Mozilla Summer Code Party
Tom Jacobs helpfully reminded me that the Mozilla Summer Code Party is running from June 23 - September 23. This is a series of events that is designed to help people learn the basics of coding and the Web. The events are free and open to all. You can read more about the Mozilla Summer Code Party here.
Minnesota University launches an online catalog of open-source books
From Inside HIgher ED:
Minnesota launched an online catalog of open-source books last month and will pay its professors $500 each time they post an evaluation of one of those books. (Faculty members elsewhere are welcome to post their own reviews, but they won’t be compensated.) Minnesota professors who have already adopted open-source texts will also receive $500, with all of the money coming from donor funds.
More info here.
edX
Making a note here to look into this later. edX is the organization established by MIT and Harvard that will develop an open-source technology platform to deliver online courses....
Video streaming by Ustream
Flourish 2011 - Linux & Open-Source Conference
CELEBRATE INNOVATION WITH CHICAGO’S LINUX & OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE ENTHUSIASTS AT FLOURISH! 2011
From April 1 - 3, Free Technology Conference Brings Fifth Year of Insightful Talks and Hands-on Workshops about Open-source Software, Technology, and Culture
MARCH 15, 2011 — Chicago, IL
WHAT
An annual gathering of, for, and by enthusiasts of open-source software, technology, and culture, taking place at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
This year, you can also take your exams for certification by the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) and BSD Certification Group (BSDCG).
FEATURED SPEAKERS and TOPICS
Flourish! 2011's list of speakers include:
- Chris Palmer, Technology Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, on Internet decentralization efforts
- Chris McAvoy, VP of Technology at Threadless, on "What Should You Build?"
- Ryan "Icculus" Gordon, professional Linux 3D game developer
- Vinod Kutty, CME Group, on migrating to Linux on x86
- Cathy Malmrose, CEO of ZaReason, on stress-testing Linux hardware
- Mark Meeker, Principal UI Engineer for Orbitz Worldwide, on real-world Web development
- Edward R. Swiderski III, partner at GreenCanyon, on "Is Software Licensing Still Relevant?"
- Daliah Saper, Principal of SaperLaw, on the legal aspects of open source
- Italo Vignoli, The Document Foundation, LibreOffice
- Mitch Altman, CEO of Cornfield Electronics, on forming communities
- Dru Lavigne, Community Manager of PC-BSD, on the PC-BSD desktop
- Dean Wampler, Principal of Aspect Research Associates, on Scala
Complete list of speakers at http://www.flourishconf.com/2011/speakers
WHEN
April 1 - 3, 2011
April 1, Evening Program
- Reception 4:00 - 4:30 p.m.
- Keynotes start at 4:30 p.m.
April 2, Day-Long Program
- Morning Reception 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
- Main conference starts at 10:00 a.m.
April 3, Mid-Day Program
- Morning Reception 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
- Day starts at 11:00 a.m
Certification exams take place from 11am - 3pm. Go to the Flourish! website for more details: http://www.flourishconf.com/2011/exams
Complete schedule will be available at http://www.flourishconf.com/2011/schedule
WHERE
UIC Student Center East
750 South Halsted Street
Chicago, IL
WHO
Flourish! is organized by the Computer Science department of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s (UIC’s) School of Engineering, as well as the University's Linux user group and chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). The conference is sponsored in part by GreenCanyon, Linux Journal, the Linux Professional Institute, Orbitz, O'Reilly, SourceForge, Times Two Technology, Threadless and Ubuntu.
HOW
Registration is free at http://www.flourishconf.com/2011/registration
Join Flourish on Facebook at http://facebook.com/flourishconf/
Conference updates and conversation-starters on Twitter at http://twitter.com/flourishconf/.
Flourish Conference 2011
Phil Gomes just emailed me to remind me that FlourishConf 2011 will be held April 1-3 this year.
They have some great speakers, including folks from Threadless, Nokia, 3Ware, ZaReason and the Open Source Digital Voting project.
The conference is well worth attending. Detailed schedule is coming soon.
The conference has a presence on Facebook (http://facebook.com/flourishconf) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/flourishconf/).
BigBlueButton: Open Source Web Conferencing
BigBlueButton is an open source solution that supports sharing of slides (PDF and PPT), video, chat, voice (using Asterisk), and desktops. The support site for BigBlueButton is a little sparse at the moment, but this looks to be an extremely useful (and cheap) way of running a webinar or videoconference.
Well worth checking out.
Flourish
For more information, and to RSVP, visit the Flourish website.