An eminent group of international experts met upon invitation of UNESCO and Inria in November 2018 at UNESCO’s Headquarters to discuss software preservation. Emerging from this meeting is the Paris Call, representing an important first step towards a coordinated response to the challenges that have been identified.
These challenges include the importance of raising awareness among decision-makers, and the recognition of software creators as well as of the contribution of women and minorities to digital innovation and software. The Call goes further to argue for greater access to software source code in order to ensure that citizens, and young people in particular, are empowered with sufficient digital skills and literacy to fully participate in today’s digital society.
The Paris Call becomes a strong basis to imagine and build new actions around the preservation of the code, and sustain Free and Open Source Software communities through the exchange of the knowledge now archived as part of the Software Heritage Initiative.
Source: UNESCO
