Document Freedom Day

Document Freedom Day will be in a week.  What is DFD?

According to documentfreedom.org , it is:

"the international day of Open Standards and happens every year on the last Wednesday of March. It is a day to come together and raise attention towards the ever growing importance of Open Standards for all aspects of our digital communication and information accessibility."

I remember that once, I celebrated it sending to all my colleagues a "freedom test".  It was just a regular mail with a short explanation and an .odt file.  If they could not open it, they could realize that they were not free.  My small campaign had a modest rate of success, at least to make people question their choices.

I wonder if I should do something similar this year... 

I Spotted ODF in the Wild this Week... Twice!

This week has been full of surprises.  The new semester has started and with that, much of what used to be paperwork is becoming digital files.  When I entered the platform to obtain the lists of my students in the courses I'm currently teaching, I realized that it now had two options to download such lists: "as a pdf file" or "as a spreadsheet."

Since I didn't want to have anything to do with .xslx, I went for the pdf.

But later, when I told Mechatotoro about it, he entered the platform and gave "spreadsheet" a try.

"I love these people!," I heard him say.

Instead of a .xslx file, the guys who added the feature did honor the university's migration to free software and made .ods available for download!

And just a few minutes ago, my editor sent me an e-mail.  Actually, the mail was directed to all the authors who work with her, and she wanted us to check the list of the available books and their corresponding prices to rule out any mistake.

I must say that I almost fell off my chair when I saw the attached document: another .ods file!

Yes!  I literally heard a choir of angels singing.  I am still hearing them!  ^__^  

ODF Is Becoming more Visible in My University!

My university has approved ODF for institutional use.  Still, resistance from the administrative staff, educators and students has become an obstacle in the generalized adoption of the open format.  Their reluctance to embrace ODF comes mainly from laziness and ignorance, not from a real advantage of using MS Office or its format.

Something that really bothered me was that, in spite of the university's position toward ODF, an online application for filling out our schedule affidavit only exported the data to .xslx, .docx or .pdf.

Apparently, many workers had trouble with that application and that resulted in a hiatus of the system while it was revised and improved.  Meanwhile, we were asked to download a file, print it and fill it out manually.

When I clicked on the link directing me to the file, I was surprised.  Instead of .xslx I saw .xsl AND .ods!

I also noticed a box for sending suggestions and complaints to human resources. "Well...It's time to say something!", I said to myself.  I sent a short message congratulating the ones in charge for making .ods available and also asked them to include that format in the new version of the online application, pointing out to the compatibility issues of .xslx.

Today, I received an e-mail from human resources.  The person in charge thanked me for my suggestion and said that they are working to "provide the appropriate tools for the university community."

Hopefully, that means that .ods will be available for exporting our data when we use the revised application. The fact that the current files for download are .ods and .xls instead of OOXML could mean that.  Let's see.

Little by little, ODF is becoming more visible in my university!

Happy Document Freedom Day!

In a world that increasingly becomes conscious of how important open standards are for ensuring information accessibility, we must celebrate the Document Freedom Day.

How?  Raising awareness is a good start.

If a system is unable to open something that by definition is open, then we should ask ourselves what is going on with that system.   Why wouldn't it let us open an OPEN standard?

Send an ODT file to your friends today to celebrate!