Richard Stallman, the guru of free programming, visits Valencia next Tuesday 29 January. Invited by the Valencian Association of free Software (ASOLIVAL) and within the framework of the debate space Claustre Obert, the Dr. Richard Stallman will give a lecture at the Cultural Centre La Nau of the University of Valencia, at 18:00, titled, ‘Per una societal digital lliure’. The event will be presented by Vicente Cerverón, Director of the Engineering School of the University of Valencia (ETSE-UV), admission is free and limited to the capacity of the venue.
As the creator of the free programming movement in the 80’s, Stallman developed the GNU Linux operating system (www.gnu.org), with which for the first time in history gave to users the chance to copy, modify and distribute the source code of this operating system. His influence in the world of computers was in fact, a revolution: the GNU Linux operating system it is used in millions of computers and its use goes from a domestic sphere to a business and institutions around the globe.
This time, Richard Stallman proposes a conference less technical and more social in which he reflects on the growing “inclusion” of people in the use of digital technologies and the widespread assumption that this fact is invariably a good thing. For Stallman, under an advantage only practical and immediate this may seems so, but he questions in which technological surrounding we are obliged to stay as users, to coexist and if in terms of human rights this is the digital world, in which the big technological corporations want to insert us, what determines whether it is a good or bad thing for society.
Richard Stallman has been awarded with various renowned awards, such as the Grace Hooper of the ACM (ACM Grace Hooper Award), a grant of the McArthur Foundation, and the pioneer award of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Takeda award for social/economic improvement, as well as several honorary doctorates.
Claustre Obert, the space for debate and reflection created by the University of Valencia with the collaboration of the newspaper El Pais to analyze the social, economic and cultural relevant issues at present.
More information:
Richard M. Stallman: http://www.stallman.org/
University of Valencia: http://www.uv.es/
ASOLIVAL: http://asolival.com/
Last update: 25 de january de 2013 09:27.
News release
