Tim Dobson's Blog

To mark the upcoming October 19th meeting of DFEY-NW I have written a short essay about what I think DFEY exists for and why it came into being.

DFEY stands for "Digital Freedom in Education and Youth" - what that actually means in practise I'll get to in a second.

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When you think of the word "freedom", the first thing you probably think of is freedom of speech - the freedom to say what you want to say, when you want to say it, where you want to say it.

There are various groups and non-profit organisations commited to preserving various aspects of freedom in a digital world;

• The Free Software Foundation campaigns to keep software free of restrictions which prevent the user adapting the software to their own purpose as opposed to business models that rely on restrictive licences to curtail the user's freedom to adapt the software.
• The Open Rights Group campaigns to keep data and content free, and in the hands of the the end users - as opposed to those who are likely to abuse it.
• Open Street Map is a project to create a detailed digital map of the United Kingdom through individuals mapping their local areas using their own handheld GPS devices.

These are just some examples of the many organisations who advocate and explore the concept of using freedom to create 'cool' things in the digital world.

About a year ago, I found myself in a unique position - I was a 17 year old active in a local group of people interested in these kinds of aspects, but everyone else was at least 5 years older than me. Initially that didn't bother me at all, I was treated as an adult and was happy "acting" like one.
The anonymity of just being "a name" on the internet, paid off for me that time.

Soon however, I saw that the adult members in another group were - in my opinion - talking down to two young group members. It was clear to me, that without supportive or interested people of their own age, they would soon become demoralised and leave.

Ben Webb and I had considered our experiences in our different schools and came to the conclusion that schools were very restrictive of how young people could use computers. That instead of letting the computers be open platforms for learning, they locked down and their use strictly regulated This, we believe - and speaking from experience - is detrimental to our education.

In June, Ben and I set up DFEY (Digital Freedom in Education and Youth), to provide a social space, and a supportive, stimulating atmosphere for those interested in the same things - issues of computer freedom.

One of our founding members has set up his own podcast discussing issues of freedom with a friend. It's not perfect by any means, but putting the freedom to do interesting, potentially innovative things into the hands of young people will inevitably create exciting results.

On the social side we have a gaming party planned which will use free software. This will be fun because as well as playing games with people our own age and skill, we can also take the games apart to find out how they work, and if we wish modify them to make them better or different! The choice is ours.

DFEY is very inclusive - we are welcoming, thought provoking and sociable to young people, whether they are aware of issues of digital freedom or not.

As DFEY has grown into an active and exciting new group, some empowering ideas have been attempted, which would never have occured except in an environment where young people have freedom, control and responsibility.