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<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Introduction">Introduction </span>
</h2>
<p>Hi there! We're pleased to bring you the first of what is
hopefully many editions of the Linux Australia Community
Newsletter. A newsletter is something we've been hoping to
establish for some time, and we'd warmly welcome your support and
advice in shaping it to bring you the news you want to read about
Linux and Open Source in Australia.
</p>
<p>We'd really love your support to help keep the newsletter ticking
along, and if you'd like to contribute as an editor, or if you
have a news story to share, please get in contact at <a
href="mailto:media@lists.linux.org.au" class="external text"
rel="nofollow">media@lists.linux.org.au</a>.
</p>
<p>-- Brianna Laugher, on behalf of the Media and Communications
Subcommittee
</p>
<h2> <span class="mw-headline" id="Council_news"> Council news</span></h2>
<p>By Kathy Reid, Secretary
</p>
<p>All Council minutes can be found at <a
href="http://linux.org.au/news" class="external free"
rel="nofollow">http://linux.org.au/news</a> .
</p>
<p>Recent meetings:
</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.linux.org.au/meeting/2013-04-24">24 April</a><br>
</li>
<li><a href="http://linux.org.au/meeting/2013-03-28"
class="external text" rel="nofollow">28 March</a>
</li>
<li> <a href="http://linux.org.au/meeting/2013-03-14"
class="external text" rel="nofollow">14 March</a>
</li>
<li> <a href="http://linux.org.au/meeting/2013-03-02"
class="external text" rel="nofollow">2-3 March (face to face)</a>
</li>
</ul>
<h3> <span class="mw-headline"
id="TasLUG_becomes_a_Subcommittee_of_Linux_Australia">TasLUG
becomes a Subcommittee of Linux Australia</span></h3>
<div class="floatright"><a
href="http://wiki.linux.org.au/File:Tasluglogo.gif"
class="image"><img alt="Tasluglogo.gif"
src="cid:part7.03050300.02090500@linux.org.au" height="99"
width="82"></a></div>
<p>Following a request by Craige McWhirter on behalf of TasLUG, the
Council considered and subsequently unanimously voted in favour of
their proposal to become a subcommittee of Linux Australia. The
anticipated benefits of working in this arrangement include
reduced administrative overhead for finance matters, better access
to insurance for events and the ability to leverage off Linux
Australia's infrastructure - such as MemberDB for elections. We'd
like to take the opportunity to warmly welcome TasLUG into the
Linux Australia family, and we're very positive and excited to be
working more closely together.
</p>
<ul>
<li> <a href="http://www.taslug.org.au" class="external free"
rel="nofollow">http://www.taslug.org.au</a>
</li>
</ul>
<h3> <span class="mw-headline"
id="Video_and_Streaming_Subcommittee_is_formed">Video and
Streaming Subcommittee is formed</span></h3>
<p>With thanks to Tim Ansell for his hard work on promoting the need
for a collaborative community in this space, we're excited to
announce that the Video and Streaming Subcommittee has also
recently been formed. It is intended that the Subcommittee
provides advice and guidance, where sought, for events run under
the Linux Australia umbrella.
</p>
<p>People interested in being part of the Subcommittee should
contact Tim Ansell on <a href="mailto:mithro@mithis.com"
class="external text" rel="nofollow">mithro@mithis.com</a>.
</p>
<h3> <span class="mw-headline"
id="Media_and_Communications_Subcommittee">Media and
Communications Subcommittee</span></h3>
<p>With thanks to Brianna Laugher and Bianca Gibson, and many people
who were interested in forming such a group, the Media and
Communications Subcommittee has been formed. The mandate of the
Subcommittee includes production of a regular Linux Australia
community newsletter, and helping to give Linux Australia and
related events and groups a stronger voice in the media. We'd love
for you to be involved! Just drop a line to <a
href="mailto:media@lists.linux.org.au" class="external text"
rel="nofollow">media@lists.linux.org.au</a>.
</p>
<h2> <span class="mw-headline" id="Upcoming_events"> Upcoming
events </span></h2>
<p>Keep up to date with all Linux Australia events on our Events
Calendar - <a href="https://www.linux.org.au/events"
class="external free" rel="nofollow">https://www.linux.org.au/events</a>
</p>
<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="WordCamp_Melbourne">WordCamp
Melbourne</span></h3>
<p><a href="http://wiki.linux.org.au/File:Wordcampmelbournelogo.png"
class="image"><img alt="Wordcampmelbournelogo.png"
src="cid:part13.03020109.03030704@linux.org.au" height="198"
width="606"></a>
</p>
<p>WordCampMelbourne will be held on the weekend of 27-28 April at
RMIT's Storey Hall in Melbourne. WordCamp is a conference for
WordPress enthusiasts, designers, developers, or anyone who is
using WordPress for business or pleasure. We will have a range of
speakers covering a broad series of topics, showing the incredible
variety of uses for WordPress, from content management, blogging
to e-commerce, community building, and beyond. In a first, tickets
have sold out a week before the event. Awesome work by the event
team!
</p>
<ul>
<li> Website: <a href="http://2013.melbourne.wordcamp.org"
class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://2013.melbourne.wordcamp.org</a>
</li>
<li> Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/wcmelb"
class="external free" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/wcmelb</a>
</li>
</ul>
<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="GovHack">GovHack</span></h3>
<div class="floatright"><a
href="http://wiki.linux.org.au/File:Govhacklogo.png"
class="image"><img alt="Govhacklogo.png"
src="cid:part17.09010202.03020001@linux.org.au" height="74"
width="348"></a></div>
<p>With huge props to open government advocate and past-Vice
President Pia Waugh, GovHack this year has gone national, and will
be held on the weekend of June 1-2 2013. For more information or
to register an expression of interest check out the website below.
All over Australia, hundreds of hackers will join together to form
teams and work to create the best new mashups, data visualisations
and apps with Gov data.
</p>
<ul>
<li> Register your interest: <a
href="http://www.govhack.org/register-your-expression-of-interest/"
class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://www.govhack.org/register-your-expression-of-interest/</a>
</li>
<li> Website: <a href="http://www.govhack.org" class="external
free" rel="nofollow">http://www.govhack.org</a>
</li>
<li> Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/govhackau"
class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://twitter.com/govhackau</a>
</li>
</ul>
<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Pycon_Australia">Pycon Australia</span></h3>
<div class="floatright"><a
href="http://wiki.linux.org.au/File:Pyconau_logo.png"
class="image"><img alt="Pyconau logo.png"
src="cid:part22.07040902.07040604@linux.org.au" height="182"
width="180"></a></div>
<p>Pycon Australia will be held July 5–7 2013, Hobart, Tasmania.
PyCon Australia is the national conference for users of the Python
Programming Language. The conference promises a weekend packed
full of amazing content on all aspects of the Python ecosystem,
presented by experts and core developers of the tools and
frameworks you use every day. Early Bird tickets are on sale until
Friday 3rd May at a substantial discount.
</p>
<ul>
<li> Announce List: <a
href="http://lists.linux.org.au/listinfo/pycon-au-announce"
class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://lists.linux.org.au/listinfo/pycon-au-announce</a>
</li>
<li> Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/pyconau"
class="external free" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/pyconau</a>
</li>
<li> Lanyrd: <a href="http://lanyrd.com/2013/pycon-au/"
class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://lanyrd.com/2013/pycon-au/</a>
</li>
<li> Website: <a href="http://2013.pycon-au.org/" class="external
free" rel="nofollow">http://2013.pycon-au.org/</a>
</li>
</ul>
<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Devops_Downunder">Devops
Downunder</span></h3>
<p>Devops Days Downunder 2013 will be held on Friday 12th and
Saturday 13th July 2013 in Ultimo Sydney. The Call for proposals
is open until 24 May.
</p>
<ul>
<li> <a href="http://www.devopsdays.org/events/2013-downunder/"
class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://www.devopsdays.org/events/2013-downunder/</a>
</li>
</ul>
<h2> <span class="mw-headline" id="Recent_past_events"> Recent past
events </span></h2>
<h3> <span class="mw-headline"
id="BarCampMelbourne_16th_March_2013.2C_Melbourne.2C_Victoria">BarCampMelbourne
16th March 2013, Melbourne, Victoria</span></h3>
<p>Convened by BarCamp stalwart Ben Dechrai, BarCampMelbourne 2013
had a last minute venue change with many thanks to Pomke and the
team at Small World who lent the team their fabulous Causeway
House Boardroom, enabling the event to go ahead. A huge thanks
also to the team at No ISP for sponsorship. There were a number of
great presentations, and much social interaction. Moreover the
team is looking for feedback on a possible November BarCamp at a
scout camp at outer Eastern Melbourne.
</p>
<ul>
<li> <a href="http://www.barcampmel.org" class="external free"
rel="nofollow">http://www.barcampmel.org</a>
</li>
</ul>
<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Hardware_Freedom_Day">Hardware
Freedom Day</span></h3>
<p>Saturday 20th April saw the second global Hardware Freedom Day.
Australia held three events, in Sydney, Gold Coast and Melbourne
in respective HackerSpaces. If you'd like to get more involved in
this area, check out the Hardware Freedom Day website and the
events.
</p>
<ul>
<li> Website: <a
href="http://www.hfday.org/map/index.php?year=2013"
class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://www.hfday.org/map/index.php?year=2013</a>
</li>
</ul>
<h3> <span class="mw-headline"
id="Upcoming_Linux_User_Group_.28LUG.29_meetings">Upcoming Linux
User Group (LUG) meetings</span></h3>
<p>We don't know when all the upcoming LUG meetings are being held,
so if you'd like us to include your LUG or open source group
meeting in this newsletter, please email <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:media@lists.linux.org.au">media@lists.linux.org.au</a>.
</p>
<h2> <span class="mw-headline" id="Members_corner"> Members corner
</span></h2>
<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Vale_Malcolm_Tredinnick">Vale
Malcolm Tredinnick</span></h3>
<p>We were saddened to learn of the passing of longtime community
member Malcolm Tredinnick in March. Malcolm has been a familiar
face at LCA for many years and we will be poorer without his
knowledgable, welcoming and friendly presence. Mary Gardiner has
written a <a
href="http://lecta.puzzling.org/2013/03/21/remembering-malcolm-tredinnick/"
class="external text" rel="nofollow">post</a> with some links to
videos of his talks from years past. </p>
<p>I (Brianna) remember going to his tutorial at my first LCA in
2008, "Memory-Efficient and Fast Websites -- Pick Two!" (<a
href="http://www.linux.org.au/conf/2008/programme/presentations.html"
class="external text" rel="nofollow">slides/recordings</a>),
where I sat on the floor because the room was so full, and I still
couldn't take down his tips as fast as he was offering them. He
obviously loved to share his knowledge and it is something we are
all richer for.
</p>
<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Interview_with_Donna_Benjamin">Interview
with Donna Benjamin</span></h3>
<div class="floatright"><a
href="http://wiki.linux.org.au/File:Donnarustywrench.jpg"
class="image" title="By Michael Davies, licensed CC-BY-SA."><img
alt="By Michael Davies, licensed CC-BY-SA."
src="cid:part33.01070903.00080209@linux.org.au" height="320"
width="240"></a></div>
<p><i>For our inaugural newsletter, Kathy interviewed 2013 Rusty
Wrench Award winner, Drupal Association at-large Board Member,
linux.conf.au 2008 Conference Director and all-round bundle of
awesome, Donna Benjamin.</i>
</p>
<p><b>K: So Donna, you've recently become more involved in the
Drupal community. Care to tell us more?</b>
</p>
<p>I'm one of the first "At Large" Directors of the Drupal
Association elected by the community. I ran the 2nd community
elections, and have since been appointed to a 3 year term on the
board.
</p>
<p><b>K: Congratulations!</b>
</p>
<p>Dries recently asked me to join the newly formed "Community
Working Group" - one of a number of working groups set up to
streamline governance processes for the project.
</p>
<p><b>K: Sounds like a great way to engage the community - where can
we find out more?</b>
</p>
<p>Here's the charter
<a
href="http://drupalcode.org/project/governance.git/blob_plain/refs/heads/master:/charters/community-working-group-charter.html"
class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://drupalcode.org/project/governance.git/blob_plain/refs/heads/master:/charters/community-working-group-charter.html</a>
</p>
<p><b>K: Nice work on DrupalCon Sydney in February - how did it go?</b>
</p>
<p>It was pretty exciting to have DrupalCon come to Australia! and
happen for the first time outside the northern hemisphere. Next up
is DrupalCon Portland at the end of May, I'm pretty excited about
that. I went to Portland for OSCON a couple of years ago, and I
love the town - but also DrupalCon is just a huge amount of fun
mixed with a huge amount of learning!
</p>
<p><b>K: Sounds like it was a very positive experience. So where is
Drupal itself heading?</b>
</p>
<p>As to the project itself, all eyes are on the ongoing development
of Drupal 8 - lots of big changes coming. Under the hood, and up
front. HTML5, Symfony, focus on improving the authoring
experience, and responsive out of the box, plus a whole new theme
layer.
</p>
<p><b>K: So what plans does Drupal have in the mobile space, given
the ubiquity of tablets and smartphones?</b>
</p>
<p>Massive plans... already well under way... check out
<a href="http://groups.drupal.org/mobile/drupal-8" class="external
free" rel="nofollow">http://groups.drupal.org/mobile/drupal-8</a>
</p>
<p>Basically - There was a "Mobile Initiative" for D8 led by John
Albin
(who came to DrupalCon Sydney from Taiwan!) </p>
<p>And this blog post gives a good overview
<a
href="http://www.unimitysolutions.com/blog/understand-drupal-8-mobile-initiative"
class="external free" rel="nofollow">http://www.unimitysolutions.com/blog/understand-drupal-8-mobile-initiative</a>
</p>
<p><b>K: Sounds like you don't have much spare time! What other
awesome are you baking at the moment?</b>
</p>
<p>The other thing I'm really looking forward to - is this coming
weekend
I'm heading to Perth for ghosts.
</p>
<p>I really think the ghosts of conferences past is one of the
secret
success factors behind linux.conf.au - giving the next team the
opportunity to meet and connect with past organisers, and have
those old
hands on deck to review plans is really valuable. It's great that
each
team doesn't have to start from scratch.
</p>
<p><b>K: Thanks heaps for your time Donna!</b>
</p>
<p>You're welcome :-)
</p>
<h2> <span class="mw-headline" id="On_the_planet"> On the planet </span></h2>
<p>Check <a href="http://planet.linux.org.au" class="external free"
rel="nofollow">http://planet.linux.org.au</a> for the latest
articles.
Want to get your blog featured in Plant Linux Australia? Ping us
on Identi.ca or Twitter @LinuxAustralia, email
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:council@linux.org.au">council@linux.org.au</a> or join the IRC conversation at
#linux.conf.au on freenode.net
</p>
<h2> <span class="mw-headline" id="On_the_mailing_lists"> On the
mailing lists </span></h2>
<p>Daniel Jitnah reports that OSIA (Open Source Industry Australia)
is holding a <a
href="http://osia.com.au/surveys/index.php/288243?lang=en"
class="external text" rel="nofollow">survey</a> "relating to the
Open Source software industry in Australia", closing 8 May.
</p>
<p>Could you do a better job at summarising <a
href="http://lists.linux.org.au/listinfo/linux-aus"
class="external text" rel="nofollow">linux-aus</a> than this?
Maybe you should submit a summary for the next newsletter! :)
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Kathy Reid
Secretary
Linux Australia
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:secretary@linux.org.au">secretary@linux.org.au</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://linux.org.au">http://linux.org.au</a>
Linux Australia Inc
GPO Box 4788
Sydney NSW 2001
Australia
ABN 56 987 117 479
</pre>
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