[Linux-aus] Gov mashup hackfests in Canberra and Sydney

[Tim 'mithro' Ansell]

Hey guys,

All these events only have limited space (due to venue size
constraints). If you are interested please sign up ASAP.

I'm organising the event in Sydney and would be extremely stoked to see
a full 200 people turn up! While the even is hosted at Google, it is
primarily an event run by volunteers.

Website - http://hackfest.openaustralia.org
Sign Up - http://openaustralia.eventbrite.com


Tim 'mithro' Ansell

On Fri, 2009-10-23 at 22:23 +1100, Pia Waugh wrote:
> Hey all,
> 
> I wanted to pass this on because I think it is an awesome opportunity for
> our community to shine, and for us to do our part to support getting public
> access to government data. I'll be going to the Canberra mashup camp for a
> while, and the Open Australia event in Sydney. There is also a Google mashup
> event on this Wed the 28th October. All events at:
> 
>   http://mashupaustralia.org/events/
> 
> You could also run your own hackfest, perhaps use a LUG meeting or something
> for hacking. Just let the Mashup Australia people know if you do something
> so they can list it and get people along to your event :)
> 
> The outcomes of the events, the "mashups" can enter the competition up until
> the 13th November, and they've already had some entries.
> 
> It'd be seriously awesome to get as many FOSS community people along as
> possible. It is fairly web centric, but there are all kinds of people coming
> along.
> 
> Up front, I will say that this and some other projects are being "funded by
> Microsoft" as part of the Taskforce efforts, but please know that although
> it is technically Microsoft funding (actually it is a percentage of Gov
> spending on MS put aside for "innovation" spending), all funding is
> controlled by the Gov 2.0 Taskforce, which is a good group of people who
> care about largely the same stuff we do.  Openness, transparency, open
> standards, FOSS. Don't let the mere participation of Microsoft be a turn off
> from participating in the first serious look at reform for more openness in
> the Australian government - the Gov 2.0 agenda (whatever you think of the
> silly name :)) is really about opening access to public sector
> information/data and creating more transparency and collaboration in gov
> processes, and of course FOSS, open standards and open community methods
> play a huge potential part in that :)
> 
> I wrote a blog post about it for more links and information:
> 
>   http://pipka.org/blog/2009/10/15/opening-up-government-data-get-hacking-people/
> 
> Hope to see a few of you there :) Please forward this around to your FOSS
> usergroups.
> 
> Cheers,
> Pia
> 
> ----- Forwarded message from John Allsopp <john at webdirections.org> -----
> 
> Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:01:43 +1100
> From: John Allsopp <john at webdirections.org>
> To: greebo at pipka.org
> Subject: GovHack the the FOSS community
> 
> For those who may not have heard, the Australian Government 2.0 Taskforce 
> is supporting Govhack, a hacking day focusing on building mashups and web 
> applications using Australian Government Data, and other open data sources 
> and web services.
> 
> It's free, and takes place in Canberra at the end of October (yes, only 10 
> or so days away now).
> 
> Love to see many members of the FOSS community participate. Read on for 
> more or visit
> 
> http://govhack.org
> 
> and
> 
> http://govhack.eventbrite.com - to register
> 
> The event is an initiative of  the Australian Government 2.0 Taskforce, part of the  
> Federal government's Finance Department, and produced by Web Directions, 
> Gov Hack is a free, intensive day and a half of creating mashups and 
> applications with government data and services.
> Teams of developers work during the event to develop web based mashups and 
> applications using government data sources and services.
> 
> http://govhack.org
> 
> In summary
> 
>         - What: The first ever Australian Government supported hacking day
>         - When: October 30 and 31 2009 (you can come to one or both days, or hack 
> through the night at the venue)
> 	- Where: ANU - CSIT - Building 108 Canberra, Australia. Or you can attend 
> virtually!
> 	- Who Should attend: Web designers and developers, IAs, back-end  
> engineers, usablity and interaction experts, information visualization  
> gurus, graphic designers and anyone interested in developing applications, 
> mashups, visualizations, webapps and other creative uses of Australian 
> Government data
> 	- What will be provided?: Power, wifi, food, caffeine, inspirational  
> mentors, and the chance to connect with new collaborators. Cool prizes  
> will be available as well.
> 	- Price: Free, but RSVPs are essential
> 
> http://govhack.eventbrite.com
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> john
> 
> John Allsopp
> 
> ----- End forwarded message -----
> 
> Cheers,
> Pia
>