Chris Tyler's Blog - FSOSS

Come and Speak at FSOSS 2010

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:24:09 -0400

The 9th Annual Free Software and Open Source Symposium (FSOSS, "eff-sauce") is coming up on October 28th and 29th, here at Seneca College in Toronto. This is a great event with a wide-ranging, eclectic mix of workshops and presentations.

I've been involved in planning FSOSS for the past few years, but stepped back a bit to catch my breath this year. Mary Lynn Manton has stepped up to the task of chairing this year's event with Rose Saliba, who is co-chairing for her third year.

FSOSS is still looking for interesting workshops and presentations on a variety of open source topics. If you're working with open source in any way, this could be a great opportunity -- please check out http://fsoss.ca and submit a presentation proposal right away!

FSOSS Presentation Slate

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:55:20 -0400

The presentation slate for FSOSS 2009 has been finalized, and it looks like a interesting and diverse line-up including such topics as:

Apache Qpid (AMQP)
technical writing and documentation
Mozilla Dehydra and DXR tools
Processing.js
open source in South Africa's universities
communication in open source projects

...and more.

I'm looking forward to a great conference! If you're within driving distance of Toronto, please consider joining us on October 30. Advance registration -- and the corresponding discount -- ends this weekend as the Toronto Open Source Week gets underway.

Early-bird Discounts for FSOSS End Wednesday

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:21:48 -0400

Just a quick reminder: early-bird discounts for the Free Software and Open Source Symposium (FSOSS) end on Wednesday. The discounts are 50% or more, so plan ahead and save! (Seneca students: remember that Volunteers get in for free).

FSOSS 2009 - Call for Presentation Proposals

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:56:45 -0400

For the eighth year in a row, the Centre for Development of Open Technology at Seneca College is holding the Free Software and Open Source Symposium. This year's event will be on Friday, October 30, with optional hands-on workshops on Thursday, October 29. We're expecting around 300 open source developers, community leaders, business people, and students from Toronto, throughout Ontario, and around the world.

Are you passionate about an open source project? Do you have new insight into open source (or open content, or open formats)? Tell the world: we've put out a call for great presentation proposals on the FSOSS website.

Registration for FSOSS 2009 will open in June... and yes, we pronounce it "eff-sauce"!

TeachingOpenSource.org is Two Weeks Old

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:19:00 -0400

TeachngOpenSource.org has been running for two weeks now. So far we have:

over 100 posts to the mailing list
81 mailing list members
51 members of the wiki
a couple of dozen people who have dropped into the IRC channel #teachingopensource
an active blog planet
four projects under discussion on the list, three with some initial wiki content
plans for a monthly conference call

TeachingOpenSource.org is a collaboration point. There are still many open source communities, schools, companies, and organizations with educational initiatives operating in isolation. If you're in any way involved with or interested in supporting the teaching of community-based open source, please join us -- and if you know anyone working in this space, please help us get the word out.

TeachingOpenSource.org: Get on the List

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:46:00 -0500

Greg, you've made some fantastic points, but now you and everyone interested in the teaching of Open Source need to get on the TOS mailing list so we can work on the solutions

FSOSS in a Drawer

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:32:22 -0500

For those looking for video of the FSOSS sessions: we're working on loading and editing the tapes as quickly as possible -- but there's 126 of them, so it's going to take a while!

Watch for video links on the FSOSS 2008 site starting next week.

Mike Hoye is Awesome

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:45:57 -0500

Mike Hoye was awesome at FSOSS this year. Not only did he speak and arrange and MC two sessions of Pecha Kuchas, he also designed the wonderful FSOSS T-shirt (modelled front and back by Greg DeKoenigsberg below). I had intended to acknowledge Mike as the shirt designer in the program but somehow missed it -- my sincere apologies. Thank you, Mike, for everything!

Photo credit: James Boston (CC-BY-NC-SA)

Teaching Open Source - Getting on the Same Page

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:40:28 -0400

Last week at FSOSS we had a great track on Teaching Open Source. Greg's solid blog post from yesterday outlines some of the challenges and has set the ball rolling on a "Coalition of the Willing" (which I've expanded slightly -- you've got to love wikis).

I believe that Code Development is a form of Research, and that Open Source is Peer-Reviewed Publication. If those two statements were widely accepted, teaching Open Source would be a lot more paletable to many university professors. We must advance that position while accommodating the transition: in comments on Greg's posting, Dr. Jef Spaleta noted the need for a peer-reviewed journal on Open Source. I believe this could be a very positive interim step. (Jef, are you going to make it happen?)

In the shorter term, we need to ensure we understand one another when talking about teaching Open Source, and its become painfully obvious that the participants in many conversations are not even on the same page in terms of what it means to teach Open Source. In an attempt to help sort this out, I've created a rough sketch of a taxonomy of Open Source education. Please take a look and join the discussion.

FSOSS Begins

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:36:28 -0400

FSOSS 2008 begins in two hours. It's exciting to see months of preparation come to fruition as over 300 open source leaders, developers, users, and thinkers come together. I'm particularly excited about the Teaching Open Source track.

If you want to follow along at home, there's an FSOSS Planet and Flickr Tag in addition to the web site. We'll be shooting 126 hours of video over the next two days, which will eventually make it onto the web too.

Whether you say "Eff-Sauce" or "Free Software and Open Source Symposium", register now!

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:41:30 -0400

Once again the Free Software and Open Source Symposium will bring together a diverse group of developers, leaders, and thinkers in Open Source and Open Content. FSOSS 2008 will run October 23-24 at Seneca@York, Toronto. Early Bird discount are available until the end of the month -- next Tuesday -- but even the regular registration is a bargain :-) See the FSOSS website (http://fsoss.ca) for details.

FSOSS 2008 - Call for Presentation Proposals

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:49:17 -0400

The Seneca Free Software and Open Source Symposium (FSOSS 2008) is back -- bigger and better than ever -- for it's seventh year. We're calling for presentation proposals for this year's event, which will be held October 23-24 here in Toronto -- please see the web site for details, and circle those dates on your calendar!

FSOSS 2007 Begins

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:34:37 -0400

FSOSS 2007 is beginning. You can follow along from anywhere on the 'Net:

Flickr Photos will be posted throughout the day
the FSOSS:planet will aggregate blog postings
videos will be posted on the FSOSS web site after the event (and maybe even during it)

If you're in T.O. and didn't pre-register, we're opening up a few extra spots to accept walk-in registrations.

Free Software and Open Source Symposium Update

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 02:26:48 -0400

Just a reminder -- the Seneca Free Software and Open Source Symposium (FSOSS 2007) is coming up quickly. If you're interested in coming, now's the time to register!

This year, FSOSS run from Thursday, October 25 to Friday, October 26 and features talks by some of the open source community's best and brightest. I think this event is an absolute steal at $40 (advance price; $60 at the door) or $20 in advance if you are a student. This includes both lunches, a reception, and two full days of presentations.

As an incentive to register sooner rather than latter, all entries received by the end of the day on October 8 (Thanksgving Monday in Canada) will be entered in a draw for an iPod Nano. See the FSOSS site for details: http://fsoss.senecac.on.ca)

Free Software and Open Source Symposium (FSOSS 2007) Registration Open

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 08:06:43 -0400

This year I have the pleasure of co-chairing the Seneca Free Software and Open Source Symposium (FSOSS 2007). We've just opened the registration for this 6th edition of the event, which will run October 25-26 in Toronto. The speaker list includes many familiar names from projects such as OpenOffice.Org, OLPC, Python, Mozilla, DemocracyTV/Miro, and Creative Commons, as well as companies and organizations including IBM, SAP, Nokia, Environment Canada, and Microsoft. Check out the full details of this (very affordable!) event at http://fsoss.senecac.on.ca/