[Linux-aus] April update from Linux Australia

Thu Apr 12 17:24:12 AEST 2018

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone had a great Easter break. How is it April already?

We're back with another edition of
what's-the-LA-Council-and-broader-community-been-up-to for your reading
pleasure.

        linux.conf.au Ghosts meeting

Last weekend, several previous Conference Directors of linux.conf.au and
key core team members met with the Christchurch linux.conf.au 2019 team
to do a formal handover and knowledge sharing session. On behalf of the
Council, I'd like to extend a huge thank you to David Bell, Stephen
Walsh, Steven Ellis, Cherie Ellis, James Polley, Joel Addison, Michael
Davies, Michael 'LT' Ellery, Joshua Hesketh, Andrew Ruthven and of
course the LCA2019 team, so ably led by Steven Sykes and Lisa Sands.
'Ghosts' is a vital part of helping deliver a safe, well-organised and
world-class event.

https://lca2019.linux.org.au/

        Linux Australia Face to Face meeting

This weekend, Linux Australia Council is converging in Melbourne for two
days to do our regular face to face meeting. Face to face is a great way
to help ensure an effective and efficient Council by building strong
relationships, providing space for robust debate and formulating
concrete action plans. The key topics we'll be discussing are

  * budget review (we're midway in our annual budget) - are our
    projections correct, and should we adjust any budget items?
  * policy review - especially in light of new Data Breach legislation
  * key projects - such as MemberDB and website renewal
  * relationships and stakeholders - which organisations should we
    building closer relationships with, how our existing relationships
    are faring and what actions we should be taking next.
  * Funding request from Drupal Association - we've been asking to
    contribute to Drupal Association's fundraising activities
  * Linux Australia event progress review - where we check on progress
    of LA events and consider post event reports
  * to determine what continuous improvement actions we need to take. 
  * Consideration of which functions, if any, we should move to paid
    outsourcing. Social media is high on this list - no one on Council
    or Media Team has time to do it justice at the moment.

        Linux Australia Grants program 2018

We're very close to opening this year's Grants Program. We're going to
slightly alter the application process this year to allow the community
to provide feedback without having to subscribe to the broader linux-aus
mailing list.

If you want a recap of the Grants we made in 2017, the best place to
read up on them is our 2017 Annual Report -
https://mirror.linux.org.au/pub/linux-aus

        Internet Freedom Hack

We're delighted to be sponsoring Internet Freedom Hack, which happens on
20-21st April in Melbourne and Brisbane.

Internet Freedom Hack is a community event that brings technologists
with a passion for digital rights together for a weekend to build things
that advance the cause of internet freedom. On Saturday, special guest
presenters will deliver talks and facilitate conversations with renowned
digital rights experts across Australia. Registration is now open at:

https://internetfreedomhack.org/

Or follow the hashtag #DefendingTruthHack at
https://twitter.com/hashtag/DefendingTruthHack?src=hash

        WordCamp Sydney

WordPress fan? Who isn't? In Sydney? WordCamp Sydney 2018 is in early
planning stages. Keep updated at;

https://2018.sydney.wordcamp.org/

        Pycon AU

Pycon AU, led by Katie McLaughlin, will be opening #CfP soon. Get your
Python talk proposals warmed up!

http://2018.pycon-au.org/

        auDA

Last year, you'll recall that I called for the resignation of the
then-Chair of auDA due to concerns about transparency of operations. We
continue to watch with interest the changes at auDA, including
anticipating the findings of the recent government review of Australia's
.au domain management -
https://www.communications.gov.au/have-your-say/review-australias-au-domain-management.

Keep up to date with auDA news at;
https://www.auda.org.au/news/

        Branding update, Membership Platform and Website refresh

You might recall that we launched our branding update at our AGM at
LCA2018 in Sydney. We've gradually rolled our brand out to most of our
digital channels - except the website - but if you find an old Linux
Australia logo that needs a coat of paint, do let us know. I'd like to
give a special mention here to Janet Hawtin for her previous work on the
old Linux Australia logo. It served us well for over a decade.

We have engaged AgileWare to provide detailed quotes for CiviCRM on
WordPress, hosted on our infrastructure. I have also requested AgileWare
to quote on a voting module to replace MemberDB, to facilitate
elections. Updates as work on this front progresses.

We're in the early stages of planning our Website refresh, and again if
you'd like to have input - what works, what doesn't, what you'd like to
see etc, we'd welcome your feedback. At this point, I'd like to give a
big shout out to Peter Lieverdink and Joshua Hesketh, who have both
given considerable time and energy to our web presence over the last
decade. Thank you.

That's all for now, but as always we warmly welcome your feedback,
comments and questions.

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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