[kwlug-disc] Linux Conference

[Colin Mills]

To be honest, I am trying to create a small foundation for a conference
within the KW area. That will take work, and my expectations for the first
few years would be to grow our attendance from 2-10. My goals are not
lofty. The problem I see too often is that Linux (or UNIX) is often taught
in a way that is non-communal and doesn't focus on a bigger scope (nor
should it). One big aspect for me within the Open Source community is just
that, the community. I mean sure, people may know how to use GDB and to use
GCC to compile their programs as students or individuals. But its the
people within the LUGS and BUGS that really get the communal aspect out
there. Linux is a hobby for most, and many people are not exposed to the
idea that people use Linux in your daily lives. I was thinking more or less
marketing it towards both those who want to learn something new as well as
those who only know Linux through school. KW I thought would make a prime
target for this kind of conference due to its nature of education and
academia. Most distros have a U Of W mirror, and I believe that it should
be capitalized on.


Another thing that I would just like to mention is that I have a couple of
talks prepared myself. And even if we could get a bigger LUG event planned
for most of the area it would be better then nothing. I am just looking for
an accessible medium for everybody. Yet I know that it will take work and
effort but I do believe it can be done. I just want to start a small
platform that is in existence. If this means further developing the KWLUG
to be bigger or to hold bigger events than that can be an option. I am just
glad I am stirring conversation. Thanks to everyone for their participation.

* Just my two cents.

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Colin J. Mills (cjm)
FOSS <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software> Advocate

Software Engineering Technology
Second Year
Conestoga College
Canada

"makepkg, not war"
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On Sat, Jun 6, 2015 at 5:26 PM, B. S. <bs27975 at yahoo.ca> wrote:

>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Nick Guenther <nguenthe at uwaterloo.ca>
> > To: KWLUG discussion <kwlug-disc at kwlug.org>
> > Cc:
> > Sent: Saturday, June 6, 2015 4:01 PM
> > Subject: Re: [kwlug-disc] Linux Conference
> >
> >
> > ... . The more content we create (computer or otherwise) the
> > more fractured we become.
>
> Hadn't thought of it that way, but that's a very interesting and salient
> point.
>
> > ... I prefer
>
> > workshops and hackathons to presentations and advocacy; at least with
> those you
> > can come home with a new toy. Colin, could you incorporate that into
> your plan?
> >
> > I wish there was OkC for programming collaborations.
>
> There's some resonance there I hadn't thought of in this thread -
> workshops. Which, I think, has been oft asked for, in essence. I believe
> within kwlug, but also in the wider community / area, as well. If a
> workshop delivers 'a solution', it may well be OS agnostic as well,
> interesting to a wider audience.
>
> I'm not talking installfests, although that isn't precluded. I'm minded of
> the SFD (Software Freedom Day) seminars on photography (computer
> post-processing / management, etc.) which seem to be well attended. (But
> inevitably get bogged down in the early stages.) I could easily see the
> same for Raspberry Pi's, although that may intrude upon kwartzlab. (But I
> doubt they'd mind / would be interested in partnership.) I'm not suggesting
> this is Colin's bent, but the general idea seems germane.
>
> Clearly costs can't be too much - Bob Day, IIRC, tried this having
> purchased a number of laptops and offering seminars. I don't believe it
> lasted all that long. I assume due to cost and to the difficulty of
> gathering that many (kernel development?) interested attendees within this
> geographical area, given the cost.
>
> Even without such costs, I'd guess Khalid could comment upon such workshop
> viability, given the Drupal ones regularly held around here.
>
> But if a series of workshops were well attended and collected together ...
> do you not have the beginnings of a larger event? Which could grow over
> time, as Digimer suggests?
>
>
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