Ada & Zangemann - A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream

A modern fairy tale that conveys the joy of tinkering and calls for self-determined use of software.

Matthias Kirschner

Playlists: 'osc23' videos starting here / audio

The famous inventor Zangemann lives in a huge villa high above the city. Adults and children alike love his inventions and are desperate to have them. But then something happens: when Zangemann wants to take another close-up look at his inventions during a walk through the city, a child hits him in the shin with the skateboard. That hurts! Enraged, the inventor makes a momentous decision... The clever girl Ada sees through what is going on. Together with her friends, she forges a plan.

This illustrated children's book (licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA) tells the story of the famous inventor Zangemann and the girl Ada, a curious tinkerer. Ada begins to experiment with hardware and software, and in the process realizes how crucial it is for her and others to control technology. Ada & Zangemann will inspire children's interest in tinkering and encourages shaping technology.

> "A rousing tale of self-reliance, community, and standing up to bullies." —Cory Doctorow, Sci-Fi Author

> "Ada & Zangemann proves that the argument for software and hardware freedom is simple: We should be able to do what we want with our stuff. . . . Electronics freedom means more learning and less waste, as Ada shows. Kids and adults alike will be entertained by this book, charmed by its illustrations, and inspired by Ada’s engineering spirit and impassioned activism."
—Elizabeth Chamberlain, Director of Sustainability, iFixit

> "What a fun read! I recognize myself in Ada at many moments." —Isabela Fernandes, Executive Director, The Tor project

> "Even as a non-child, I was captivated by the story from the first page to the last. Kudos to the author for packaging difficult topics such as monopolies, lobbyism, digital divide, software freedom, digital autonomy, IoT, consumer control, e-waste and much more in a child-friendly form in an easily understandable and exciting storyline." —Jörg Luther, chief editor of the German Linux-Magazin, LinuxUser

[Download the slides of the talk here](https://download.fsfe.org/presentations/20230526-mk-opensuse-ada-zangemann-reading.en.pdf) and you generic slides for doing your own readings with the book are available [in the FSFE's book repository](https://git.fsfe.org/FSFE/ada-zangemann).

The famous inventor Zangemann lives in a huge villa high above the city. Adults and children alike love his inventions and are desperate to have them. But then something happens: when Zangemann wants to take another close-up look at his inventions during a walk through the city, a child hits him in the shin with the skateboard. That hurts! Enraged, the inventor makes a momentous decision... The clever girl Ada sees through what is going on. Together with her friends, she forges a plan.

This illustrated children's book (licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA) tells the story of the famous inventor Zangemann and the girl Ada, a curious tinkerer. Ada begins to experiment with hardware and software, and in the process realizes how crucial it is for her and others to control technology. Ada & Zangemann will inspire children's interest in tinkering and encourages shaping technology.

> "A rousing tale of self-reliance, community, and standing up to bullies." —Cory Doctorow, Sci-Fi Author

> "Ada & Zangemann proves that the argument for software and hardware freedom is simple: We should be able to do what we want with our stuff. . . . Electronics freedom means more learning and less waste, as Ada shows. Kids and adults alike will be entertained by this book, charmed by its illustrations, and inspired by Ada’s engineering spirit and impassioned activism."
—Elizabeth Chamberlain, Director of Sustainability, iFixit

> "What a fun read! I recognize myself in Ada at many moments." —Isabela Fernandes, Executive Director, The Tor project

> "Even as a non-child, I was captivated by the story from the first page to the last. Kudos to the author for packaging difficult topics such as monopolies, lobbyism, digital divide, software freedom, digital autonomy, IoT, consumer control, e-waste and much more in a child-friendly form in an easily understandable and exciting storyline." —Jörg Luther, chief editor of the German Linux-Magazin, LinuxUser

[Download the slides of the talk here](https://download.fsfe.org/presentations/20230526-mk-opensuse-ada-zangemann-reading.en.pdf) and you generic slides for doing your own readings with the book are available [in the FSFE's book repository](https://git.fsfe.org/FSFE/ada-zangemann).

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