Software Freedom Day Melbourne 2010

She is confirmed, she will be participating... and is even considering cancelling an event so that she can be with us in Melbourne for a little longer. Fingers crossed she does! Completely selfish on our behalf, then the schedule can stay exactly as is and we won't have to email you to let the know the time has changed.

Have you read through the information on Gov2.0??? It's really exciting to be able to participate at such an inclusive level and be able to access information without breaching privacy laws. Imagine for a moment what it will be like in the future, to think back and wonder how we functioned in such a closed world, having to break into or hack into information to find out what was happening. Now, imagine being able to say.... "yes, I participated in Gov2.0, it was a real learning curve and I helped to make it happen".  Consider proud and content as an option when you're in your rocking chair!

WordPress workshop - you'll notice there is now a waiting list and it's worthwhile putting your name down... because two people have double booked and have not yet replied to an email.  Kathy and Sarah are mad keenly creating a jam packed workshop... and they may even have another facilitator so you are sure to get one on one assistance with any WordPress issues you might have.

Spoke with Rami this morning who was very keen to let me know he has an up to date website (subtly saying "please take the other one off"), so we have.... and I can see why he wanted the new link - check this out, Rami's a GLOBAL expert on all things legal, and he's offered to roam around on the day and answer any questions anybody might have.  That alone could be worth the visit.

Oh, and did you hear Donna Benjamin (the Inkscape guru!) on JOYFM Monday night.... listen to the podcast and begin to understand why she's been nominated Melbourne's Open Source Queen.  Please forward the link to anybody you know that is not quite sure about Open Source, tired of paying thru the nose for proprietary software and is willing to explore something different.

It's official, Andy Gelme from Arduino will be participating in Melbourne's Software Freedom Day... bring curiosity for robots and all things hardware.  Andy's been working and playing with UNIX a very long time, he got into Linux about the SLS 1.03 and kernel 0.99pl12, when everything fitted onto 10 3.5 floppies.  His main area of interest is in distributed systems, particularly when applied to large scale networks.  From 2000 to 2008 Andy was the technical lead of an R&D project that developed home/building automation systems (amongst other things).  Some of the resulting distributed systems framework and development environment is in the process of being released as open source.  

Andy left our meeting early to check out a Hacker space in South Melbourne... he's the man if you want to connect with all things Arduino.  Oh, and he said he'll have little robots roaming 'round Experimedia!

OK... the main speakers and workshops are now (almost) organised.... 3 Aug the times will be set - please double check to see if your workshop overlaps with a speaker before you book.

Andrew Cunningham from VicNet will be presenting OpenRoad - the multilingual web.

Paul Took from RedHat will be talking about an enterprise founded on OpenSource - how do they do it?  Bring questions and be ready to learn what's possible with this amazing platform.

WordPress workshop proving to be a hit, only five seats left... it's understandable considering the queens of WP - Kathy Reid and Sarah Stokely are facilitating. A small setting with 10pc's (one per person) allows for personal attention during the 1.5hour workshop.  Learn how to create a website with an open source platform currently making a serious dent in the professional world of the internet... really really easy to learn. 47 days to go, these spaces are bound to be snapped up.

REMEMBER:  this workshop starts promptly at 12.45pm and runs until 2.15pm... let us know if you'll be late or your seat might be given to somebody on the waiting list.

Next week Andrew Cunningham from VicNet will confirm his talk with a brief introduction to the multilingual web... read this to get a sense of Andrew's talk, and subscribe to Eventbrite RSS feed to reserve a seat when he's confirmed.

Times... times for the workshops are now locked in, giving you the freedom to create your schedule for Software Freedom Day.  We now have 3 workshops confirmed in the seminar rooms, and we're waiting on confirmation from Andy Gelme for Arduino workshops in the Experimedia room.. he's thinking of two workshops during the five hours Software Freedom is invading the State Library of Victoria.  Soon as it's confirmed you'll be updated... provided of course you've being fed via Eventbrite's RSS feed.

Only six spaces for the Inkscape workshop left...with nine weeks to go you better be quick if you want to learn with the Inkscape guru Donna Benjamin.

Wordpress3.0 workshop just announced... a free 1.5 hour workshop with Melbourne's WordPress queens, Kathy Reid and Sarah Stokely.  Be part of a small learning environment to discover the beauty of WordPress between 12.45pm and 2.15pm... each participant will get hands on experience in how to create a website using phenomenal open source software that's phenomenally easy to work with.  Bring questions, enthusiasm and a thirst... to learn, if these WordPressChix don't know the answer to your questions they'll source it for you. 10 pc's, 10 spaces, get in quick.