open source

Students of BITS Pinali are organizing the next OSScamp. The open source unconference is scheduled between March 12-14, along with TEDx Pilani. The organizers are seeking active participation by the community and the industry to create a successful event and spread awareness for open source in the Pilani region.

Schedule

March 12:

• 08pm - 10pm: Social Sandbox: Open Source, Unconferences, India
• 10pm - 12am: Sessions and Talks (4 Slots Available)
• 12am - 02am: FOSS Hackathon

March 13:

• Daytime: TEDx Pilani
• 04pm - 06pm: Install Fest
• 08pm - 10pm: Sessions & Talks (4 Slots Available)
• 10pm - 12am: Games Fest
• 12am - 02am: Social Sandbox: Using FOSS

March 14:

• 11am - 01pm: FOSS Projects Demonstrations

Besides this, a special FOSS Den will be open during the daytime for people to visit and learn more about FOSS. The FOSS Den will be an open exhibition hall for FOSS Projects. There will be video presentations on comparisons between open source and proprietary softwares and chart displays in the room. Volunteers will be there to present these to the visitors.

The organizers will also work out a mechanism for participants of OSScamps to attend TEDx Pilani as well.

Travelling to Pilani

Best Ways to Travel Pilani:

• From Delhi (about 6 Hrs by Bus)
• From Jaipur (about 6 Hrs by Bus)

Unlike other towns, Pilani is not accessible by rail. The nearest rail stations are Chirawa (16 km) and Loharu (25 km). Jaipur is 220 km from Pilani and Delhi is 210 km and well connected by road.

Accommodation at Pilani

Accommodation is available in BITS Pilani Guest House for particpants (coming from outside Pilani) on a First-Come-First-Serve Basis. Only 15 slots are available. Please contact Aastha on the number mentioned to make necessary arrangements.

Support Required

The organizers need help in the organisation of this OSScamp in the following ways:

• participation at the event
• promote the event by spreading the word about the event - tweet, blog posts, social networks - use the hashtag #osscamp
• suggest/connect with foss projects so that they can set up displays at the FOSS Den (expo) and promote themselves
• contribute linux installation media and goodies for the event

Contact

• Aastha Mehta - +91 99506 76030
• Ninad Pundalik - +91 99835 26855
• Kinshuk Sunil - +91 99100 24895

More Details

• OSScamp Pilani - http://pilani.osscamp.in
• TEDx Pilani - http://www.tedxpilani.com
• Apogee 2010 - http://bits-apogee.org

In a series of community-driven unconferences targeted specifically at promoting FOSS implementation and development in India, OSScamp organized its first meet of the year at Amity School Of Engg. and Technology. OSScamp is India's largest unconference on open source. They bring together the best brains and the most passionate technologists and enthusiasts under one roof and create a platform for sharing best practices, experiences, and knowledge. OSScamp Delhi January 2010 saw 120 participants come together to celebrate technology.

OSScamp Delhi saw IT professionals, Enthusiasts and Students come together to discuss and shape the future of open source in India. It was a unique experience for everyone including the students, many of whom were novices to the area of Open Source.

The session began with a meticulous analysis of Open Source, what it means for us and an introduction to the OSScamp community by Kinshuk Sunil. It was enriching to discover the innumerable opportunities that Open Source provides to students. The session continued with a hands-on talk on Version control that included a demonstration of Git by Pratul Kalia. It was demystifying to learn that Git is a great way to implement version control in projects, big or small, much simpler and efficient as compared to SVN. Every session was followed by an open house discussion, where participants put forward their queries as well as suggestions.

P Sugathan, from IUAC, then took the participants along a crash course on deployment of Open Source in Science and Research. His presentation can be found at the OSScamp Slideshare group.

An interesting demonstration of building Facebook applications and ways to earn through it, by Anshu Verma, was a highlight of the unconference. Using FBML-Facebook Markup Language, and its objects was made easy through the interactive presentation.

Ravi Sagar and Pratul Kalia, then, talked about Drupal, which is a free and open source Content Management System written in PHP. It is an excellent platform for beginners to create their own visually appealing and interactive web sites. A special session was provided to introduce newbies to Drupal. This was an excellent way to spur everyone’s interest towards the new avenues of open source. Later on, Babul Gogoi talked about the various avenues and benefits of open source for NGOs and how, actually, open source is helping us shape the world around us.

The unconference saw numerous Social Sandboxes, where the students got an opportunity to interact with the industry participants and share their own ideas. The camp has provided us with the required encouragement and a blend of prospects to work upon.

All in all, the event was a major success for all participants and students where everyone discovered something novel. We hope to get a chance to organize many more such OSScamps in the future.