Entry tags:

acec2008, conference, education, k12openminds, lca2009, lca2010, linux.conf.au, opensource, osspac, vitta2008

conferences conferences conferences

oh dear - here I am procrastinating again... I'm meant to be working on my keynote for the K12OpenMinds Conference in Indianapolis at the end of the month. ( More about k12 openminds in another post - promise! )

Instead, I'm blogging about conferences. Well - there's so much going on in the open source, tech and edu space... First up is ACEC2008 then VITTA08: Shift Happens, The extraordinary LCA2009 and even a bit about LCA2010 and a new kid on the block... OSSPAC. [EDIT: and OSDC - which I forgot to include - thanks Brianna]

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?  This is something I've been pondering as my biz cc.com.au 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.  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...  anyway  that's more than enough 'meta-conference'!

In reverse order... OSSPAC  Open Source Singapore Pacific-Asia Conference and Expo - has announced a call for presentations and they've got an impressive bunch of heavy hitters lined up in the sponsors column...  I'll have to decide soon if I'm going to submit something.

Victoria HO of ZDnet Asia reported "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." [1]

It's a shame this isn't happening in Australia - then again, sometimes I get the feeling that despite the vibrancy of our Open Source Industry and Free Software community, we're just not quite getting the business, education and enterprise traction necessary to make an event like OSSPAC viable in Australia.  Open CeBIT in Sydney this year was pretty woeful, and I was very disappointed not to see Linux World run again.  linux.conf.au is unashamedly technical and aimed at users and developers, regardless of where or how they're using Free and Open Source software.  Open Source Developers Conference is also not the place for the large open source vendors to tout their wares. We just don't have a successful commercially focussed event in Australia.  I wonder why? There have certainly been attempts.

linux.conf.au 2009 - Hobart. The call for papers closed a month or so ago, and reviewing has been underway - so I'm told. The papers committee will have their crucial face to face meet next weekend.
Decisions will be made. The program will be scheduled.  It's a big job.

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.

linux.conf.au 2010 - Brisbane? Perth? or Wellington? - I've seen three very impressive bids from three very different teams. I've read debate about the merits or otherwise of the polished publications they've produced.  They've all made use of the services of their local marketing and convention bureaus.  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.

OSDC is in Sydney in early December and has announced an impressive line-up of keynotes.

• Anthony Baxter
• Chris DiBona
• Andrew Tridgell
• Larry Wall
• Pia Waugh

Next up - The Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association annual conference and expo is in a  new venue, and will be bigger than ever! 

CC was asked to help get the conference program online so teachers registering for the conference could browse session abstracts like they could last year.  I'll be doing a lab session on Inkscape subject to NOT being in Spain for yet another conference - which I'm not sure is going ahead or not.

Finally - and most immediately is The Australian Computers in Education Conference. It happens every 2 years, is international and HUGE. I attended as a speaker in 2006 in Cairns when the event was last held.  I'm also helping on the technical committee for ACEC2010 in Melbourne. This year it is being held in Canberra.

• Roland Gesthuizen is doing foss stuff: OLPC to Help Bridge the Digital Divide and Scratching Around for a Python
• Brianna Laugher is speaking about  "Safe wiki": Teaching responsible use of Wikipedia
• Laurie Heikkila is presenting The Best Things in Life are Free!
• Jason Zagami is comparing PHP, Visual Basic, Gamemaker, Alice, and RoboLab in Which Programming Language Makes it Easier for Students to Learn to Program?

Overall though - I'm a bit disappointed there aren't more sessions on Free and Open Source Software technologies. I thought we were getting somewhere in the education sector.  But sessions at Australia's premier ICT in education conference doesn't indicate we have much to show for it. At any rate, it led me to wonder "so what is there?" Here's the results of some random searches:

Search term	Results returned
Software	30
Open Source	2
Free Software	0
Web 2	16
IWB (Interactive Whiteboard)	6
laptop	7
teacher	91
student	100
curriculum	33
technology	58
web	41
internet	12
classroom	65
learning	115
teaching	53
programming	8
revolution	8

What conclusions can be drawn from this?  I'm not come to any as yet - but I'll be thinking more about it as I study the programmes for acec, vitta and k12openminds.

Conferences... hrmmmm.

[1] Singapore to Host Open Source Conference