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kattegrot (20 unread)

to send or to receive?

Posted: January 2nd, 2009, 8:32am CET

p style=border: 1px solid black; padding: 3px;bOriginally published at a href=http://www.kattekrab.net/content/send-or-receiveKatteKrab/a. Please leave any a href=http://www.kattekrab.net/comment/reply/120#comment_formcomments/a there./b/pp a href=http://linux.conf.aulinux.conf.au/a 2009 starts in a little over 2 weeks in Hobart Tasmania... /p p Will you be there? /p div style=text-align: center a href=http://www.flickr.com/photos/kattekrab/3158391171/ title=linux.conf.au - wish you were here by kattekrab, on Flickrimg src=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3094/3158391171_c49680c9b0.jpg border=0 alt=linux.conf.au - wish you were here width=500 height=381 //a /div
Felice Fiestas! Happy Holidays! Seasons Greetings!

Posted: December 25th, 2008, 1:34am CET

p style=border: 1px solid black; padding: 3px;bOriginally published at a href=http://www.kattekrab.net/content/felice-fiestas-happy-holidays-seasons-greetingsKatteKrab/a. Please leave any a href=http://www.kattekrab.net/comment/reply/119#comment_formcomments/a there./b/pdiv style=text-align: center img src=http://www.kattekrab.net/files/seasons-greetings.png alt=Tis the season... for thoughts of rest, peace and joy! An Ascendant moon, the southern cross hang above a city skyline and a cartoon forest of trees width=400 height=255 / /div p Whilst its not a holy-day for everyone, Christmas Day is a scheduled public holiday in Australia. For some people that just means time and a half, perhaps triple time for a few.nbsp; Nurses, Police officers, system admins - slave on, while others gather with family and friends to share each others company, eat too much food and exchange gifts. /p p But its a dark time for some people - everyone elses excess and good fortune is just salt for unspoken wounds. Whatever the faith (or lack there-of) behind your celebration take a moment to think outside your own experience. Hate a little less, criticise not, appreciate another point of view.nbsp; /p p Observe some inner peace, and share tolerance and respect in the closing days of 2008.nbsp; The future always seems close at this time of year. Ponder the possibilities for the future you want. Dream a little. /p p Love. Blessed Be. /p p Donna /p
Evaluating conference management systems (again)

Posted: December 14th, 2008, 5:19am CET

Peter and I are sitting on the technical committee for a href=http://www.acec2010.infoACEC 2010 - the Australian Computers in Education Conference/a scheduled to take place in Melbourne in April in 2010.nbsp; That seems like a long time in the future, but, well its not really - the organisers would like to open the call for papers in early March! br /br /Weve been looking at the following systems:ulliExpectnation/liliMyReview/liliOCS/liliOpenConf/liliZookeepr/liliDrupalcon/liliEventwax/liliRegonline/liliEasychair/li/ulAnd are in the process of finalising our feature wishlist.nbsp; Well be seeking expressions of interest in the next weeks for development/hosting.br /br /Well need call for papers, paper review and speaker management, including speaker profiles, registration and delegate management, delegate experience including links to social networking sites, and session selection. Payment gateway, financial reporting, and export to accounting software...nbsp; A Tall order?br /br /Do you have other suggestions?br /br /
Preparing to experience the joy of Inkscape

Posted: December 7th, 2008, 3:37am CET

p style=border: 1px solid black; padding: 3px;bOriginally published at a href=http://www.kattekrab.net/content/preparing-experience-joy-inkscapeKatteKrab/a. Please leave any a href=http://www.kattekrab.net/comment/reply/117#comment_formcomments/a there./b/pp img src=/files/inkscape-logo.png border=0 alt= hspace=4 vspace=4 width=167 height=188 align=right /Deep into preparations for the Inkscape tutorial Im giving at a href=http://linux.conf.aulinux.conf.au/a in Hobart in January, Ive been practicing techniques and recording them using a href=http://recordmydesktop.sourceforge.net/about.phpRecordMyDesktop/a. It is a Linux application that does exactly what it says, screencast and audio recording of whats happening on screen.nbsp; It works very well! /p p This was inspired by a href=http://screencasters.heathenx.org/heathenx and rfguerins fantastic screen casts/a. Theyve also followed these up by creating a group on flickr for people to post examples of the work theyve done inspired by the screencasts. Its interesting to see how other people express their learning and apply their own creativity and perspective. /p p But the HeathenX screencasts and other online tutorials make me wonder about the value of a same-time, same-place tutorial in some random room, at some random conference, when one can learn so much from following step-by-step how-tos and watching videos on you tube. /p p Does the value lie in the quality of the learning environment? Is it the chance to collaborate with peers? We often learn just as much from the questions of fellow learners. During a recent interview Michael Wesch said something along these lines [a href=http://blog.whoiswho.de/stories/33325/1/a]. So Im looking at resources such as a href=http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Topic:Instructional_DesignWikiversitys article on Instructional Design/a to see if there are tried and true methods I can build on. /p p I reckon there also has to be shortcuts - most people want to use a tool to accomplish a task, not spend hours scaling the rocky cliffs of the ugly end of the learning curve. So helping beginners get past that stage will be one of the major aims of this tutorial. But I also need to have something there for more experienced users of Inkscape. A couple of gurus and developers who could put my meagre knowledge to shame will be at the conference too, so if they come to heckle, I hope theyll get something out of this too, and perhaps learn something about learning inkscape they can take back to help build the worlds best open source scalable vector editor. /p p Refs: /p p 1. a href=http://blog.whoiswho.de/stories/33325/Interview with Michael Wesch/a /p p Note: This was posted at a href=/http://www.kattekrab.net//a and -fingers crossed- automatically posted back to LiveJournal /p
Video: Linux Users of Victoria

Posted: December 6th, 2008, 4:17am CET

I was reminded last night that I have failed to proclaim to the world that video of the November LUV talks is now online - and it is pretty darn good quality.nbsp; A huge thanks to Ben Balbo for his efforts in filming, encoding and uploading to BlipTVbr /a href=http://www.luv.asn.au/2008/11img hspace=4 border=0 align=right vspace=4 src=http://www.luv.asn.au/files/garland_logo.png alt=Linux Users of Victoria //abr /So - 1st up was Brianna Laugher - Hacking MediaWiki for Usersbr /and 2nd was Russell Coker - Cloud Computingbr /br /Get em here: a href=http://www.luv.asn.au/2008/11http://www.luv.asn.au/2008/11/abr /br /I could link direct from here - but then youd fail to see that the LUV site looks different.nbsp; Dont get excited though, this is just a staging post on the way to a glorious new destination and custom theme courtesy of a href=http://www.raena.netRaena Jackson Armitage/a and Tim. As it happens, Raena spoke at the LUV December meeting, giving us a sneak peak of her a href=http://linux.conf.au/programme/schedule/view_talk/171Usability on a Beer Budget/a talk shes preparing for linux.conf.au - which looks to be a cracker.br /br /Unfortunately, Ben was at OSDC, and we didnt quite pull together the resources to film the December talks - but were hoping to regularly film our talks starting from Tues 3 Feb next year... So - those attending LCA and hanging about in Oz are very welcome to attend our Linux User Group meeting - all the details will be on the website.br /
Get Up - Save the Net

Posted: December 4th, 2008, 7:49am CET

Oh FFS!br /br /Despite trying to fix the embed code for Get Ups petition signing widget 3 times... br /Ive decided to can it. It was a silly flash thing anyway...br /br /But dont let that stop you from signing the petition, and telling everyone you know to do the same.br /br /Heres an old fashioned link instead: a href=http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet/442http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet/442/a
Victorian Education Ultranet

Posted: November 19th, 2008, 2:02am CET

a href=http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/ultranet/updates.htmimg vspace=6 hspace=6 border=0 align=right src=http://www.kattekrab.net/files/ultranet-MR.jpg alt=Ultranet Tender Media Release //aFrom: nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Donna Benjaminbr /To: nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; ultranet@edumail.vic.gov.aubr /Cc: nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The Moodle Users in Schools Mailing List, rodney gedda,br /Subject: nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Selective Tender for Ultranetbr /Date: nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:36:13 +1100br /br /I note with interest the release of a selective tender for Ultranet with revised specifications. It is disappointing to see that Moodle, an Open Source, Australian developed learning management system already in use in many Victorian schools and widely used around the world, is not included.br /br /nbsp;1. Was Moodle considered or consulted in the independent market sounding exercise?br /br /nbsp;2. If Moodle was considered, why was it not included in the selective request for tender? What were the specific reasons for its exclusion from the new request for tender?br /br /nbsp;3. Otherwise, why was Moodle not considered or consulted in the independent market sounding exercise?br /br /I look forward to a prompt response. Any constructive and useful criticism of Moodle will be taken back to the development community who may be able to improve and further develop the product for the global user base.br /br /yours sincerely,br /Donna Benjaminbr /br /-- br /Donna Benjaminbr /President - Linux Users of Victoria - a href=http://www.luv.asn.auhttp://www.luv.asn.au/abr /Education Spokesperson - Open Source Victoria - a href=http://www.osv.org.auhttp://www.osv.org.au//abr /Member - Open Source Industry Australia -nbsp; a href=http://osia.net.auhttp://osia.net.au/abr /Executive Director - Creative Contingencies -nbsp; a href=http://cc.com.auhttp://cc.com.au/abr /br /quot;Open Source is arguably the most significant movement in the softwarebr /world of the past decade. Its impact is both pervasive and disruptive,br /and the importance of Open Source solutions to government and businessbr /organisations of all sizes continues to grow.quot;br /nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Prof. Bob Williamson, Scientific Director, NICTAbr /
Melbourne City Council Elections

Posted: November 15th, 2008, 5:45am CET

Gah.br /br /I just voted.nbsp; I hate the electoral system for the city of melbourne.nbsp; Postal voting should be reserved for those who cant attend a polling booth on election day. Inbsp;like going to vote. There is purpose, intent and often a thoughtful celebration of the democratic process in heading off to the local school, town or church hall to put pencil to paper, and slip the ballot paper into the box.nbsp; br /br /We dont get to do that in the City of Melbourne, instead we fill in forms, stick em in an envelope and post them. Mail order Government?br /br /And corporations that own or occupy property may also nominate representatives to vote... not sure thats the case anywhere else in Victoria.br /br /From the a href=http://www.vec.vic.gov.au/MelbourneEnrolmentcouncil.htmlVEC/a site:br /br / You are enrolled to vote at the Melbourne City Council elections if: ulliyou are on the State and Federal electoral roll for your present address and will be 18 years of age or over on 29 November 2008;/liliyou own property in the municipality but dont live at that property, and you are the first or second-named person on the Councils rate records;/liliyou have successfully applied to the Council to be enrolled for this years elections; or/liliyou are the nominee of a corporation that owns or occupies property in the City of Melbourne./li/ulAlso of note: you dont need to be a citizen - if youve lived in the City of Melbourne for a month or more, youre eligible to enrol - but the rolls closed over a month ago - and the postal poll closes on the 29th of November. thats almost 2 months later. pfft.br /br /Shame I didnt know that earlier, because Peter is not a citizen, but clearly eligible to vote in this election, despite being ineligible to vote in State or Federal elections. Curious.br /br /BTW - candidates that rang me with recorded announcements disqualified themselves from the contest, as did those who sent negative campaign material.nbsp; Sorry Peter McMullin and crew - you failed on both these counts.br /
meme-ege

Posted: November 14th, 2008, 12:32pm CET

meh...nbsp; page 56 is blank!br /br /Book Title: Theres no business thats not show business:nbsp; Marketing in an experience culturebr /br /Authors: Bern H. Schmitt, David L. Rogers and Karen Vrotsosbr /ulliGrab the nearest book./liliOpen it to page 56./liliFind the fifth sentence./liliPost the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions./liliDont dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST/li/ulbr /
free education

Posted: November 6th, 2008, 2:54pm CET

quot;I am a product of a Whitlam education. If it were not for his education reforms, I doubt I would have darkened the doors of a university, for which, Gough, I thank you.quot;nbsp;nbsp; K-Rudd.br /div style=margin-left: 40px;nbsp;/divbr /Aaah the irony...nbsp; those who benefited from a free education voted to deny it to those who followed them.br /br /Thanks Keating and Howard.nbsp; br /br /Rudd - will you restore it?br /br /No way - credit crunch - nahaa - we cant afford it. h2Yes, we can. /h2If we choose to.br /br /br /
Please sir, no clean feed.

Posted: October 24th, 2008, 4:02am CEST

br /a href=http://www.flickr.com/photos/kattekrab/2967554597/ title=Letters to Aussie MPs - No Clean Feed Please. by kattekrab, on Flickrimg width=240 height=161 border=0 align=right src=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3245/2967554597_90d765eb7b_m.jpg alt=Letters to Aussie MPs - No Clean Feed Please. //aSo, this clean feed thing...br /br /If you think its a silly idea, as I do, Id urge you to write a letter to Minister Conroy and tell him so.br /br / My letter - a href=http://www.cc.com.au/nocleanfeedhttp://www.cc.com.au/nocleanfeed/abr /Heres some examples of other peoples letters:br /nbsp; Lev Lafayette - a href=http://levlafayette.com/node/6http://levlafayette.com/node/6/abr /nbsp; James Turnbull - a href=http://www.kartar.net/no-clean-feedhttp://www.kartar.net/no-clean-feed/abr /nbsp; Peter Lieverdink - a href=http://cafuego.net/2008/10/23/clean-feed-nonsensehttp://cafuego.net/2008/10/23/clean-feed-nonsense/abr /br /The EFAs website has a good template on it too - a href=http://nocleanfeed.com/takeaction.htmlhttp://nocleanfeed.com/takeaction.html/abr /br /Blog your letter, and add a link to your letter in the comments.br /br /Send a copy to your local MP, the leader of the opposition, Malcolm Turnbull, and the leader of the Australian Greens, Bob Brown, consider also sending a copy to a media outlet.br /[Edit. I did -nbsp; Thanks Rodney!nbsp; - a href=http://www.techworld.com.au/node/264978http://www.techworld.com.au/node/264978/a]br /br /Some other articles and commentary on the issue...br /br /a href=http://mactalk.cachefly.net/mtpod_marknewton.mp3Audio Interview with Mark Newton/a, network engineer for Internode, My ISP. Hes expressing his own views, not those of his employer.nbsp; Mark also features in this article in this mornings SMH - a href=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/10/23/1224351430987.html?page=fullpageFiltering out the fury: how government tried to gag web censor critics/abr /br /As Mark says quot;Write a real letter, print it on real paper, sign it with a real pen, put it in a real envelope with a real stamp and post it in a real letter box.quot;br /br /
Lazyweb: helvetica neue icky on firefox / ubuntu

Posted: October 23rd, 2008, 10:26am CEST

Its a bit better in Opera - but still largely illegible... br /I could implement a greasemonkey work around and get it rendered in verdana - but Id like to fix the problem.br /br /Can someone help me here? Is there a bug in firefox? Do I need to install some kind of magic anti-aliasing font foo?br /br /Ive googled a bit - but its all a bit hard to grok.br /br /And its really driving me nuts as more and more websites are adopting this font.br /br /Fruster-ating it is. in the extreme!br /br /Help me lazyweb - youre my only hope.
Linux users of Victoria - October 7

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 10:48am CEST

Linux users of Victoria October meeting is tomorrow night! br /It snuck up on me what with Software Freedom day, International travel and the fog of jet lag!br /br /2 excellent talks lined upbr / Stewart Smith talking about Drizzle - new database derived from the MySQL codebase.br / Ben Balbo talking about streaming media in a sneak peak of his OSDC talk to be delivered at this years OSDC conf in Sydney.br /br /Our venue is the Evan Burge Lecture Theatre at Trinity College, Parkville. br /Full details online: a href=http://luv.asn.au/2008/10http://luv.asn.au/2008/10/abr /br /Admission is Free, and all are welcome. br /br /Various peoples tend meet to eat before or after the meetingbr / Before: 6pm - Classic Curry House, Elizabeth St, Melbournebr / After: 9.15 pm-ish - Marias Trattoria, Peel St, North Melbourne
Sugar

Posted: September 27th, 2008, 8:02am CEST

Ok - so I didnt get around to installing sugar - but I did get a sugar livecd from david during walters talk.br /br /This is pretty cool - it is possible to turn almost any laptop into an XO by installing sugar - which has the potential to rapidly expand both the user and the developer base for the platform... but more than that - we can engage teachers in exploration of new pedagogy with this very special operating environment for children.br /br /Its not perfect - it is in development, but its a tidal wave for progressing the aims of the original olpc project.br /br /Go to a href=http://www.sugarlabs.org/http://www.sugarlabs.org//a to find out more...br /nbsp;br /and those of you who received an XO at LCA this year - Ill be in touch soon to get a progress report on your puppy - and invite you to participate in our community of practice - working with teachers to explore applications for classrooms and learning.br /br /Oh!nbsp; And!nbsp; a href=http://www.zareason.com/shop/home.phpZareason/a - making laptops - ubuntu pre-installed... with an ubuntu key ;)nbsp; Must get a piccie tomorrow.nbsp; Also nice to note that Zareason is owned and run by linuxchick - Cathy Malmrose (and Earl) :)nbsp; Very cool people doing very cool things. br /br /br /
k12openminds - The Open Road: highway to the future of technology in education

Posted: September 26th, 2008, 1:17pm CEST

Less than an hour to showtime - and Ill be presenting to the a href=http://www.k12openminds.orgK12 Open Minds Conference/a and Ive posted my slides and references to a href=http://www.cc.com.au/k12openmindscc.com.au/k12openminds/abr /br /Yesterday I facilitated the National Roadmap summit - which was an absolute Joy! To be in a room with like minds, equally passionate about the place of free and open source software in schools was totally invigorating.br /br /Heres some of the working output of our efforts. a href=http://ncose.wikispaces.com/Summithttp://ncose.wikispaces.com/Summit/abr /br /and... Squee! Inbsp;met Walter Bender... who was sitting in the lobby running Sugar on Ubuntu. Shiny shiny.nbsp; Im going to apt-get install sugar after my talk!br /br /heh.br /br /br /
Melbourne celebrates Software Freedom Day

Posted: September 20th, 2008, 4:12pm CEST

we are soooo tired, but had an amazing day.nbsp; The talks were fantastic - at least, people were buzzing as they came out of them, I didnt actually sit in and watch... the little cinema room was full to bursting at times.nbsp; I hope some the video camera jiggery pokery results in vids online somewhere...br /br /A full report will have to come later - but I did just want to get some of these pix online!br /div style=text-align: center;a href=http://www.flickr.com/photos/kattekrab/tags/sfdmelb/img vspace=4 hspace=4 border=0 src=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3211/2872767588_7d7bc67f0e_o.jpg alt=Snapshot of Melbourne#39;s SFD2008 celebrations //a/divdiv style=text-align: center;http://www.flickr.com/photos/kattekrab/tags/sfdmelb//divbr /
... the times they are a changing ...

Posted: September 19th, 2008, 2:42am CEST

BobDylan.comnbsp; oh yeah.... Thank You Drupal.br /br /img src=http://buytaert.net/cache/images-drupal-bob-dylan-500x500.jpg alt=Screenshot of BobDylan.com uses Drupal /br /br /Dries Buytart, founder of Drupal, reported on his blog that a href=http://buytaert.net/bob-dylan-using-drupalbobdylan.com uses drupal/a... I cant think of a more poignant indicator that free and open source software is getting somewhere... and on the eve of Software Freedom Day too.br /br /Nice.br /br /br /br /
SFD2008 - HUGE!

Posted: September 17th, 2008, 4:21am CEST

Software Freedom Day - 20 September 2008 - Everywhere!br /br /Check out some of the media coverage so far... ullip class=line86216th September 2008 - Kiel, Germany - a href=http://foerdefluesterer.de/Termine/display/eventid/1291 class=httpSoftware Freedom Day 2008/a/p/lilip class=line86216th September 2008 - Philippines - a href=http://www.cp-union.com/content/one-nation-unity-software-freedom-celebrating-software-freedom-day-2008-philippines class=httpOne Nation: Unity for Software Freedom. Celebrating Software Freedom Day 2008 in the Philippines/a (CP-Union)/p/lilip class=line86216th September 2008 - Nicaragua - a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXmGd6-gtTs class=httpPresenting Software Freedom Day/a (TV Channel 2)/p/lilip class=line86214th September 2008 - Nicaragua - a href=http://impreso.elnuevodiario.com.ni/2008/09/14/informatica/85126 class=httpNos vemos en el Freedom Day/a (El Nuevo Diario)/p/lilip class=line86214th September 2008 - Melbourne, Australia - a href=http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20622/1162/ class=httpSoftware Freedom Day 2008: Updated/a (ITwire)/p/lilip class=line86213th September 2008 - Virginia, USA - a href=http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/092008/09132008/410285 class=httpHes fighting to free us from Microsoft (Paul Frields)/a (Fredericksburg)/p/lilip class=line86213th September 2008 - Australia - a href=http://www.crn.com.au/News/84642,sun-plans-open-source-push.aspx class=httpSun plans open source push/a (CRN Australia)/p/lilip class=line86212th September 2008 - New Zealand - a href=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0809/S00044.htm class=httpUnlimited Potential in open source software/a (Scoop Independent News)/p/lilip class=line86212th September 2008 - Ghana - a href=http://news.myjoyonline.com/technology/200809/20498.asp class=httpSeptember 20 is lsquo;Software Freedom Dayrsquo;/a (My Joy Online)/p/lilip class=line86212th September 2008 - USA - a href=http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1878145/ class=httpSun Microsystems sponsors Software Freedom Day/a (Trading Markets)/p/lilip class=line86211th September 2008 - Nicaragua - a href=http://www.linuxtour.org/images/0/0e/Futura-11.09.08.ogg class=httpRadio Interview/a (Radio Futura)/p/lilip class=line86211th September 2008 - Boston, USA - a href=http://www.openmediaboston.org/node/319 class=httpSoftware Freedom Day in Boston is a Wealth for the Commons: Saturday, September 20, 2008/a (Open Media Boston)/p/lilip class=line86211th September 2008 - Boston, USA - a href=https://www.fsf.org/news/software-freedom-day-boston-2008 class=httpsSoftware Freedom Day in Boston is a Wealth for the Commons/a/p/lilip class=line86210th September 2008 - Tijuana, Mexico - a href=http://www.el-mexicano.info/nota.aspx?idNota=318662amp;SeccId=4amp;esSecc=True class=httpPromocionan ventajas del software libre/a (El Mexicano)/p/lilip class=line8629th September 2008 - Nicaragua - a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TpiCcLcN_g class=httpPromoting Software Freedom Day/a (TV Channel 2)/p/lilip class=line8628th September 2008 - Australia - a href=http://www.itnews.com.au/News/84275,australia-gears-up-for-software-freedom-day-2008.aspx class=httpAustralia gears up for Software Freedom Day/a (ITnews)/p/lilip class=line8627th September 2008 - Nicaragua - a href=http://impreso.elnuevodiario.com.ni/2008/09/07/informatica/84608 class=httpSoftware Freedom Day Nicaragua 2008/a (El Nuevo Diario)./p/lilip class=line8625th September 2008 - Philippines - a href=http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20080905-158897/Group-to-start-SMS-campaign-for-open-source-bill class=httpCP-Unions Software Freedom Tour and SMS Campaign for SFD 2008/a (Inquirer.net)/p/lilip class=line8625th September 2008 - Australia - a href=http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20424/1162/ class=httpSoftware Freedom Day 2008/a (ITWire)./p/lilip class=line8624th September 2008 - Nicaragua - a href=http://www.linuxtour.org/images/c/c6/RockFM-04.09.08.ogg class=httpRadio Interview/a (Rock FM)/p/lilip class=line8622nd September 2008 - UK - a href=http://www.heise-online.co.uk/open/Stephen-Fry-the-FSF-and-Software-Freedom-Day--/news/111444 class=httpStephen Fry, the FSF and Software Freedom Day/a (Heise Online)./p/li/ulbr /Over 500 teams in 120 countries across the planet have registered their events with Software Freedom International... The sfd-discuss mailing list is buzzing with tales of goodie packs arriving, press stories coming in, and team bloggers signing up for Planet SFD:nbsp;br /a href=http://planet.softwarefreedomday.org/http://planet.softwarefreedomday.org//a .br /br /Aussie teams have more CDs to give away than ever before thanks to Paul Wayper and a href=http://www.linux.org.auLinux Australia/a... what else can I say... its going to be HUGE! :)nbsp; THREE MOREnbsp;SLEEPS!nbsp; Check out a href=http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/australiahttp://www.softwarefreedomday.org/australia/abr /br /
conferences conferences conferences

Posted: September 7th, 2008, 4:35am CEST

poh dear - here I am procrastinating again... Im meant to be working on my keynote for the a href=http://www.k12openminds.org/K12OpenMinds Conference/a in Indianapolis at the end of the month. ( More about k12 openminds in another post - promise! )/ppInstead, Im blogging emabout/em conferences. Well - theres so much going on in the open source, tech and edu space... First up is a href=www.acec2008.infoACEC2008/a then a href=http://www.vitta.org.au/conferenceinfoVITTA08: Shift Happens/a, The extraordinary a href=http://linux.conf.auLCA2009/a and even a bit about LCA2010 and a new kid on the block... a href=http://www.osspac.com/OSSPAC/a. [EDIT: and a href=http://www.osdc.com.au/2008/OSDC/a - which Inbsp;forgot to include - thanks Brianna]br /br /What is it about conferences? Primarily they are an opportunity to meet, mingle and dialogue with people of like minds. Large conferences have their own logistical requirements, and generally a huge amount of effort goes into making them happen, and making them happen to the satisfaction of all participants. So why do we do it?nbsp; This is something Ive been pondering as my biz a href=http://cc.com.aucc.com.au/a seems to be engaged in this area more frequently. Web based conference management tools really do seem to help make it easier to put an event together. But the tools enable us to go further.nbsp; Creating dialogue between speakers, and delegates in the lead up to, as well as during and after seems to concentrate attention on the primary reason for a conference...nbsp; anywaynbsp; thats more than enough meta-conference!/p a href=http://www.osspac.comimg vspace=4 hspace=4 border=0 align=right src=http://www.osspac.com/images/osspac_button_150.jpg alt=OSSPAC logo //a pIn reverse order... OSSPACnbsp; a href=http://www.osspac.com/Open Source Singapore Pacific-Asia Conference and Expo/a - has announced a call for presentations and theyve got an impressive bunch of heavy hitters lined up in the sponsors column...nbsp; Ill have to decide soon if Im going to submit something.br /br /Victoria HO of ZDnet Asia reported quot;According to the executive, OSSPAC is distinct from other smaller open source conferences in that the latter tend to focus on specific components of the open source community, such as the Linux OS.quot; [a href=http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2008/gb2008077_784850.htm?campaign_id=rss_as1/a]br /br /Its a shame this isnt happening in Australia - then again, sometimes I get the feeling that despite the vibrancy of our Open Source Industry and Free Software community, were just not quite getting the business, education and enterprise traction necessary to make an event like OSSPAC viable in Australia.nbsp; Open CeBIT in Sydney this year was pretty woeful, and I was very disappointed not to see Linux World run again.nbsp; linux.conf.au is unashamedly technical and aimed at users and developers, regardless of where or how theyre using Free and Open Source software.nbsp; a href=http://www.osdc.com.auOpen Source Developers Conference/a is also not the place for the large open source vendors to tout their wares. We just dont have a successful commercially focussed event in Australia.nbsp; I wonder why? There have certainly been attempts.br /br /a href=http://www.marchsouth.orgimg vspace=2 hspace=2 border=0 align=right src=http://linux.conf.au/images/tuz.png alt=LCA2009 mascot - Tuz - a tassie devil in disguise as tux /linux.conf.au 2009 - Hobart/a. The call for papers closed a month or so ago, and reviewing has been underway - so Im told. The papers committee will have their crucial face to face meet next weekend. br /Decisions will be made. The program will be scheduled.nbsp; Its a big job.br /br /Putting the program together is possibly the most important part of organising the conference. It legitimises participants opportunity to meet, mingle and dialogue with their peers and gurus. The scheduled presentations impact on conversations at the conference itself and also inevitably in the hallways, pubs, restaurants and college common rooms before and after. br /br /stronglinux.conf.au 2010 - Brisbane? Perth? or Wellington?/strong - Ive seen three very impressive bids from three very different teams. Ive read debate about the merits or otherwise of the polished publications theyve produced.nbsp; Theyve all made use of the services of their local marketing and convention bureaus.nbsp; I applaud this. The people volunteering their time to organise LCA are not experienced conference organisers, and inevitably spend a lot of time figuring out how and what needs to be done, in what order, with which suppliers, doing things themselves, or saving their energies and outsourcing. The local bureau are experienced, and have a wealth of contacts, resources and advice - building a relationship with them during the bid process is a wise investment of effort for any team serious about organising this event in their town.br /br /a href=http://www.osdc.com.au/2008/OSDC/a is in Sydney in early December and has announced an impressive line-up of keynotes./pulliAnthony Baxter/liliChris DiBona/liliAndrew Tridgell/liliLarry Wall/liliPia Waugh/li/ulbr /a href=http://www.vitta.org.au/conferenceinfoimg vspace=4 hspace=4 border=0 align=right alt=Shift happens: TEchnology alone will not save us - vitta2008 src=http://archive.vitta.org.au/files/conference/2008/VITTA2008.jpg //aNext up - The a href=http://www.vitta.org.auVictorian Information Technology Teachers Association/a annual conference and expo is in anbsp; new venue, and will be bigger than ever!nbsp; br /br /CC was asked to help get the a href=http://archive.vitta.org.au/conference/2008/grid.phpconference program online/a so teachers registering for the conference could browse session abstracts like they could last year.nbsp; Ill be doing a lab session on Inkscape subject to NOT being in Spain for yet another conference - which Im not sure is going ahead or not. br /br /Finally - and most immediately is a href=http://www.acec2008.infoThe Australian Computers in Education Conference/a. It happens every 2 years, is international and HUGE. I attended as a speaker in 2006 in Cairns when the event was last held.nbsp; Im also helping on the technical committee for a href=http://www.acec2010.infoACEC2010 in Melbourne/a. This year it is being held in Canberra.br /ul lia href=http://plakboek.livejournal.com/214027.htmlRoland Gesthuizen/a is doing foss stuff: a href=http://www.acec2008.info/confpapers/paperdetails.asp?pid=7523amp;docid=1048OLPC to Help Bridge the Digital Divide/a and a href=http://www.acec2008.info/confpapers/paperdetails.asp?pid=7523amp;docid=1049Scratching Around for a Python/a/lilia href=http://brianna.modernthings.org/Brianna Laugher/a is speaking aboutnbsp; a href=http://www.acec2008.info/confpapers/paperdetails.asp?pid=7523amp;docid=1026 quot;Safe wikiquot;: Teaching responsible use of Wikipedia/a/lilia href=http://techresources.org/laurieLaurie Heikkila/a is presenting a href=http://www.acec2008.info/confpapers/paperdetails.asp?pid=7523amp;docid=1032The Best Things in Life are Free!/a/liliJason Zagami is comparing PHP, Visual Basic, Gamemaker, Alice, and RoboLab in a href=http://www.acec2008.info/confpapers/paperdetails.asp?pid=7523amp;docid=826Which Programming Language Makes it Easier for Students to Learn to Program?/a/li/ul pOverall though - Im a bit disappointed there arent more sessions on Free and Open Source Software technologies. I thought we were getting somewhere in the education sector.nbsp; But sessions at Australias premier ICT in education conference doesnt indicate we have much to show for it. At any rate, it led me to wonder quot;so what emis/em there?quot; Heres the results of some random searches:br /br / table width=296 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 border=1 align=center style= summary= tbody tr td style=text-align: left;strongSearch term/strong/td tdstrongResults returned/strong/td /tr tr tdSoftware/td td30/td /tr tr tdOpen Source/td td2/td /trtr tdFree Software/td td0/td /tr tr tdWeb 2/td td16/td /tr tr tdIWB (Interactive Whiteboard)/td td6/td /tr tr tdlaptop/td td7/td /tr tr tdteacher/td td91/td /tr tr tdstudent/td td100/td /tr tr tdcurriculum/td td33/td /tr tr tdtechnology/td td58/td /tr tr tdweb/td td41/td /tr tr tdinternet/td td12/td /tr tr tdclassroom/td td65/td /tr tr tdlearning/td td115/td /tr tr tdteaching/td td53/td /tr tr tdprogramming/td td8/td /tr tr tdrevolution/td td8/td /tr /tbody /table/pWhat conclusions can be drawn from this?nbsp; Im not come to any as yet - but Ill be thinking more about it as I study the programmes for acec, vitta and k12openminds.br /br /Conferences... hrmmmm.br /br / p[1] a href=http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2008/gb2008077_784850.htmSingapore to Host Open Source Conference /a/pbr /
cruise on the bay and software freedom day

Posted: August 29th, 2008, 1:19pm CEST

br /Went on a lovely lunchtime cruise. a href=http://boatcruises.com.auPleasure Boat Cruises/a was holding one of their Corporate Open Days, which means drinks and nibbles and a short cruise around the waters of Docklands.nbsp; The weather could not have been more perfect!nbsp; What a great opportunity to test out the new camera.div style=text-align: center;img vspace=4 hspace=4 border=0 alt=Lovely day on the bay src=http://www.kattekrab.net/files/boat cruises.jpg //divbr /Have also been working on a href=http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/melbMelbournes Software Freedom Day event./a...nbsp; updating artwork, ordering stuff, getting funding etc. Great to be able to say that the Melbourne celebration is supported by the Victorian Government! Thanks to Multimedia Victoria!div style=text-align: center;img width=400 vspace=4 hspace=4 height=92 border=0 alt=Software Freedom Day Artwork src=http://www.kattekrab.net/files/blog.png //divbr /br /br /

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