The Community-Linux Training Centre Project (CLTC)

The Free Range Community-Linux Training Centre (CLTC) Project is the Free Range Network's research initiative on the use of free and open source systems and technologies by individuals and community organisations. It developed out of some work we carried out in the late 1990s on developing a mobile computer training platform for activists and community groups, and has since developed into a more general project on developing resources for training in the use of information and communications technologies, and free and open source software.

In our modern world computers have changed from being a large, expensive tool used by large corporations to an indispensable part (in the developed world at least) of most peoples existence. For that reason if you want to communicate, learn or research a certain topic, or be generally be creative in either an artistic or especially in a technical way, you have to use a computer. The use of a computer, but more importantly the control or decisions over the design and functions of those systems, is therefore a critical part of how society can and is able to express itself critically or creatively.

Today the general conception of computing involves certain exploitative ideas based around the use of 'Che Tux' logo proprietary software systems – primarily Microsoft's^TM Windows^TM operating system and the programs that have been written to use on it, and various systems of technical support that the average person needs to use in order to learn to use these systems. As the world moves towards tighter control over intellectual property this has not only made the use of computers more complex, but more obstructive too. However, that need not be the case; there is another way in which we can use information and communications technologies. That alternative – free software – is what the Community-Linux Training Centre Project was established to research and promote.

Project Activities

These are the main areas of work for the Community-Linux Training Centre Project at present:

The "Free and Open Source Systems Guide" 'J-Series' Sheets: These handouts give general background information on free software and Gnu/Linux operating systems, and have been created to complement the content of Community-Linux Training Centre Project events.
The "The Recycling Computers with Free Software" workshop: The Free Range Community-Linux Training Centre Project's Recycling Computers with Free Software workshop is a day-long event on recycling old computer hardware and using free and open source software to breathe new life into old computers, and on and setting up more modern equipment with Gnu/Linux systems for everyday use.
The History of the Community-Linux Project: An outline of how the CLTC Project has evolved from it's earliest beginnings to its work on promoting free software today.

What's the 'Community-Linux Training Centre' Project about?

The CLTC Project began as an initiative to develop a mobile computer training platform, back in the days when computers were relatively expensive and Internet access was, relatively, not that common. That, of course, is the case any longer and so the basis of the Project has changed and adapted too.

Computers can be a wonderful tool; back when the Project started they were still expensive and so we had to physically provide the hardware for people to learn on. Today computers are cheap; but the trade-off for their popularity and easy availability is that they're increasingly being snared by tightening restrictions on intellectual property – and increasingly this is being technologically enforced by the computer's operating system. For this reason the focus of the Project has shifted from providing access to the physical hardware to enabling access to the hardware that people already have access to. It's a semantic change in purpose, but it's a critical reflection on how the computing environment has shifted.

'IR' barbed wire mouse logo This change is reflected in our present activities. We no longer work on providing the physical hardware (the hardware and technical side of things has, instead, transmuted into the Free Range Salvage Server Project). Instead we provide training on computer use: such as our Free and Open Source Software Workshop, which looks at building/recycling technology and installing/configuring Gnu/Linux operating systems on it; and more generally we're developing resources, such as the J-Series briefings, that examine certain aspects of using free software.

Over the next year or so our plan is to complete the documentation of our free software workshops to produce three major new works: a Linux Installation and Extension Guide (aka. 'LIEG or the 'L-Series', scheduled for publication in late 2011), which is a series of sheets, informed by our experiences during various Linux workshops, on installing and using a Gnu/Linux system; next is the Linux Command Line Interface Guide (aka. 'CLIG' or the 'K-series', again scheduled for publication in late 2011), which examines the use of the text/console interface on Linux systems, and the wonderful things you can do with it; and finally, we're working with the electrohippies on developing a new activist's ICT security guide and workshop (updating the work we use to do a decade or so ago), due for publication in 2012 – more details will emerge in late 2011 when we've tested the information with selected groups of volunteers.