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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2025-01-07">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>Up for 2025 YH4F? 2024 Winner Sofía Aritz shares why it's a must-join!</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>Up for 2025 YH4F? 2024 Winner Sofía Aritz shares why it's a must-join!</h1>
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<p>
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The fourth round of Youth Hacking 4 Freedom (YH4F) is
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officially underway, with its opening event on 9 January. Sofía, one of
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the 2024 winners, gives us an insight into her project, how she came up
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with her idea, and her experience of the competition in general. Find
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out more! And do not forget to register for this
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edition!
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</p>
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<figure>
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<img src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/35/61/edbad624d877fd4704f7387143db.jpg" alt="Sofia Aritz presenting her project to an audience. There's a screen to her left with a slide that reads 'Identity. Supporting dementia care with Free Software'"/>
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</figure>
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<p>
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A new edition of <a href="/activities/yh4f/index.html">
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Youth Hacking 4 Freedom</a> (YH4F) is starting this week with its opening
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event on Thursday 9 January. At this event, the YH4F organizers will explain how
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this competition works ad will solve your doubts so, if you still
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haven’t done it, <a
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href="/activities/yh4f/register">register</a>! This
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unique programming competition, organized by the Free Software
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Foundation Europe, encourages young Europeans to develop a personal
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technical project under one premise: whatever it is, it has to be Free
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Software. But it is more than just a contest: it's an opportunity for
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young talent to showcase their creativity, learn new skills, and
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contribute to their community.
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</p>
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<p>
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We spoke with Sofía Aritz, one of last year's winners, who shared her
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journey from doubting to register to participate due to a lack of ideas
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to winning with her project <em>Identity</em>, a project she
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developed almost at the end of the programming
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phase. Identity is a general purpose memory storage app, but
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the data you store in <em>Identity</em> has an unlimited number of use
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cases such as medical ones, helping people suffering dementia,
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palliative care, depression, etc.
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</p>
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<div class="question">
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<p>
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<strong>FSFE:</strong> Hi Sofía! First of all, congratulations on
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being one of the winners of the last round of YH4F! Could you please
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briefly introduce yourself and tell us what you like to do before we
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delve into your project?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="answer">
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<p>
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<strong>Sofía:</strong> Thank you very much! My name is Sofía Aritz
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and I am 18 years old. I love reading and programming, these two have
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been my greatest passions for the last decade. Over the years, I’ve
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applied my computer knowledge in different areas: music, databases, data
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sovereignty...
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="question">
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<p>
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<strong>FSFE:</strong> What was your first experience with
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programming and how did you start learning it? Was it with Free
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Software?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="answer">
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<p>
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<strong>Sofía:</strong> My first experience with programming was at
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the age of five, when my uncle gave my mother a printed copy of the
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Python tutorial. The prospect of being able to control a computer was
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one of my biggest motivations for learning to program. I was able to
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learn Python thanks to both the tutorial and the fact that it is Free
|
||||
Software.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="color-box background" data-color="dark-green">
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<p>Register for Youth Hacking 4 Freedom 2025!</p>
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<a href="/activities/yh4f/register" class="btn btn-default">Register</a>
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</div>
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<div class="question">
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<p>
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<strong>FSFE:</strong> How and why did you decide to join YH4F? What
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do you like the most about the contest?
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</p>
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</div>
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||||
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<div class="answer">
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<p>
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<strong>Sofía:</strong> Although YH4F was exactly what I had been
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looking for years, I had doubts about joining it because at that time, I
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had no (good) ideas and I was in my last year of high school, so I was
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quite busy. But since it sounded really good [a programming contest for
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young people who could work on whatever they wanted!], I thought about
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it and finally joined at the end of February 2024. I was sure at the
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end, I was going to have an idea.
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</p>
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<p>
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About what I like the most… It's hard to choose: the concept of YH4F,
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the groups meetings, my peers…
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="question">
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<p>
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<strong>FSFE:</strong> So, when you joined, you didn’t have an idea.
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How did you come up with your final project, Identity?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="answer">
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<p>
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<strong>Sofía:</strong> I didn't come up with the idea of <a
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href="https://git.sofiaritz.com/sofia/identity">Identity</a> until the
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programming phase was almost over. My mother is a singing teacher, but
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she's done some medical work in the past. One of the things she
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researched was the relationship between dementia and music. Over the
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years, she has tried to look for things similar to Identity, but
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couldn't find any. Then one night, we started talking about the
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relationship between dementia and music, and the idea of Identity became
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a reality.
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</p>
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<p>
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Since I didn’t have any meaningful ideas in mind when I joined, I
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started working on an application to help my school manage their
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computers, but similar Free Software projects already existed and the
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idea didn’t really appeal to me. I also had a couple of other ideas that
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I worked on for a very short time, but I can’t remember what they
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were.
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</p>
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<p>
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In the beginning, Identity was going to be a music-centric app with
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integrations to platforms such as Libre.fm, Spotify… but after
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discussing possible use cases and who Identity could be useful to, we
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landed on the current concept of Identity. Together, my mother and I, we
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came up with the current idea of Identity.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="question">
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<p>
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<strong>FSFE:</strong> What motivates you to work on your project?
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How can Identity be useful for everyone?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="answer">
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<p>
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<strong>Sofía:</strong> What motivates me the most is the fact that
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Identity can help millions of people, not just those with dementia, but
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everyone! That's why I'm currently working on the project.
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</p>
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<p>
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Right now Identity is just a general purpose memory storage app, but
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the data you store in Identity has an unlimited number of use cases.
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What I'm currently researching is how memories can help people in
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different areas: dementia, palliative care, depression, etc.
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</p>
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<p>
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On a technical level, I plan to implement a plug-in system that will
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allow anyone to use the data they store for specific purposes: from
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things like an "Identity Wrapped" to more medically focused use
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cases.
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</p>
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<p>
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This is one of the open questions from my presentation during the
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award ceremony, and even though things are clearer now, it is not yet
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resolved, but I am working on it!
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</p>
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</div>
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<figure>
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<img src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/9f/07/e9eb74e6b50555fe129fff8306ec.jpg" alt="A slide that displays part of the Identity interface. There's a screenshot showing the latest entries, entries from the past, a button to add a new entry and to filter entries, and a list of entries: a song, and album, a memory, a feeling, an environment, a date, and an event"/>
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</figure>
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<div class="question">
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<p>
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<strong>FSFE:</strong> What were the main problems or challenges that
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you encountered during the programming phase?
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</p>
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</div>
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||||
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<div class="answer">
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<p>
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<strong>Sofía:</strong> I didn't face many technical challenges while
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working on the project. I used a tech stack that I was familiar with and
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didn't worry much about code quality and scalability. I had a huge time
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constraint and I decided to just build a proof of concept.
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</p>
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<p>
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The biggest challenge was working on the project without having a
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clearly defined idea. I started coding while I was still discussing with
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my mother <em>what</em> Identity would become and <em>what</em> Identity
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would be used for.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="question">
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<p>
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<strong>FSFE:</strong> Did you work on your project alone or had any
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help by others? How did you learn so much about the needs of elderly
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people?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="answer">
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<p>
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<strong>Sofía:</strong> I did all of the programming myself, but I
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got feedback and ideas from a dozen of people who were really invested
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in the idea of Identity. Without those people, especially my mother,
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Identity wouldn't be what it is today.
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</p>
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<p>
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I did a lot of research into how the use of memories could benefit
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palliative care and dementia patients, but the cornerstone in the
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initial phases was my mother. She had already done research on these
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topics some years ago.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="question">
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<p>
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<strong>FSFE:</strong> How has participating in YH4F and working on
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your project affected you personally? What have you learned about
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yourself through this experience?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="answer">
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<p>
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<strong>Sofía:</strong> Participating in YH4F has changed my life for
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the better. I've learned how to manage projects efficiently, how to work
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on a project whose requirements change constantly, how to give and
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receive constructive and actionable feedback…
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</p>
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<p>
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I've always had loads of energy and motivation and, thanks to YH4F
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and my current internship at the FSFE, I can focus that energy and
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motivation on changing the world for the better.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="question">
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<p>
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<strong>FSFE:</strong> Do you think you will continue working on your
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project and what would be some next steps you would like to take? Are
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you planning to improve the documentation so that more people can reuse
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your projects?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="answer">
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<p>
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<strong>Sofía:</strong> Of course! Right now I'm working with some
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doctors specialized in palliative care and with some experts on the
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field of data security to make sure that Identity is as secure and as
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useful as it needs to be.
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</p>
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<p>
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I'm rewriting Identity with a focus on scalability, interoperability,
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security, and modularity, and one of the things I am focusing on is
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proper and useful documentation. In the future, Identity may have to
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interoperate with existing medical systems, so documentation is one of
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the most important aspects of the project.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="question">
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<p>
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<strong>FSFE:</strong> Is there any kind of advice that you would
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like to tell new Youth Hacking 4 Freedom participants?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="answer">
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<p>
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<strong>Sofía:</strong> I have a huge list of advice I would give
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people participating in Youth Hacking 4 Freedom, but there is one that I
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would highlight: don't be afraid to submit unfinished projects!
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</p>
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<p>
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Identity works, but there are many things that don't (e.g. the
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trustee system) and I thought about not submitting Identity to YH4F.
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</p>
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<p>
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Thankfully my mother encouraged me to submit it and my life has
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completely changed for the better ever since!
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="question">
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<p>
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<strong>FSFE:</strong> What are your future plans in the area of Free
|
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Software?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="answer">
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<p>
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<strong>Sofía:</strong> I'll continue working on Identity and
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contributing to Free Software projects, as I've been doing for the last
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few months. But my focus has shifted. I have just started an internship
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at the FSFE, in which I will learn how to do public awareness and policy
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work to improve the state of Free Software in Europe!
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</p>
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</div>
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<p>
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<strong>FSFE:</strong> Thank you Sofía for your time and for sharing
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your thoughts and insights about Youth Hacking 4 Freedom. It is a
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pleasure to welcome you to the FSFE staff team! It is truly amazing to
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see what you have accomplished due to Youth Hacking 4 Freedom.
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</p>
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<hr/>
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<p>
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||||
The 2025 edition of Youth Hacking 4 Freedom started on 1 January with
|
||||
its programming phase. On 9 January, the competition will officially
|
||||
kick off with an opening event in which participants will get all the
|
||||
information about the contest and will be able to solve all their
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questions. Moreover, the event will count with the presence of former
|
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participants that will tell about their experience and will give some
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tips how to find a project and make it into the winner ones.
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</p>
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<p>
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||||
Late registration is possible but we recommend you
|
||||
<a
|
||||
href="/activities/yh4f/register">to register as soon as
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||||
possible</a> to be able to meet other participants. Check out the <a
|
||||
href="https://yh4f.org/">YH4F website</a> to find out all the details of
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||||
this competition or feel free to reach out to the organisers via <a
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href="mailto:yh4f@fsfe.org">mail</a>! Thanks to our donor Reinhard
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Wiesemann and our sponsor Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH for making this competition
|
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possible.
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</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<figure>
|
||||
<img src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/6e/c2/9ced0e9d41702570bf6e0ce0399d.jpg"
|
||||
alt="picture with different pieces to build a led sign with the logo of Youth Hacking for Freedom, among them two plastic boards with the logo, a led string, a usb type c cable and stickers"/>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
|
||||
</body>
|
||||
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||||
<sidebar promo="our-work">
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<cite><a href="https://yh4f.org/register"><strong>Registration</strong></a></cite> is open for the next edition, YH4F 2025, that will start on 1 January 2025. This competition is running thanks to our donors and sponsors. Please consider supporting our work.
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</sidebar>
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
<tags>
|
||||
<tag key="front-page"/>
|
||||
<tag key="news">News</tag>
|
||||
<tag key="interview">Interview</tag>
|
||||
<tag key="yh4f">Youth Hacking 4 Freedom</tag>
|
||||
<tag key="yh4f-project">Youth Hacking 4 Freedom - Project</tag>
|
||||
</tags>
|
||||
|
||||
<discussion href=""/>
|
||||
|
||||
<image url="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/original/35/61/edbad624d877fd4704f7387143db.jpg"
|
||||
alt="Sofia Aritz presenting her project to an audience. There's a screen to her left with a slide that reads 'Identity. Supporting dementia care with Free Software'"/>
|
||||
</html>
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user