to prepare a new talk - one focused on getting people to use some #Libre map apps (CoMaps, OsmAnd, and OsmApp). If we can convince people to do that, they’ll probably also start contributing data, and participating in mapping parties…

This time, I added a lot more screenshots in the hope of providing a more engaging experience. I’ve also been burned by conference WiFi all too often, so this time I made many screen capture videos instead of demonstrating websites or applications live.

I gave the talk at today’s FOSS Meetup Delhi. It was far from perfect, but at least I got a clear path towards improving it - I need to cut down the run time and some irrelevant content, so I can present it in 15 to 30 minutes depending on the situation. And of course, there are still more screenshots and video demos to be added.

https://codeberg.org/contrapunctus/osm-presentations/src/branch/production/foss-maps-and-why-you-should-use-them

(All presentations made with #Emacs , #OrgMode , and #RevealJS )

This time I also made sure to arrive early so I could understand how to extend the display using the projector, and use RevealJS’s speaker view. That way, I was able to use the slides to guide me without giving away what I was about to say, and I could speak first and let the slide summarize it afterwards.

Relying on the laptop to act as a teleprompter has its drawbacks, though…you want to be focused on the audience, not the screen. And you want to be free to move around…

#contraMaps#Delhi#India#FreeSoftware

Today, we celebrate the close of the June 2025 Outreachy Internship round!

Congratulations to our interns on their amazing contributions and growth.

We sincerely thank and appreciate our mentors + community coordinators for their support and collaboration.

This isn’t the end, it’s the start of many more contributions to the open source ecosystem. Together, we continue to build a more inclusive tech future. 💙

#Outreachy#FOSS#OpenSource

🔐 Tuta Mail introduces key verification to strengthen end-to-end encryption and defend against MITM attacks 👥
Users can now verify contacts’ public keys via QR code or manual comparison.
If skipped, Tuta defaults to TOFU (Trust On First Use) for seamless encryption 🧩

@Tutanota
🔗 https://tuta.com/blog/key-verification

#Encryption#CyberSecurity#Privacy#Tuta#Tutanota#TutaMail#EmailSecurity#OpenSource#FOSS#E2EE#PGP#Email#Mail#TechNews#DataProtection#Crypto#DigitalRights#OnlinePrivacy

Today, we celebrate the close of the June 2025 Outreachy Internship round!

Congratulations to our interns on their amazing contributions and growth.

We sincerely thank and appreciate our mentors + community coordinators for their support and collaboration.

This isn’t the end, it’s the start of many more contributions to the open source ecosystem. Together, we continue to build a more inclusive tech future. 💙

#Outreachy#FOSS#OpenSource

🔐 Tuta Mail introduces key verification to strengthen end-to-end encryption and defend against MITM attacks 👥
Users can now verify contacts’ public keys via QR code or manual comparison.
If skipped, Tuta defaults to TOFU (Trust On First Use) for seamless encryption 🧩

@Tutanota
🔗 https://tuta.com/blog/key-verification

#Encryption#CyberSecurity#Privacy#Tuta#Tutanota#TutaMail#EmailSecurity#OpenSource#FOSS#E2EE#PGP#Email#Mail#TechNews#DataProtection#Crypto#DigitalRights#OnlinePrivacy

🎂🐧 ¡Linux cumple 34 años! De un proyecto personal en 1991 a convertirse en el motor de servidores, escritorios, móviles y hasta tecnología espacial 🚀.
Un símbolo de libertad y comunidad. 💻✨
#Linux#FOSS#34AñosDeLinux

🎂🐧 ¡Linux cumple 34 años! De un proyecto personal en 1991 a convertirse en el motor de servidores, escritorios, móviles y hasta tecnología espacial 🚀.
Un símbolo de libertad y comunidad. 💻✨
#Linux#FOSS#34AñosDeLinux

here, have a collection of resources for finding work in foss

https://github.com/fossjobs/fossjobs/wiki/resources

#getFediHired#fediJobs#fediHired#FOSS#openSource

here, have a collection of resources for finding work in foss

https://github.com/fossjobs/fossjobs/wiki/resources

#getFediHired#fediJobs#fediHired#FOSS#openSource

We have a new job opening for Tech Assessor.
As assessor, you have a critical role at the cutting edge of free and open source software & hardware. Together with your fellow assessors you curate our project portfolio, and actively keep it awesome and coherent by helping to select the right efforts — and support the teams involved throughout the project lifecycle.

If this is something you might be interested in check out the job description: https://nlnet.nl/foundation/jobs/assessor.html

#FOSS #getfedihired

⚠️ News/Changes:

BoxyBSD will bring in a feature for more advanced users for our free boxes. Instead of only selecting a set of pre-defined BSD based images, you'll soon also be able to create your install simply from scratch with full remote access to your box. This lets you perform custom installations of #FreeBSD, #NetBSD, #OpenBSD, #DragonflyBSD, #MidnightBSD but also of some other niche systems like #illumos

Unfortunately, this might still take some time and fully relies on the spare time of @gyptazy.

#freeVPS#VPS#BSD#Box#BoxyBSD #gyptazy #opensource #education #community #foss #runbsd #hosting #freehosting #learning #ipv6

⚠️ News/Changes:

BoxyBSD will bring in a feature for more advanced users for our free boxes. Instead of only selecting a set of pre-defined BSD based images, you'll soon also be able to create your install simply from scratch with full remote access to your box. This lets you perform custom installations of #FreeBSD, #NetBSD, #OpenBSD, #DragonflyBSD, #MidnightBSD but also of some other niche systems like #illumos

Unfortunately, this might still take some time and fully relies on the spare time of @gyptazy.

#freeVPS#VPS#BSD#Box#BoxyBSD #gyptazy #opensource #education #community #foss #runbsd #hosting #freehosting #learning #ipv6

Here is what is missing in the popular #OSM based #FOSS apps (#OsmAnd, @CoMaps & @organicmaps) from being a potential replacement for GMaps.

1. Photos & Reviews are two most important things that are missing right now. @mangroveReviews and @lib_reviews are here to fill the reviews gap. #WikimediaCommons, @panoramax are here to fill the photos gap.

2. Crowdsourced Real time Traffic data. I couldn't find any #opendata platform yet. Though I saw an empty repo created under the CoMaps project. 🤞

Here is what is missing in the popular #OSM based #FOSS apps (#OsmAnd, @CoMaps & @organicmaps) from being a potential replacement for GMaps.

1. Photos & Reviews are two most important things that are missing right now. @mangroveReviews and @lib_reviews are here to fill the reviews gap. #WikimediaCommons, @panoramax are here to fill the photos gap.

2. Crowdsourced Real time Traffic data. I couldn't find any #opendata platform yet. Though I saw an empty repo created under the CoMaps project. 🤞

The more I read about Google's proposed(?) changes to Android, the more I feel I need to invest time in @postmarketOS, to see what I would need to do to use it as my main mobile device.

Given how I use my phone, I suspect that this could be a bit of a challenge (or at least require quite a lot of compromises on my part, through no fault of the pmOS team), but perhaps a fun one(?)...

#Linux#FOSS#postmarketOS