External Events

Category for external events (i.e. those not organised by the OSSG but relevant to it). Tag external event posts with this as well as OSSG Events

OpenStreetMap convention in Birmingham, UK: 6-8 September 2013

 in External Events / OSSG by

OpenStreetMap logo

OpenStreetMap

The Free Wiki World Map

6-8 September 2013 (Friday-Sunday)

State of the Map will be at Aston University Business School Conference Centre, Aston Street, Birmingham, England. View on OSM

OpenStreetMap’s annual international conference, State of the Map is returning to the UK, the first time it has come to the UK since the very first State of the Map in 2007.

State of the Map is the global gathering for everyone contributes to and/or uses OpenStreetMap. There will be keynotes and a breakout stream of presentations and workshops examining current practice, organisation and relationships; and preparing for the changes we can expect in coming years. In fact, so much has happened and is happening to OpenStreetMap that the theme of this year’s conference is “Change”.
2007 today
10,000 registered users 1.1 million registered users
50 million GPS points 3.2 billion GPS points
Advanced editor: JOSM version 321 JOSM version 5939
Easy editor: Potlatch 0.5 iD editor launched
time to wait before edits appeared on the map: about a week about a minute

Booking to attend the event is now open. The amount of accommodation on-site is limited and is first-come, first-served

 
Booking details etc. can be found at: : http://2013.stateofthemap.org/

GNOME Outreach Program for Women (OPW) internships – application deadline on May 1

 in External Events / OSSG / Uncategorized by (updated 4012 days ago)

The upcoming round of the GNOME Outreach Program for Women internships will have an application deadline on May 1 and internship dates from June 17 to September 23.

opw-poster-USLetter-2013-JuneSeptember.png

 

Background Information

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is software that gives the user the freedom to use, copy, study, change, and improve it. There are many Free and Open Source Software licenses under which software can be released with these freedoms. FOSS contributors believe that this is the best way to develop software because it benefits society, creates a fun collaborative community around a project, and allows anyone to make innovative changes that reach many people. FOSS contributors do various things: software development, system administration, user interface design, graphic design, documentation, community management, marketing, identifying issues and reporting bugs, helping users, event organization, and translations.

Many people work on FOSS as a hobby in their spare time and some are employed by companies and non-profit organizations, including ones that are sponsoring this program! Elego, Google, Mozilla, Rackspace, and Red Hat have been the corporate sponsors of the program. GNOME Foundation, Open Technology Institute, OpenITP, OpenStack Foundation, The Tor Project, and Wikimedia Foundation have been the non-profit organizations sponsoring this program. Hobbyist FOSS experience is highly valuable in the professional world because seeing the publicly available contributions and history of collaboration gives confidence to employers when making hiring decisions.

Outreach Program for Women (OPW) internships were inspired in many ways by Google Summer of Code and by how few women applied for it in the past. This was reflective of a generally low number of women participating in the FOSS development. The GNOME Foundation first started the internships program with one round in 2006, and then resumed the effort in 2010 with rounds organized every half a year. In the May-August 2012 round, the Software Freedom Conservancy joined the Outreach Program for Women with one internship with the Twisted project. In the January-April 2013 round, many other FOSS organizations joined the program.

By having a program targeted specifically towards women, we found that we reached talented and passionate participants, who were uncertain about how to start otherwise. We hope this effort will help many women learn how exciting, varied and valuable work on FOSS projects can be and how inclusive the community really is. This program is a welcoming link that will connect you with people working on individual projects in various FOSS organizations and guide you through your first contribution.

 

Application Process

The application process is highly collaborative. You are expected to start working with a mentor and ask many questions during the application process.

If you have general questions at any point during the application process, you are welcome to email them to opw-list@gnome.org or ask them on the #opw IRC channel on GIMPNet (irc.gnome.org) , where you are encouraged to hang out throughout the application process. opw-list@gnome.org is a private list and your inquiries will only be visible to the coordinators and mentors for the program. Please start the subject line for all your e-mails to this list with a string [INQUIRY]. For organization-specific questions, please use the communication channels described on the page for each organization. Each project you will consider will have its IRC channel, and you should join it for the fastest way to get your project-specific questions answered and communicate with your mentor. It’s easy to connect to IRC.

You can see further information about the internships and application process here.

OSHUG – Open Source Hardware User Group – Meeting on Thursday – April 18th

 in External Events / OSSG by (updated 3998 days ago)

OSHUG #25 — Is Three (Writing AVR Firmware, Panel Discussion)

Thursday 18th April 2013, 18:00 – 20:00 at Centre for Creative
Collaboration, 16 Acton Street, London, WC1X 9NG.

Sponsored by Quick2Wire: http://quick2wire.com/

Registration: http://oshug.org/event/25

The twenty-fifth meeting marks our third anniversary, and will feature a talk on writing embedded firmware and a panel discussion that will explore the future of open source hardware.

Writing firmware for the AVR: A Morse Code Beacon

In this talk we will look at a number of techniques for making the most of the miniscule MSP430 and ATTiny embedded microcontrollers.

Explaining how to approach the task of developing software for constrained systems such as those with only a few hundred bytes of RAM or a few kilobytes of Flash. Predominantly writing in C and using Chris Swan’s Morse Code Beacon as an example, revealing why code needs to be structured in ways that may initially seem counter-intuitive or undesirable, as well as how the resources are used and allocated.

Such techniques are essential for getting almost any useful program to run in small systems, and when applied to slightly bigger machines such as the ATmega — found in platforms such as Arduino — they can allow really comprehensive programs to be executed successfully.

Andy Bennett is an engineer that likes to inhabit the void between hardware and the software that runs on it. After graduating from
Imperial College with a degree in Electronic & Electrical Engineering, he joined Access Devices Digital Limited where he designed software and FPGAs for the UK’s first Dual Tuner Personal Video Recorders. He continued working on Advanced Product Development at Pace Micro Technology before leaving to build distributed database engines at GenieDB. One year ago he founded Knodium where he applies his finely honed ability to produce software on a shoestring.

Panel discussion: The Future of Open Source Hardware

Interest in open source hardware continues to grow unabated and the movement has come a long way in the three years since our first
meeting. However, could it ever provide opportunities on the same scale as those afforded by its much older and now well understood
cousin, open source software? What are the barriers to growth? How are the intellectual property and economic considerations different to those of open source software? These are just some of the questions
that we plan to explore as part of this panel discussion.

* Moderated by: Paul Downey.

Professor Cornelia Boldyreff is Visiting Professor in the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Greenwich, and Chair of the BCS Open Source Specialist Group. She is a Fellow of the BCS and HEA, and a member of the ACM and the BCS Women’s Committee. She has over 30 years experience in software engineering and has lead extensive research within open source software.

Sukkin Pang is a design engineer and a director at SK Pang Electronics Ltd. He graduated from the University of Hertfordshire and has over 20 years of industrial experience. He is passionate about open source hardware and has four Arduino shields published. He used to tinker in assembler on the Z80, 6502, PIC and AVR, but nowadays he mainly uses C and C++.

Alan Wood originally trained in systems engineering, got lost in software engineering and open source for a decade, before returning
back to his hardware roots via the open source hardware and makers movement that has gathered momentum over the last few years.

Nigel Rix is Director of Electronics at the ESP KTN, part of the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board. Nigel has over 30 years experience working with a variety high tech companies from multi-nationals to start-ups and on hardware and software based products from electron beam lithography and laser systems to solutions for the security sector.

Note: Please aim to arrive for 18:00 – 18:20 as the event will start
at 18:30 prompt.

Registration: http://oshug.org/event/25

Open Source Career Taster Days (1st of 3) – London 13/05/13

 in External Events / OSSG Events by (updated 4031 days ago)
BCSWomen SG logo Open Source Specialist Group logo
Fossbox logo Flossie logo

A series of three one day workshops for women returners aimed at raising awareness of Open Source development as a dual skillset or second career.

The first workshop will be held on 13th May 2013, 10:00 – 13th May 2013, 17:00 at BCS, 1st Floor, The Davidson Buidling, 5 Southampton Street, London, WC2E 7HA, London.

See the BCS Events calendar page:  http://www.bcs.org/content/conEvent/7751

and the registration page:  http://www.bcs.org/content/ConWebDoc/50183

The course will aim to build awareness and confidence and help women take some first steps either towards learning to code or to update existing skills and to learn how they might contribute to Open Source projects. It will aim to raise awareness of self-training opportunities and of Open Source career paths and entry points.

Day 1: Programming for mobile devices using AppInventor

  • Introduction to FLOSS culture and licensing models
  • Programming for Android mobile devices using MIT AppInventor
  • Panel discussion – What is it like working in Open Source communities and in technology generally?

Day 2: Introduction to Open Source and Git

  • Introduction to Open Source projects and resources
  • How are Open Source projects organised? Brief overview of development roles (feedback, support, bug reporting, new feature requests, writing/updating software/creating artwork/documentation/translation). Introduction to development methods: test driven, agile
  • Introduction to Git

Day 3: Introduction to Python

  • Overview of current programming languages and their uses
  • Introduction to Python
  • Resources for next steps
  • Talks by women working in the industry and networking

Chip Hack – London 20-21/3/2013 1

 in External Events / OSSG Events by (updated 4016 days ago)

Chip Hack is a two day hands-on workshop on programming FPGAs aimed at complete beginners.

Led by a team of experienced FPGA designers, and working with the DE0-nano board, you’ll start with simple hardware designs to control LED’s counters and push buttons and move on to a UART transmitter and (for the more ambitious) receiver.

Chip Hack

The event coincides with Hardware Freedom Day (http://www.hfday.org) and you’ll be using open source designs throughout the weekend. In the final session you will see how to bring up a complete ready-made OpenRISC system-on-chip.

No HDL or FPGA programming experience is required, but you will need to have some programming experience and an understanding of basic digital electronics.

The workshop is sponsored by Embecosm, and will run at the Centre for Creative Collaboration in Acton Street, London.

UKUUG Event: Training Course by Damian Conway – ‘Presentation Skills’ – London 16/04/12

 in External Events / OSSG Events / Uncategorized by (updated 4448 days ago)

Full day Training Course by Damian Conway – ‘Presentation Skills’

Monday 16th April 2012

Ambassadors Hotel, 12 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0HX

see: http://www.flossuk.org/Events/PresentationSkills2012

Description: The best and most effective presentations capture the audience
quickly, hold their interest effortlessly, educate and entertain them in equal
measure, and sometimes even inspire them.

This class explores simple and effective techniques for achieving those goals
in any kind of presentation.

The first half of the class focuses on preparation, content selection, visual
design, delivery, handling questions and effective techniques for presenting
various kinds of technical information (code, data, statistics, charts,
structure diagrams etc.)

The second half of the course is an in-depth tutorial on improving the ‘look
and feel’ of presentation materials – especially Powerpoint/Keynote/Impress
presentations. In particular, it demonstrates practical techniques for making
your slides not suck!

Tutor: Damian Conway is a renowned programmer, speaker and educator, best
known for his work on Perl programming language.

Previously as Associate Professor in Computer Science at Australia’s largest
University, for the past decade he has made his living entirely by giving
conference keynotes, technical presentations, programming tutorials and
professional training courses.

He has been keynote speaker at major technical Conferences such as OSCON,
linux.conf.au, OLS, Webstock, DebConf, and GOTO, presenting on topics as
diverse as quantum physics, website design, computational linguistics,
bioinformatics, and programming language design.

He has also been invited to speak and teach at Institutions such as Harvard,
MIT, Carnegie Mellon, U. Toronto and ETH Zurich and has delivered seminars and
taught classes for major corporations including Apple, Yahoo!, Amazon,
Canonical, Xerox, Qualcomm, Canon, Michelin, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Places are limited – early booking is essential Early-bird rates available
until 15th March 2012

UKUUG & O’Reilly: Intermediate Perl/Advanced Perl – London 21/02/12 to 24/02/12

 in External Events / OSSG Events / Uncategorized by (updated 4559 days ago)

UKUUG & O’Reilly presents:

Intermediate Perl – 21st & 22nd February 2012

Advanced Perl – 23rd & 24th February 2012

Imperial Hotel, Russell Square, London WC1B 5BB

2 day Intermediate Perl (including practical sessions)

NOTE: All delegates will need to bring a laptop with a recent version of Perl
installed.

Description: This course is aimed at people who have written a little Perl and
who want to add another dimension to their Perl knowledge. This will take you
from being “someone who uses Perl” to a “Perl programmer”.

Course Outline:
* Types of variable * Strict and warnings * References * Sorting
* Reusable code * Object orientation * Testing * Dates & times
* Templates * Databases * Further information

2 day Advanced Perl (including practical sessions)

NOTE: All delegates will need to bring a laptop with a recent version of Perl
installed.

Description: This course is aimed at people who have a lot of experience of
Perl but who might not have had the time to keep up to date with the latest
Perl techniques. This course teaches the latest techniques being used by the
world’s best Perl programmers. This is the knowledge that will enable you to
describe yourself as a “Perl expert”.

Course Outline:
* The latest versions of Perl * Advanced testing * DBIx::Class
* Handling exceptions * Profiling & benchmarking * Dancer and Catalyst
* Object Oriented programming with Moose * Web development with Plack

Tutor: Dave Cross is the owner of Magnum Solutions Ltd, an Open Source
consultancy company based in London. In 1998 he started london.pm which has
grown to be one of the largest Perl Mongers groups in the world. He nominally
led the group until September 2001. Between August 2002 and June 2006 he was
the Perl Mongers User Groups Co-ordinator for the Perl Foundation. Dave is a
regular speaker at Perl and Open Source conferences and is often invited to
present tutorials alongside the main conference. He is the author of “Data
Munging with Perl” (Manning, 2001) and a co-author of “Perl Template Toolkit”
(O’Reilly, 2003). Dave lives in SW London. The rumours about gold-plated cats
were never true.

Visit the UKUUG web site at: www.flossuk.org/perl2012 for delegate costs and
on-line booking

Places are limited – early booking is essential
Early-bird rates available until 6th January 2012

UKUUG & O’Reilly – ‘Intensive Introduction to Google App Engine with Python’ Tutorial / Training Day – London 12/04/12

 in External Events / OSSG Events / Uncategorized by (updated 4606 days ago)

Thursday 12th April 2012

Imperial Hotel, Russell Square, London WC1B 5BB

Intensive Introduction to Google App  Engine with Python’ Tutorial / Training Day

Prerequisites:

Course attendees should have prior experience with Python, Web Development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), and RDBMS technologies.

Course Content:

Review of the Python you need for App Engine
Preparing your computer for App Engine development
Building a Real World App Engine webapp
Understanding the webapps requirements
Working with App Engine’s web application framework (webapp)
Defining your webapps data model
Building your webapps user interface with templates
Tying your webapp together with code
Deploying your webapp to the cloud
Updating your webapp with new features
Outgrowing webapp and scaling your app
A lightning review of the App Engine framework landscape
Advanced App Engine features
Wrap-up

Tutor biography: Paul Barry lectures at The Institute of Technology, Carlow in Ireland, where he has taught for 15 years on topics such as cloud computing, web development, network programming, scripting technologies, Linux and systems management.

Prior to joining the academic world, Paul spent a decade in industry in software development and IT management roles, both in Ireland and in Canada. Paul has an M.Sc. in Computing. He is author (or co-author) of four books: two on Perl (for Wiley) and two on Python (for O’Reilly).

Paul’s latest book, part of the popular Head First Series from O’Reilly Media, is Head First Python (published in November 2010). Paul has been writing for Linux journal since 2000 and has been a Contributing Editor with the magazine since 2005. Find out more about Paul at his website: http://paulbarry.itcarlow.ie

See http://www.ukuug.org/events/Googleapp/ for on-line booking form