Facilitated by
Jeremiah
Welcome!
This learning circle will provide hands-on experience with various free and open-source alternatives to today's most ubiquitous commercial software. By the end of 8 sessions, participants will have learned how to install, configure, and utilize free software that can replace or limit the need to interact with expensive commercial software. During this circle, participants will gain the skills to not only use these tools themselves, but to share them with friends and family. This circle is designed for anyone interested in learning about and using free software.
Topics covered throughout the course include:
- finding and installing free software
- using free software
- getting help with software issues
- writing good tutorials for yourself and others
Course materials we'll use
This course requires a personal computer and is for anyone that can operate their device for basic day-to-day use. This learning circle will not cover the usage of proprietary software; however, participants might discover free alternatives and how to use those. For this learning circle, Mac, Windows, or Linux computers will work.
During this course, we'll explore free programs that can replace:
- Word
- Excel
- Photoshop
- Password Managers
- Google Docs
- InDesign/Publisher
- Commercial social media apps
- And more!
During the first day, there will be a brief presentation on free software, a brief outline of general topics that will be covered each week, and then we will use session time to chart a map of the types of software we want to investigate.
We will collectively document our learning in a wiki software called BookStack. Account logins and training will be given during class time.
Meetings
- March 31 at 6PM EDT
- April 7 at 6PM EDT
- April 14 at 6PM EDT
- April 21 at 6PM EDT
- April 28 at 6PM EDT
- May 5 at 6PM EDT
- May 12 at 6PM EDT
- May 19 at 6PM EDT
Location
Carnegie Library East Liberty, Meeting Room 2, Pittsburgh