10 tactics at Asia Source 3

From 7th to 12th November, 140 free and open source software (FOSS) advocates gathered in the Philippines for Asia Source 3. This was a six-day hands-on camp organised by UNDP’s International Open Source Network (UNDP-IOSN) in Silang, Cavite. The aim was to build Open Source IT skills through the sharing of knowledge and expertise.

Tactical Tech, the founders of the source camp format*, had an integral role to play there. Bobby Soriano, Allan Stanley and Dirk Slater, from Tactical Tech, were invited to attend in an advisory capacity and to facillitate some workshop sessions.

The 15 cards which accompany the '10 tactics' film are designed to help advocates turn information into action and can be adapted for workshop curricula. Asia Source 3, with its focus on hands-on learning, presented an opportune time for Tactical Tech to trial them. Moreover, Dirk knew the card content was well suited to the participants, many of whom are involved in advocacy campaigns in the Philippines, Pakistan, Vietnam and Tajikistan. He ran some workshop sessions using the cards and snippets from the film to illustrate the content. In these sessions, participants focussed on improving how they use information in their campaigns on issues such as land-mines, migrant rights, child-health and agriculture.

Dirk says that the workshops were well received and many of the participants were intrigued by the video they saw and requested a screening of the film. He says, “Some of the open-source tools featured in the movie - like Frontline SMS - were being discussed in the camp ... Cheekay Cinco was there and since she features in the film, it seemed like a mistake not to screen it!”

About 40 of the camp participants gathered to watch the film and afterwards a screening in Manila was quickly organised.

*To find out more about hosting a source camp, visit Tactical Tech's Source Replication website.

Image: Bobby Soriano demonstrating Frontline SMS during a speed geek session, at Asia Source 3, 2009.