Update ISOC Bulgaria

EDRI-member ISOC Bulgaria has published an overview of activities in 2004. From a strong focus on free and open source software, they initiated an important project to use FOSS on the municipal level. The project is steered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to help municipal governments in South-eastern Europe use the Internet to better respond to citizens’ needs. Bulgaria is the first region to use FOSS applications to enhance government transparency and people’s access to municipal services. After Bulgaria, the program will expand to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro.

The mayor of Kardjali, the first pilot municipality in Bulgaria, expressed his appreciation for ISOC-BG publicly, in front of the President of the Republic, for the successful efforts to train and increase computer literacy of the employees and to provide grant free e-government solutions. ISOC-BG also began to work on preliminary criteria for the development of a FOSS based on-line documentation system for municipal administrations.

ISOC-BG participated with two representatives in the Round Table Strategic priorities in the development of Bulgarian education, organised by the Open Society Institute in Bulgaria. ISOC-BG chair Veni Markovski strongly advocated the use of free open source software in schools.

Finally, ISOC-BG has been working on a localised Creative Commons license. The text was finalised in December 2004, and will be published soon in Bulgarian, after approval of the Creative Commons Corporation.

FOSS activities ISOC Bulgaria (in Bulgarian)
http://foss.bg

English overview ISOC Bulgaria
http://www.isoc.bg/index_en.html

(Contribution by Ms. Dragoslava Pefeva, EDRI-member ISOC Bulgaria)