[Linux-aus] March update from Council

[Linux Australia President]

Hi everyone,

Hope this note finds you all well, and that those who are starting a
University year are enjoying it, and those of you with young ones at
school have had a smooth start to the year. Can you believe Easter is
almost upon us?!

This email is a quick update to keep you informed of Linux Australia
activities - and as always, questions, comments and feedback are warmly
welcomed.


        DrupalGov Canberra

Is on 27th March, and there have been record ticket sales. Huge kudos to
Si Hobbs, Rosie Gooch, and Chris Skene for all their efforts. Tix at
http://drupalgov.org/events/drupalgov-canberra-2017.


        WordCamps

We have progressed discussions with WordCamp.org - in essence we will be
partnering with them to help facilitate WordPress-based events -
WordCamps, WordPress-based Meetups and the like - in Australia. We still
have some details to work through, but both WordCamp.org and LA are
looking forward to making it easier for people to run WordPress-based
events in Australia.


        Linux Australia Grants Program

Thank you to all community members who have provided feedback in
response to Grant Applications; Council serves at the behest of the
community  - and your feedback is vital in ensuring we do your bidding.
Council have been in discussion with around 6-8 parties who are in the
formulation stage of Grant Applications, and the community should expect
more Grant Applications to start coming through. At the time of writing,
we have declined 1 Grant Application, and approved 0 Applications, with
a remaining $35k pool left.

We're delighted to be partnering with Melbourne based design agency,
Cartesian Creative, who are co-sponsoring up to $AUD 4k in Grants for
UX-related opensource Grant Applications. So, if there's an open source
product you want to love, but can't, because its UX sucks, now's the
opportunity to do something about it. A huge thanks to Duncan Macneil of
Cartesian Creative for his support. You might remember Duncan provided a
little song for us during LCA2016 Geelong lighting talks.


        Linux Australia now has a Facebook page

While some of this audience may not use Facebook, we're finding it's
increasingly useful in promoting events and advocating key messages.
You can follow LA on Facebook at - https://www.facebook.com/LinuxAustralia/


        Meeting with Internet Australia, Electronic Frontiers Australia
        and Linux Australia

We feel that there are potential areas of overlap and collaboration for
IA, EFA and LA, and the three organisations will be meeting this Friday
to discuss opportunities where we can partner for greater impact. Stay
tuned - as always we'll keep you updated on outcomes.


        Assessing insurance coverage

One of the services LA provides to events who choose to operate under
LA's auspices is a range of insurance cover. Hugh Blemings has taken the
lead on re-evaluating our insurance needs, and I'd like to publicly
thank him for his efforts here.


        GovHack 2017 - 28 to 30 July 2017

Although GovHack this year transitions from an LA event to an
independent organisation, we'd like to give them a bit of a shout out!
GovHack 2017 will be run 28 to 30 July - see govhack.org for more
details or to register your interest in volunteering.


        Maturing financial oversight for Subcommittees

On a more personal note, I'd like to extend my sincere thanks to Russell
Stuart - whom HUMBUG members will know. In his role as Treasurer on
Council, Russell has recently undertaken a huge amount of work in
maturing some of our financial procedures regarding Subcommittees, in
addition to arranging the transfer of banking account access after
Council elections. This detail administrative work is often under-valued
- and it shouldn't be. Much of our successes are often due to lots of
behind-the-scenes work by very diligent people. Thank you, Russell.

With kind regards,
Kathy
 

-- 
Kathy Reid
President
Linux Australia

0418 130 636

president at linux.org.au
http://linux.org.au

Linux Australia Inc
GPO Box 4788
Sydney NSW 2001
Australia

ABN 56 987 117 479 

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