Actually there are a great number of forums and activities dedicated to ICT and socio-political work. You can get an impressive insight simply by typing "digital divide" and "linux" into Google. Some of the initiatives are quite technical, others are very practical. There are also mixed groups, which are quite successful at connecting practically and technically oriented people. But there aren't enough of them. And, strictly speaking, they can't provide all the support and co-operation required. Needy initiatives may always be dependent on the direct connection to the free software developers.

The purpose of this talk is not only to mobilize more volunteers and activities. The degree to which the free source community is volunteering is already impressive. But not every project may be an advantage for socio-political initiatives. This talk intends to make important issues visible to a broader community, and to present information for consideration in free source projects. Many issues are of a very general kind which developers prefer to overlook. Solving these issues can raise projects to a more profitable level for the initiatives.

Socio-political work is an important testbed for every software (and hardware) developer because, on the one hand, it is just like any other work, while on the other hand it is quite different. The differences are mainly related to the hurdles that volunteers face. The problems begin with technical issues such as electrical power and continue with the unsafe storage of equipment, and may include cultural barriers, illiteracy, low education, and so on. A crucial issue is the volunteers' limited IT knowledge. It isn't easy to educate others if you don't know yourself. But socio-political organizations can't just go out and buy experts. They contact the developers--who else?

Socio-political work is a good stress test for every software developer because it stresses all aspects of the project. Volunteers and target groups not only find bugs and misbehaviour--they easily find misconceptions. How about your documentation and communication with non-techies? What about mediation? What about the open discussion of aims, strategies and standards? Is your project really that open? Is your code really free as in freedom, or more as in free beer, to your users?

The talk will touch on too many issues to enumerate them all here. It will start with real life examples, point to resources, discuss hardware issues, go over to software design, the importance of standards etc. and end with community issues. We may have a discussion at the end of the speech, if desired.