Acadiana Open Source Group

The second meeting of the Acadiana Open Source Group followed suit with the first meeting and was a great success! Many thanks to the UL Computer Science Department for the use of their very accommodating facilities, Great Cajun Cooking for donating refreshments, and last but not least booksXYZ for continuing to host this web site.

Frank Ducrest gave an excellent and entertaining presentation on the Alice programming language. Frank intends to conduct workshops in the near future for those would might have an interest in learning how to program and have no previous experience, particularly middle and high school students. More information on these workshops will be posted as it becomes available. Ryan Farnell followed up with an interesting and informative presentation on the Ruby programming language. Slides for both talks will be posted within the next few days.

A few announcements:

• A poll was taken and members opted to continue having monthly meetings on the last Thursday of each month.
• Mozilla has begun their Spread Firefox campaign in preparation for the release of Firefox 3. They've asked users to pledge to download in order to set a world record for the highest number of downloads on the first day of a major web browser release.
  
• An operating system installation "party" is tentatively (depending on the interest level of members) planned for Saturday, June 21 at 2 PM. It will take place at the Lafayette Public Library. Members interested in participating are asked to RSVP on this forum thread. Suggestions for methods to publicize the event are welcome.
• The Capital Area Corporate Recycling Council collects used computer components and recycles them into usable low-cost systems that often go to academic and non-profit organizations. It has been suggested that AOS conduct a Computer Recycling Drive in an effort to help the CACRC further their cause. Members are encouraged to donate and can use this forum thread to coordinate related efforts.
• Cajun PHP is looking for prospective authors interested in writing PHP-related articles for their web site.
• Unfortunately, no entries have been received for the logo contest. The deadline has been extended to the next meeting. After that point, if there is still no interest in member contributions, the original suggestion for a logo will be adopted.
• We're always looking for speakers to put on the schedule for future meetings. Likewise, we want to be aware of topics of interest to members. Please offer contributions where you're able in these areas!
• We're also always looking for sponsors to donate refreshments and door prizes for meetings. Please see the Contact section of the web site and let us know how you'd like to help. Organizations who sponsor meetings are given a link to their web site from this one.
  

An article on open source has been submitted to UL Today that's made the front page of the web site! The article is entitled Open Source: What It Is and Why You Should Care and is aimed primarily at those involved in academia. This is a great plug for open source in the local community, so be sure to check it out!

You may have noticed that there's now a new Slides section in the navigation at the top of the web site. We'll be requesting that speakers using slides for their presentations at meetings either post them online or provide them in electronic format so that they can be linked to from the Slides section of the web site for members to view and download.

Also, we're holding a contest to come up with a logo for the Acadiana Open Source Group. We're actively seeking suggestions for concepts or actual electronic images. You can find more information and further discuss the contest in this forum thread.

All Acadiana residents with an interest in open source technologies are
invited to attend the May 2008 meeting of the Acadiana Open Source Group on Thursday, May 29 at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be held in conference room 101 of the Advanced Computer Technology and Research building on UL campus thanks to arrangements made by faculty of the Computer Science Department for us to use their facilities. Attendees may park in Zone 13. See this map for locations of both areas.

Frank Ducrest and Ryan Farnell will be doing a joint presentation on programming basics with the Alice and Ruby programming languages. Experienced programmers and those with no programming experience are encouraged to attend. Please remember to help to spread the word about the meeting to family, friends, classmates, and colleagues!

The April 2008 meeting of the Acadiana Open Source Group was a huge success! We filled the seats with a great crowd, everyone from high school students to retirees, newbies to seasoned developers and administrators. Several people were able to introduce projects in the works. A good time was had by all socializing with familiar faces and as well as new ones. Thanks to all who came out and to those that helped to organize the meeting and make it happen.

Anyone interested in having a particular topic presented or speaking on a particular topic are asked to post in the forums with their name, topic description, and availability so we can coordinate a speaker schedule. Please use the forums to advertise projects in which you are involved that are or use open source software. For contributing general information on open source software, please use the wiki.

The next meeting is likely to take place sometime during the last week of May. Please post any preference as to days or times of day to the forums. It has also been suggested that an event be held where individuals with experience installing various open source operating systems can bring laptops and perform installations for the benefit of other attendees. Suggestions on a date and venue for this are also welcome.

We look forward to seeing you all again at our next event!