Monthly archives: May 2011


Investigating Open Approaches to Education and Training in the Public Sector – London 30/06/11 1

The BCS Open Source Specialist Group (OSSG) and TDM Open Source Services Investigate Open Approaches to Education and Training in the Public Sector at the BCS Central London Offices, First Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London WC2E 7HA (http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/london-office-guide.pdf) on Thursday 30th June 2011, from 1730 to 2100 hours.

This bookable event is free and open to all with buffet and refreshments. To book a place to attend please email Mark Elkins at mark_elkins@bcs.org

Full details of this event are set out at the event website: http://www.opentothepublic.org.uk/programme

In the contexts of freedom of expression and democratic culture, and in the context of the UK Government ICT strategy, is it increasingly relevant for all public sector employees to investigate open source software and open data standards?

Many think it is – and that it is also increasingly important to collaboratively build Open Educational Resources and other Open Content Approaches.

Addressing the UK Parliament in Westminster Hall on 25th May 2011, President of the United States, Barack Obama said:

“In an era defined by the rapid flow of commerce and information, it is our free market tradition, our openness, fortified by our commitment to basic security for our citizens, that offers the best chance of prosperity that is both strong and shared.”

Open to the public is proudly brought to you by BCS Open Source Specialist Group and TDM Open Source Services in order to explore the concept that the openness valued by Obama must be applied to the ways we deal with – and exchange ideas and innovations between – software source code, data standards adoption and educational resources.

This event brings together leading thinkers and practitioners from the world of open educational software in the UK. We will discuss a range of open approaches: not just the source code and data formats, but also open approaches to educational content production and resource sharing.

Time Session Speaker
17.30 – 18.00 Arrival, drinks, buffet and networking
18.00 – 18.10 Welcome Address and Topic/Programme Overview Derrin Kent
TDM
18.10 – 18.40 Open Data Standards for Education and Training Simon Grant
JISC CETIS
18.40 – 19.10 Open Source Software for Education and Training Miles Berry
Roehampton University and Open Source Schools
19.10 – 19.30 Refreshments
19.30 – 20.00 Open Content Approaches for Education and Training Ian Lynch
The Learning Machine and INGOTs
20.00 – 20.30 Large Scale Implementation Case Study – Open Source Software for Education Roger Emery
Southampton Solent University
20.30 – 21.00 Round Table Question and Answer Discussion
21.00 Close and Networking

Open Source knowledge/skills gaps across HM Government – Part 2: Discuss the skills required to build Content Management Systems (CMS) – London 09/06/11 1

This is the 2nd of several planned events being hosted by the Open Source Specialist Group (OSSG) and the Young Professionals Group (YPG) that considers Open Source knowledge/skills gaps across HM Government with a Panel of Open Source Software suppliers. Part 2: Discuss the skills required to build Open Source Content Management Systems (CMS) will be held at the BCS Central London Offices, First Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London WC2E 7HA (http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/london-office-guide.pdf) on Thursday 9th June 2011, from 1800 to 2100 hours.

This bookable event is free and open to all with buffet and refreshments. To book a place to attend please contact Mark Elkins via mark_elkins@bcs.org

The format will be “question time”, where the panel will be asked a question after which the audience will be invited to participate.

Rationale for this event

With the government’s declared intention for the public sector to use open source where possible there is a need to understand the capabilities of major open source platforms like Drupal, Joomla, and Plone and where to get the skills.

Panel

Chair Mark Elkins, OSSG

Will Abson – Alfresco Software, Ltd.

Matt Hamilton – (Netsight) Plone

Charlie Hull – (Flax) Enterprise Search

Brian Teeman – Joomla

Paul Johnson – (LiveLink) Drupal

Malcolm Newbury of Guildfoss will give an overview of the Questions (set out below) to be considered by a Panel of Open Source Software suppliers and the assembled audience.

Questions

1. Introduction : Who are you, company, platform, features?

2. Typical jobs: What does a typical sales, delivery, maintenance process look like?

3. Skills: What are the typical profiles of users/developers?

4. Sourcing/Training: What’s on offer, what is the market like?