Mentoring & Advocacy in Open Source + AGM


When:
October 25, 2018 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
2018-10-25T18:00:00+01:00
2018-10-25T20:00:00+01:00
Where:
BCS London Offices
5 Southampton St
London WC2E 7HA
UK
Cost:
Free

Whilst open source is now more widely accepted, there are still large parts of the engineering community who have yet to “see the light”.  Advocacy remains a key role for all who care about open source, while mentoring helps users to make best use of open source technology.

At this evening meeting in London, we’ll be welcoming leading speakers on this topic.  This is a joint meeting with the UK Open Source Hardware Users Group open to all. It will be preceded by the AGM of the BCS Open Source Specialist Group (a separate email notice will be sent to BCS members).  Venue is the BCS Offices at 5 Southampton St, London WC2E 7HA from 6-8pm.

Each talk will last 30 minutes and include plenty of time for questions. We look forward to seeing you there.

We were livestreaming the talks and posted them on YouTube for those who are unable to make it.

Annual general meeting of the OSSG

The meeting was chaired by Jeremy Bennett. There were no matters arising from the previous AGM minutes which were accepted in full. Jeremy then presented the Chairman’s report.  Presentation as PDF

He was followed by Richard Miller giving the Treasurers.

They were followed by the election of officers for the coming year. The secretary, Cornelia, stood in for the chair who was re-elected by the meeting. Jeremy then resumed the chair and presided over the re-election of the secretary and treasurer. These were duly re-elected.

The new web master was elected and two event organisers were re-elected. Julian Kunkel was elected as Committee member at large and Andrejus Kostarevas was elected as Student Rep. Jeremy thanked the retiring committee members, Andres Baravalle and Andrew Back, for the contributions.

The elections were followed by a presentation of proposed Advocacy Goals for the group by Julian Kunkel.  Presentation as PDF

There was no AOB. The meeting closed and was immediately followed by a regular joint meeting of the OSSG and OSHUG which continued the theme of Advocacy.

 

Amanda Brock: OpenInventionNetwork

Presentation as PDF

 

 

Karen Sandler: Software Freedom Conservancy

Software Freedom Conservancy helps promote, improve, develop, and defend Free, Libre, and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects.

Karen M. Sandler (@o0karen0o) is the executive director of Conservancy. Karen is known as a cyborg lawyer for her advocacy for free software, particularly in relation to the software on medical devices. Prior to joining Conservancy, she was executive director of the GNOME Foundation. Before that, she was general counsel of the Software Freedom Law Center. Karen co-organizes Outreachy, the award-winning outreach program to support women globally and for people of color who are underrepresented in US tech. She is also pro bono counsel to the FSF and GNOME. Karen is a recipient of the Free Software Foundation’s Award for the Advancement of Free Software and the O’Reilly Open Source Award.

Karen received her law degree from Columbia Law School in 2000, where she was a James Kent Scholar and co-founder of the Columbia Science and Technology Law Review. Karen received her bachelor’s degree in engineering from The Cooper Union.

Paul Adams: FSF Europe

Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to control technology.

Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our lives; and it is important that this technology empowers rather than restricts us.  Free Software gives everybody the rights to use, understand, adapt and share software.  These rights help support other fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.

Paul Adams (@therealpadams) is a co-founder of BCS Open Source SG and its second Chair.  He served as a FSFE Fellow in 2009 and regularly gives presentations on behalf of the FSFE.

Prof Cornelia Boldyref: Advocacy for Women in Open Source

Cornelia Boldyreff (@Cornelia) is a Visiting Professor at the University of Greenwich. She gained her PhD in Software Engineering from the University of Durham.  In 2004 she became the first Professor of Software Engineering at the University of Lincoln, where she co-founded and directed the Centre for Research in Open Source Software.  Cornelia was most recently Associate Dean (Research and Enterprise) at the University of East London

She is a founding committee member of the BCSWomen Specialist Group, a committee member of the BCS e-Learning Specialist Group, and from 2013-2017 chaired the BCS Open Source Specialist Group. She has been actively campaigning for more women in STEM throughout her career.  Together with Miriam Joy Morris and Dr Yasmine Arafa, she founded the start-up, ebartex Ltd, and together they are developing a new digital bartering currency, ebarts.

Presentation as PDF

 

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