SBTPI/SOSSSBTPI/SOSSB y R om m el G . R ebollido

Established in June 2003 as an enterprise by three journalists and three other entrepreneurs based in General Santos City

Registered with the SEC that same year

Initial plan was to start a publishing venture (newspaper) but was shelved for financial reasons

SBTPI Shifted focus on offering journalism trainings involving

students, local firms, government agencies and local government units

In 2006, SBTPI published a quarterly/special edition business news magazine Mindanao Economic Review

Strengthened training component, with focus on specialized journalism skills and new media

Established partnerships with academic institutions (KNCHS) and media institutions to beef up the new media training

program

Mindanao Economic Review's T'nalak Festival 2007 Special Edition

Journalism Trainings

FOSS and SBTPIFOSS and SBTPI

Integrated FO SS applications in new m edia training program s (desktop publishing)Som e m em bers started to m igrate to open source operating system s

Joined FO SS and new m edia trainings (Asia Source II in Sukabum i, Indonesia and Seacem 's Bridging the New M edia W orkshop in Kuala Lum pur, M alaysia)

March 2007

SBTPI started FOSS advocacy Acted as secretariat for the then Socsksargen

Open Source Network Initial plan was to launch training programs on

new media using FOSS applications

August-September 2007

SBTPI helped organize the 1st Open Technology Fair of Koronadal National Comprehensive High School

October 2007, SBTPI pushed for the reorganization and expansion of SOSNThe new group adopted the name Socsksargen Open Source Society (SOSS)SOSS core group is based in Koronadal City

What SOSS wants to achieve:

Help mainstream FOSS, at least in Southwestern Mindanao or Region 12 (mainly in the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and the cities of Koronadal and General Santos)

SOSS is composed of:

Journalists (print, radio)Teachers/Instructors (High School/College)EntrepreneursIT Professionals (programmers, graphic artists, etc)Etc (Bronx - :)

Members (25 active) are from South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and cities of Koronadal and General SantosMeets once weekly and maintains daily exchanges through googlegroups (opensocsksargen@googlegroups.com)SEC registration is now in the works We welcome other FOSS advocates to join us

ActivitiesSOSS was adopted by MSU-GenSan as working group for the 1st OpenHUBSMaintain exchanges with UNDP-IOSN for FOSS advocacy efforts with Socsksargen or Region 12Work closely with the KNCHS FOSS Society for learning exchanges with students

Plans/Upcoming Activities:FOSS Camp (Socsksargen high schools/PC for Public Schools program recipients), third week of January 2008Launch non-formal/formal computer education classes using FOSS in coordination with DepEd and TESDA, June 2008Launch trainings on FOSS for B'laan and T'boli high school students, Summer 2008Launch 'Open Socsksargen 2008,' a regional open source festival

Set up open source showcases in trade fairs (SME Week, MICT, T'nalak Festival)Offer FOSS training programs for local companies in partnership with academic institutionsOrganize the 2nd Open Technology Fair (KNCHS)FOSS for Journalists?

We need to generate resources to fund our advocacy...

Our strength is in publishing (web and print)Partner with SBTPI for a web-based news magazine ventureLong term: showcase a publishing venture (magazine, weekly community newspaper, web news magazine) operating mainly on FOSS

We need to learn/update ourselves on FOSS, etc...

We created a training committee that will look for FOSS training opportunities for members (local or outside the region, preferably free :)Link up with other FOSS groupsMentoring/sharing within the group

Daghang Salamat!Daghang Salamat!