When working in a public institution, there are several questions concerning the use of free vs privative software and hardware that are worth asking. Many of these questions have already been discussed in [1], and even monitored by the Open Source Observatory [2].
The use of services that are always available on the network requires the continuous running of servers that are consuming a considerable amount of electric energy [3]. Are you aware of the carbon footprint of the services you use? There are servers that exclusively operate on renewable energy, while others simply don't care about this.
When using a service:
- Ask yourself about the energy and environmental implications of this use.
- Ask about the policy of the server regarding emissions.
- Ask your institution if they run their own servers or if they outsource this activity. In the latter case, ask about their criteria for choosing one.
- Ask whether you can have your own server at your own department. There are devices with low-power consumption that could provide you with all the services you need, from cloud to instant messaging, with the added benefit of the ability to control all its parameters.
When you use a popular service, you may think that this is what "everybody" uses. But this may not be as true as it seems.
When you enforce the use of WhatsApp, for example, you are implicitly assuming that everyone has access to a smartphone with enough hardware and software compatibility and capabilities to run it. A person without such a high-tech device is left out.
When you enforce the use of Microsoft Office, for example, you are assuming that everyone has the means and the will to pay a license to Microsoft so that they can legally use this product. If you are in a public school and force your students to use a Microsoft tool, you may not be considering that they would prefer to make a better use of that money. [4]
When using a tool, especially a software tool, the question of whether its content is accessible to people with disabilities is too frequently disregarded.
If you are offering graphical content, do you provide a text description of every image? If you provide an equation, do you provide a text description of such equation? If you provide an audio resource, do you provide a text description of such resource?
If, for example, you are offering a web page, are you considering whether its design is an obstacle to screen readers?
If your are using a private tool that has a perfectly capable free alternative, how do you justify this spending in front of the people who sustains your public institution with their taxes?
Ask whether the reasons for sticking to private tools are simply your comfort and your lack of openness to change.
It is worth considering the merit of using tools from companies that prioritise their finances over the mental health of their users [5,6], or over the veracity of the information they propagate [7].
What about people with old hardware that can't pick up with the furious pace of memory and hardware demands of some operating systems? Are your resources simple enough that almost every device will be able to load them?
- If you are just writing text, don't use a word processor, but just a text editor.
- If you need an office suite, use Libre Office [8], which is at least as good as Microsoft Office, and it is available in every platform.
- Think if you *really* need instant messaging. Email is simple, available to all, and this may be enough.
- If you need instant messaging, ask your institution to set up an XMPP instance [9], which will allow you to communicate internally and externally with every other XMPP account in the world. There is also Matrix, but it consumes more resources than XMPP. Both these protocol are easy to use and are accessible in all platforms and devices. A list of some universities implementing XMPP can be found in [10]. Another example in Germany can be found in [11]. And even Stanford offers XMPP services [12]. For a more extensive monitoring of public institutions using free software, check again [2].
- Avoid WhatsApp as a public worker. If you want to read more about the unethical implications of this platform, see [13].
- If your institution refuses to open an XMPP instance, you can use your email address as an instant-messaging service thanks to the Delta Chat software [14].
- If you need audio and video calls for a low number of participants, and your institution does not offer an independent service for this, Tox [15] is a great solution, being based on P2P (peer to peer) connections, without the need of any server.
- Refuse to use Google, Apple or Microsoft services as the default email services at your institution. If this is not possible, manifest your disagreement. In this case, the institution is wasting a lot of public money and should be accountable for that. Ask for the detailed documentation on this spending. Every public institution is perfectly capable of running their own email and cloud services. In any case, you can try to run your own services within your department.
- Refuse to use Windows and Apple operating systems. They represent a huge and an unnecessary bill to the public.
- Refuse, when possible, the use of any software that runs on proprietary operating systems. Explore the alternatives already available. Consider Gimp [16] instead of Photoshop. Consider Inkscape [17] instead of Adobe Illustrator. Consider LibreCad [18] instead of AutoCad. The list is long.
- If you *really* need a commercial software that only runs under private machines, ask these companies to provide their services to Linux/Unix machines as well. They are perfectly able to compile their code for these operating systems.
- If you use machinery that is controlled by proprietary firmware, like some lab equipment, ask the manufactures to provide their software for Linux/Unix machines, or even to publish their code in public repositories. This would facilitate the updating of the software and its security.
- When the last two points are not practical, keep dedicated machines for the use of vendor-locked software, and don't abandon the rest of points only because of some companies refusing to offer their programs under Linux/Unix.
- If you want to give dissemination to your work, don't build apps. They are complicated to maintain and they will lock your information into the app markets. Build a website instead, which is open to every person.
- If you build a website, let it be simple enough that every device will be able to load it. Keep it lightweight, readable by screen readers (which means to rely on plain text as much as possible) and provide accessibility features in all your graphics and audio elements. A page from a public institution should mainly focus on high-quality content and low-tech design, so that every person can easily access it. Avoid unnecessary design, JavaScript and other complications that will be barriers to many people. Limit the code to very simple HTML, and consider making the page accessible through other protocols like Gopher and Gemini [19] which are text-based and which are more accessible to visually-impaired people [20].
- If you use social media to give dissemination to your work, don't exclusively rely on social media for this. Publish the same information in the website as well. A web page is perfectly capable of holding a blog and a microblog if needed.
- The world of open-source hardware is, admittedly, less known, but worth considering it too. When buying a piece of hardware, ask whether its specifications are open or not. If they are, their support will be wider and longer, their security better, and the investment of money will be more ethical.
- Before considering what seems comfortable or "convenient", consider what is appropriate, accessible, equal in opportunities and ethical from your public position.
- It is interesting to consider which of these points equally apply to your personal use. What we call "personal choices" are rarely so. Even our personal decisions have consequences in the world, and we must be accountable for them.