Phil Shapiro

2672 points

Washington DC-area

Phil Shapiro has been an educator, teaching students from pre-school to graduate school for the past 35 years. He currently works at a public library in the Washington, DC area, helping youth and adults use their public Linux stations. Between 2007 and 2012, he blogged for PC World magazine on various technology topics and currently writes for Ars Technica, MAKE magazine, FOSS Force, TechSoup for Libraries, Computers in Libraries, Information Today magazine, and Opensource.com. Visit him at his antique ebook store.

Library Journal Movers & Shakers Award, 2024

GoFundMe for medical expenses

And see his library dance videos on YouTube.

Octave Ukes

Stories menu (old)

New stories menu (new)

Pairs Math Game

Updated resume (2022)

WashPost - The Man Who Gives Computers to Kids (May, 2000)

PCWorld - Does Free Software Restore Dignity?

PCWorld (original article)

I like to teach. David tenor guitar

The Day My Mind Became Open Sourced

Professional associations and organizations I support:

Internet Press Guild
Women in Film & Video
Washington Apple Pi
Northern Virginia Linux Users Group
Virginia Macintosh Users Group
Omaha Linux Users Group
Columbia Area Linux Users Group
Let's Play America
HacDC
East Harlem Tutorial Program
Higher Achievement
Small Things Matter
Carpe Diem Arts
Vietnamese American Services

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Journalism I support

MAKE magazine
NPR
Hackaday
CoolTools
FOSS Force

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"All of the flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of today." - Chinese proverb

"The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." - Eden Phillpotts

Open Source Sensei People's Choice Award Conversation Starter Award 2015 Social Sharer Award 2015 Author Contributor Club Accessibility

Authored Content

When Linux is the face of kindness

My late father, Lou Shapiro, was an early leader of UNICEF, so relief work was baked into the genetics of my family. His work was centered on emergency relief for the…

How I welcomed an immigrant family with a Linux laptop

I work at a public library in the Washington DC area that offers 27 Linux stations to residents, seven days a week. This town— Takoma Park, Maryland—is one of the most diverse…

Contributing to open source software with Ian Varley of Salesforce

To get a glimpse of the open source methods at Salesforce, I got a chance to ask Ian Varley, who works on the core infrastructure team for Salesforce.com, a few questions…

Behind the scenes at Google Summer of Code

Google Summer of Code is an initiative that connects talented college computer programming students worldwide to open source programming projects, allowing them to grow their…

The open source movement needs folk songs

When I was young child, my family lived in New Delhi, India. My dad worked for UNICEF, and every summer our family would head up to the Himalayan mountains to escape New Delhi…

Go wide: Open source advocacy on Twitter

Wisely used, Twitter can be an outstanding tool for getting the word out about open source solutions. Too often, though, I see open source enthusiasts retweeting tweets from…

Authored Comments

Smiling librarian standing in front of bookcase

pshapiro

22 Nov 2022

4 key differences between Twitter and Mastodon

I've taken a quick liking to Mastodon. I'm there at @philshapiro@mastodon.social

pshapiro

3 Oct 2022

Is your old computer 'obsolete', or is it a Linux opportunity?

Marty, thanks for sharing your experiences. We use Fedora on the public computers at the public library where I work, in Takoma Park, Maryland. People come to the library, happily get their work done, and then leave. More public libraries need to be shining a light on open source. How else are people going to get hands on experience using it?