linux.conf.au 2012 News

Outstanding talks to take centre stage at linux.conf.au 2012

Submitted on 2012-01-11 15:58

Ballarat, 11 January 2012

With only four days to go until the opening of Ballarat's linux.conf.au 2012, the conference is quickly becoming the talk of the town. Naturally it is the talks themselves that make the conference and 2012 gives delegates more chances to see more talks!

As Conference Director Josh Stewart explained, Delegates are sure to be impressed with the array and calibre of Speakers.

"We're really fortunate this year to be able to bring so many renowned community luminaries to Ballarat to share their experience and knowledge with delegates."

Tuesday will see Co-Founder of the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and creator of the Open Source Definition, Bruce Perens, given the first conference keynote. Other highlights from Tuesday include Jonathan Corbet's now-traditional kernel report, presentations on optimising web performance by Lenz Gschwendtner and even a talk on high altitude ballooning by Joel Stanley and Mark Jessop. Laura Thomson and her colleagues from Mozilla will also present on migrating enormous volumes of data.

Australia's favourite mad scientist, Perl developer Paul Fenwick, will keynote Wednesday's line up. He will be followed by, among others, Alice Boxhall and Silvia Pfeiffer presenting on developing accessible web applications, a shell tutorial by University of New South Wales computer scientist Peter Chubb and a talk on mentoring in free and open source (FOSS) communities by Open Source Outreach Manager for Oregon State University’s Open Source Lab, Leslie Hawthorn. Linux Australia's Annual General Meeting (AGM) will also be held as part of Wednesday's schedule.

On Thursday, open source luminary, ex-Software Freedom Law Centre counsel and current Executive Director of the GNOME project, Karen Sandler will keynote. Other highlights from Thursday's programme include a presentation on the Android open accessory development kit from open hardware guru Jon Oxer, talks on copyright and ending software patents by Ben Powell and Ben Sturmfels. Founders of the Ada Initiative - a group dedicated to furthering the representation of women in open technology and culture - Valerie Aurora and Mary Gardiner will also present around women in open source.

Thursday night's Penguin dinner will also play host to an as yet unannounced mystery speaker!

Significant interest surrounds Friday's keynote speaker, Jacob Appelbaum (better known as @ioerror on Twitter). Widely noted for his interest in computer security and stance against censorship, Jacob was one of the team behind exposing vulnerabilities in hardware after physical shutdown - the so called 'cold boot' attack.

Part of the final day of the conference, Friday 20th January, has been dedicated to showcasing 'best of' talks. A common lament of linux.conf.au delegates from years past has been the disappointment in missing 'the presentation' that everyone is talking about. The Best-Of slots allow for these amazing talks to be experienced by as many delegates as possible (or even experienced again for those who were blown away the first time around).

linux.conf.au will be held 16th-20th January 2012 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Registrations are still open, but places are now limited.

Web: http://lcaunderthestars.org.au
Twitter and Identi.ca: @linuxconfau
Registrations: http://linux.conf.au/register/prices
Tentative schedule: http://linux.conf.au/programme/schedule

Media enquiries are warmly welcomed to media@lcaunderthestars.org.au

linux.conf.au 2012 set to shine in Ballarat

Submitted on 2012-01-10 21:27

Ballarat, 11th January 2012

With only days to go until the covers come off 2012's linux.conf.au at the University of Ballarat, excitement is definitely mounting. The conference will welcome four stellar keynote speakers, including internet freedom and anti-censorship campaigner Jacob Appelbaum, GNOME Executive Director Karen Sandler, noted open source campaigner Bruce Perens and Australia's favourite mad scientist Paul Fenwick.

Preparations are in full swing. Conference Director Josh Stewart is particularly pleased with progress to date.

"The Organising Team are an amazing group of people - they're just so dedicated. Everything is coming together well, and we're looking forward to a hosting a conference that is thought provoking, entertaining and most importantly of all, great fun".

One of the challenges the conference team faced in Ballarat was ensuring that delegates had no troubles reaching the venue, with the city being located around an hour out of Melbourne. Stewart was confident that this focus paid off

"We've organised buses to ferry people both from Melbourne Airport and from Ballarat Train Station to the University and other accommodation venues. We have a conference Wiki page to allow people to arrange shared rides, hangout with other delegates on the train or find out the best way to get from A to B".

The first day of the conference, Monday 16th, will play host to eight Mini conferences - sessions focussed around specific topics. The 2012 Miniconferences include:

Sysadmin
Open Programming
High availability and distributed storage
Arduino open hardware
Business of Open Source
Music and Multimedia
Browser Miniconf
Business of Open Source
Haecksen / LinuxChix

The remaining four days of the conference will see over 70 presentations by notable speakers in the Linux and free and open source software (FOSS) community. Industry luminaries including Jonathan Corbett, Florian Haas and Jonathan Oxer are all confirmed.

"The Speaker line up is simply amazing. We've got something for everyone, ranging from deeply technical tutorials to presentations covering legal aspects of open source software and hardware" noted Stewart.

linux.conf.au will be held 16th-20th January 2012 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Registrations are still open, but places are now limited.

Web: http://lcaunderthestars.org.au
Twitter and Identi.ca: @linuxconfau
Registrations: http://linux.conf.au/register/prices
Tentative schedule: http://linux.conf.au/programme/schedule

Media enquiries are warmly welcomed to media@lcaunderthestars.org.au

Humanitarian FOSS Miniconf cancelled

Submitted on 2011-12-13 22:21

The core organising team of linux.conf.au 2012 wishes to advise participants that the Humanitarian Free and Open Source (HFOSS) Miniconf has been cancelled due to a lack of talk submissions.

However, this leaves eight Miniconfs going ahead, including;

Arduino
Sysadmin
Haecksen / LinuxChix
Music and Multimedia
Business of Open Source
High availability and storage
Open Programming
Browser

The team would like to send a special thanks to Tim McNamara for all of his efforts in attempting to bring the HFOSS Miniconf to fruition.

Jacob Appelbaum watches the watchers - fourth keynote for linux.conf.au 2012 announced

Submitted on 2011-11-29 23:02

Does internet censorship interest you?

Ever worried about the state of surveillance on the internet - and just who has access to your private data?

So does Jacob Appelbaum!

Jacob Appelbaum (@ioerror, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Appelbaum) is a renowned independent internet security professional, accomplished photographer, software hacker and world traveller.

A developer for The Tor Project, Appelbaum trains interested parties globally on how to effectively use and contribute to the Tor network. Since its initial release, Tor has enabled roughly 36 million people around the world to experience freedom of access and expression on the Internet while keeping them in control of their privacy and anonymity. Its network has proved pivotal in dissident movements in both Iran and more recently Egypt.

A driving force in the team behind the creation of the Cold Boot Attacks, Appelbaum won both the Pwnie for Most Innovative Research award and the Usenix Security best student paper award in 2008. Additionally, he was part of the MD5 Collisions Inc. team that created a rogue CA certificate by using a cluster of 200 PlayStations funded by the Swiss taxpayers. The "MD5 considered harmful today" research was awarded the best paper award at CRYPTO 2009.

He is also a staff research scientist at the University of Washington Security and Privacy lab. Appelbaum is also a founding member of the hacklab Noisebridge in San Francisco where he indulges his interests in magnetics, cryptography and consensus based governance.

To whet your appetite before his keynote at linux.conf.au 2012, you can watch some of Jacob's previous presentations below:

linux.conf.au 2012

Registrations for linux.conf.au are now open!
The draft conference schedule is available at: http://linux.conf.au/programme/schedule
Media enquiries are warmly welcomed to media@lcaunderthestars.org.au

linux.conf.au will be held 16th-20th January 2012 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. http://lcaunderthestars.org.au and @linuxconfau on Twitter and Identica.

With its stellar line up, linux.conf.au 2012 should be on your horizon!

Submitted on 2011-11-19 08:50

Ballarat, 19 November 2011

With nine Miniconferences accepted, and three keynote speakers already announced, preparations are in full swing for linux.conf.au 2012, to be held in Ballarat, Victoria 16-20th January.

Conference Director Josh Stewart was particularly pleased at progress to date.
"We've got some huge names lined up to keynote, including Karen Sandler, Executive Director of the Gnome Foundation, Bruce Perens - the creator of the Open Source Definition, and the community's own favourite Mad Scientist Paul Fenwick. We still have one keynote up our sleeve, but it's a very closely guarded secret!".

The conference schedule boasts a number of perennial favourites, including Jon Oxer, Andrew Tridgell of Samba, Valerie Aurora and Mary Gardiner of The Ada Initiative, Bdale Garbee and Jonathan Corbet. A number of new speakers are also on board for the first time, including software freedom advocate Ben Sturmfels. The number of accepted talks by female presenters was the highest on record, at just shy of 25%, speaking volumes about the ever-increasing diversity of the Linux and free and open source software community.

Registrations for the conference are filling up fast.

Early Bird registration for the conference sold out just before the early bird close of end of October. Stewart was enthusiastic at the response.
"There was of course the usual rush just before Early Bird closed, and the whole team was sitting there with anticipation watching as we sold out! It's a great indication of the interest in the conference."

For those interested in the conference, but for whom professional registration is out of reach, there are a number of alternative options, including Hobbyist and Student registration. Volunteer nominations are also welcome. Volunteers are given a free ticket to the conference in exchange for four days' volunteer work undertaking tasks such as audio visual, ushering and administration duties.

Registration pricing options: http://linux.conf.au/register/prices
Volunteer nomination: http://linux.conf.au/register/volunteer

linux.conf.au will be held 16th-20th January 2012 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. http://lcaunderthestars.org.au and @linuxconfau on Twitter and Identica. Registrations are now open and a tentative schedule is at: http://linux.conf.au/programme/schedule
Media enquiries are warmly welcomed to media@lcaunderthestars.org.au

Miniconfs are reaching for a star - you!

Submitted on 2011-11-15 00:10

BALLARAT, 15 November 2011

The Miniconf organisers have been working hard to put together a stellar array of talks for the first day of linux.conf.au. A limited number of Miniconfs still have some open presentation spots - your chance to shine!

Open programming

CfP: http://tinyurl.com/opm2012-proposal
Tentative schedule: http://lca2012.linux.org.au/wiki/index.php/Miniconfs/OpenProgramming

Open programming Miniconf organiser Christopher Neugebauer was enthusiastic with submissions so far.

"We've had an excellent response to the Open Programming Miniconf CfP so far, including an encouraging range of talks catering to the growing community of web developers. That said, we're still looking to fill some more spaces with great talks for linux.conf.au's developer community."

Christopher indicated that while he'd warmly welcome talks on Python, Perl and C in particular, he was also eager to entertain submissions on lesser known languages.

"If it's for developers we'd love to see it!"

Business of Open Source

CfP: http://conf.linux.org.au/wiki/index.php/Miniconfs/BusinessOfOpenSourceMiniconf
Contact:Martin Michlmayr tbm at hp dot com

Business of Open Source Miniconf organiser Martin Michlmayer was equally positive.

"We're still warmly welcoming proposals around open source business topics, including building a community, commercial acquisition of open source projects, funding and venture capital, business strategies behind open source and open source governance and licensing."

Multimedia and music

CfP:http://www.annodex.org/events/lca2012_mmm/pmwiki.php/Main/CallForPapers
Tentative schedule: http://www.annodex.org/events/lca2012_mmm/pmwiki.php/Main/Timetable
Contact: Jonathan Woithe (jwoithe at atrad dot com dot au), Silvia Pfeiffer (silviapfeiffer1 at gmail dot com), Roderick Dolman (roderick.dornan at gmail dot com)

Jonathan Woithe, Multimedia and Music Miniconf organiser, was also impressed by submissions to date.

"Proposals have covered the many varied aspects of music and multimedia creation under Linux. What's more, we've seen a mix of submissions from both established speakers and those new to linux.conf.au - all of which have been of extremely high quality! The talks are definitely shaping up to be both informative and entertaining."

Jonathan too noted that there are a small number of presentation slots still open, with further submissions warmly welcomed.

"Presentations can be related to any aspect related to multimedia and music under Linux. Production, playback, composition: you name it and we'll welcome it!"

Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS)

CfP:http://hfoss-miniconf.info/
Contact: Tim McNamara (@TimClicks, hfoss-miniconf at timmcnamara dot co dot nz

Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software Miniconf organiser Tim McNamara echoed the thoughts of others, welcoming submissions around topics such as software that allows management of and recovery from disasters, emergency devops in disaster conditions, and privacy and authorisation issues under emergency conditions

The full list of accepted Miniconfs can be found at http://linux.conf.au/programme/miniconfs. Please note that Miniconf-only tickets are not available this year - we strongly encourage Miniconf submissions from conference attendees and/or main conference Speakers.

linux.conf.au will be held 16th-20th January 2012 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. http://lcaunderthestars.org.au and @linuxconfau on Twitter and Identica. Registrations are now open.

Media enquiries are warmly welcomed to media@lcaunderthestars.org.au

Will linux.conf.au Keynote Paul Fenwick hack your brain?

Submitted on 2011-11-04 23:16

Ballarat, 7 November 2011

The linux.conf.au 2012 team is proud to confirm Paul Fenwick as the 3rd keynote speaker for January's event. Renowned internationally as a humourous and entertaining speaker, Paul's presentation will cover known bugs and exploits - in your brain!

Paul had a twinkle in his eye as he explained further.

"Humans - as a species, we suck! The only real evolutionary advantage we have is our brains, and by using them we’ve become the dominant species on the planet. Our brains are superbly adapted for our survival and success in the environment in which they evolved - the African savanna 200,000 years ago. Our brains are not-at-all suited for modern life, and are plagued by a raft of bugs and unwanted features that we’ve been unable to remove."

An avid steampunk fan, Paul can usually be found in top hat and waistcoat, and he occasionally dons full Mad Scientist regalia.

A Perl specialist, Paul has over ten years of experience with Perl, and often writes for The Perl Journal. He is a sought after presenter at Melbourne Perl Mongers, regularly contributes to Perl 5 core and maintains Perl's Finance::Quote, Proc::UID, and Business::Payroll::AU::PAYG modules.

So, please join Paul and hundreds of other attendees for an intriguing tour of some of the most amusing bugs and exploits human wetware has to offer.

linux.conf.au will be held 16th-20th January 2012 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.http://lcaunderthestars.org.au and @linuxconfau on Twitter and Identica. Media enquiries are welcomed to the LCA2012 team at media@lcaunderthestars.org.au. Conference registrations are now open.

Image courtesy of Joshua Button, CC-BY license

Humanitarian free and open source software enlightens linux.conf.au

Submitted on 2011-10-20 07:42

Ballarat, 20 October 2011

Only hours after making their second keynote announcement, linux.conf.au organisers today confirmed that the Humanitarian Free and Open Source Miniconf (HFOSS) had been accepted. Designed to bring together community members with a passion for using Linux and other open source technologies to benefit to humanitarian, community organisations, the session is set to feature presentations on technologies which support emergency management, aid and community development. This year is the first time a Humanitarian Free and Open Source Miniconf has been accepted, representing the growing importance of the sector.

Miniconf organiser Tim McNamara was delighted at the news.

Calls for Participation are now open, and are welcomed through the Miniconf site at http://hfoss-miniconf.info/. Submissions are sought before 29th October. Tim can be contacted @TimClicks.

Miniconfs - miniature conferences - are community-organised sessions designed to bring together like-minded delegates with interests in a specific field. They are run within the framework of the broader event, and provide excellent opportunities for professional networking and developing presentation experience.

linux.conf.au will be held 16th-20th January 2012 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. http://lcaunderthestars.org.au and @linuxconfau on Twitter and Identica. Early bird registrations are open until the end of October.

Media enquiries are warmly welcomed to media@lcaunderthestars.org.au

Genetic Engineering at home? The Second Revolution of open source - Keynote by Bruce Perens

Submitted on 2011-10-19 17:19

BALLARAT, 19 October 2011

Genetic engineering at home? Teaching science on a low budget? Fully open mobile and wireless devices? The design and manufacture of development tools? Is it possible?

Yes.

Join open source luminary Bruce Perens as he explores the Second Revolution of Open Source - Open Hardware.

Open Hardware is a movement dedicated to creating physical objects under the same terms and principles as Open Source Software. That is, their design and manufacture yields freedoms such as the ability to run the hardware for any purpose, study it, change it and share it with others.

Bruce Perens

World reknowned as a leader in the Free Software and Open Source community, Bruce Perens is creator of the Open Source Definition , the manifesto of the Open Source movement in Software. He's founder or co-founder of;

Perens released his first Free Software program, Electric Fence, in 1987. He is also creator of Busybox, which has spawned its own development community and is part of many consumer devices.

Perens was vice president at Sourcelabs from 1995 to 1997, and was series editor of the Bruce Perens' Open Source Series of books with Prentice Hall PTR publishers, which published 24 titles. Perens spent two years with HP as Senior Global Strategist for Linux and Open Source, and was president of Linux Capital Group, a venture fund that specialized in Linux. Perens spent 20 years in the computer graphic animation industry, 12 of them at Pixar Animation Studios. He has a credit on the films 'A Bug's Life' and 'Toy Story II'.

Media enquiries are warmly welcomed to media@lcaunderthestars.org.au

Open source: Open for business at Australia's premier Linux conference

Submitted on 2011-10-11 22:00

BALLARAT, 11 October 2011

Adding to the stellar array of Miniconfs already confirmed, organisers today announced that Business of Open Source would also feature at January's Ballarat-based Linux Conference Australia. Chosen from a competitive field of proposals, the Miniconf promises to cover topics of particular interest to those working in or on open source-based businesses. Licensing your work, building a community, market research, communications, government and media liaison and procurement will all be up for discussion at the full day event.

The Miniconf will be organised jointly by Martin Michlmayr of Hewlett-Packard and Bob Waldie of OpenGear. Both were over the moon at the announcement. "It's great to be able to bring a business-themed day to LCA to help demonstrate through case studies the commercial viability of free and open source software (FOSS). The Miniconf will be of particular interest to developers and business people seeking to develop and market FOSS solutions to industry and government. Enterprises and other entities considering deployment of FOSS within their organisations will also get significant value from the sessions."

So - whether you are a student working on a one-person open source project, own your open source consulting company or create open source strategy for a multi-billion dollar company, there will be something at the Business of Open Source Miniconf for you!

The Call for Papers (CfP) is now open until 6th November.

linux.conf.au will be held 16th-20th January 2012 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. http://lcaunderthestars.org.au and @linuxconfau on Twitter and Identica.

Media enquiries are warmly welcomed to media@lcaunderthestars.org.au