The Big Green gathering in the Mendips is the UK's largest 'eco' gathering. The gathering attracts around 20000 people and is powered by the wind and the sun.

Pioneering Free Software projects at the gathering go back to 2002 when Psand were slashdotted for their video stream from a field. Since then a loose group of techies have continued to push the boundaries.

This year the objectives were; to use and promote Free Software, to use and promote Copyleft licenses, to use only power from the wind and sun to power the whole shebang, i.e. to archive and stream audio. The mission: to get the ecological discussions to as many ears as possible via the internet.

Under the banner of 'Green Stream'/Algae, Matthew Edmondson joined up with Green Radio to produced a new area, the new media dome and broadcast service which was based in the Alternative Media and Renewable Energy area (AMARE). The area was setup to support an on site FM radio station, a web cast, and a recording studio. The new Media Dome provided power and connectivity for visitors to upload their work (images and audio).

An email list and wiki was setup several months before the Big Green to help co-ordinate the volunteers and expertise. A SAMBA server was set up, which supported festival co-ordinators, and acted as an onsite a repository for the audio content. The server provided a staging area for audio to be edited before being played out on the radio/stream. We had a direct feed from our mixing desk in the Green Forum, which allowed live streaming and backup archiving.

A gallery and a Wordpress blog was built and used by the crew using only the renewable power. Freeitup is kindly hosted by the Free Software Foundation Europe. Satellite connectivity was provided by Psand. We were near Bristol Wireless who had brought their LTSP suite to provide an Internet Cafe and excellent Free Software advocacy.

Matthew also spoke in the Green Forum about Copyleft, the Creative Commons license and Software Freedom. under the title "Escaping Copyright Tyranny". This started an interesting and lively debate about how music composers/artists can earn a living with/without DRM/Copyright. Matthew has successfully advocated that the Big Green release the recorded material under the Creative Commons license.

Free Software Foundation Europe http://www.fsfeurope.org/
Freeitup http://www.freeitup.org/
Psand http://www.psand.net
Bristol Wireless http://www.bristolwireless.net/
Ecotalk http://www.ecotalk.org.uk/