From president at linux.org.au Wed Oct 4 12:35:33 2017 From: president at linux.org.au (Linux Australia President) Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2017 12:35:33 +1100 Subject: [Announce] Official call for bids for linux.conf.au 2020 - LCA 2020 Message-ID: Hi everyone, As the very keen among us know, plans are coming along really well for linux.conf.au 2018 in Sydney and tickets are now available at https://linux.conf.au. We're very much looking forward to seeing you all there, and seeing all the hard work that Bruce Crawley, James Polley and the Sydney team have been doing to deliver a wonderful event. In the meantime, it's time to start thinking about plans for 2020. We may already have informal expressions of interest from two cities, but I can neither confirm nor deny this. Last year, Council assessed bids for LCA2019, and the winning city will be announced at the close of LCA2018 in January next year *cough, Antarctica* ;-) The timeline for the LCA2020 bid? * Earlier this year: Council seeks Expressions of Interest in running linux.conf.au 2020 * October - formal Bids are requested to host linux.conf.au 2020 * November 10th - Submission of formal bids closes * December / January - Council clarifies any questions regarding the bids and reviews them * Quarter 1 2018 - Council conducts Site Inspections with shortlisted Bid Teams * Early 2018 - Council decides on the winning city and informs the Bid Teams * January 2019 - Winning bid is announced at linux.conf.au in $CITY_FOR_LCA2019 If you've ever sat in the back of a LUG meeting or an LCA talk, or had an informal chat to someone about running an LCA, now is the time to put that idea into action. If you were the person two seats back listening in, go bug that person to put in a bid. If you haven't already, the first thing to do is to send an email to council at linux.org.au to let us know you are thinking of submitting a bid. You should also CC linux-aus at linux.org.au, this might help you find other people keen on helping you out. Once you've done that here are two documents to help you get started: * https://wiki.linux.org.au/Linux.conf.au_Bid_Guidelines * https://wiki.linux.org.au/LCA_HOWTO The first outlines what is required for the bid process, while the second gives a fairly detailed overview of the sorts of things you need to think about when preparing to run an LCA, and provides example bid documents. We have more bid documents that aren't linked here which we can provide. There is also a comprehensive Event Portal with lots of useful information on how to run a successful event at: https://wiki.linux.org.au/Linux_Australia:Events_Portal So go out, get your team together, talk to some venues/vendors and start bidding to run the next awesome LCA! Armed with your amazing organising skills, this is your opportunity to show off your city, do what you always wanted to do at LCA, add something extra special to the conference and have a say in the programme of the conference. This is something you will remember for a lifetime and gain life-long friends, professional contacts and the experience looks amazing on a resume. Not to mention, it?s great fun to run! Once you've finalised your bid document then please send to Council at linux.org.au and linux-aus at linux.org.au. If you are thinking of bidding, please put your hand up sooner rather than later so that the Council can make sure you get the support you need to prepare a high quality bid. Please don?t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or need any help in preparing your bid. Please do forward this on to anyone you think may be interested. 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 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From president at linux.org.au Wed Oct 4 14:33:06 2017 From: president at linux.org.au (Linux Australia President) Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2017 14:33:06 +1100 Subject: [Announce] Linux Australia October update Message-ID: <7721176a-0955-2fe5-cf50-5f6e7f6a7c28@linux.org.au> Hi everyone, Firstly for those in our northern states, stay safe as the weather heats up, and for all of us, stay well as we hit the end of year rush and silly season. A few updates on goings-on in the Linux Australia universe: Tickets for linux.conf.au 2018 Sydney are available. Go get 'em! https://linux.conf.au/attend It will be awesome. Early birds open until sold out. Follow along at #lca2018 on Twitter or join the Facebook page DrupalSouth November 16-17th, Auckland, New Zealand https://drupalsouth2017.drupal.org.nz/conference/tickets Tickets are now available. It will also be awesome. Follow along at @DrupalSouth or join the Facebook page We're sponsoring CiviCon Canberra October 23rd, Canberra We're delighted to be Bronze Sponsors of CiviCon Canberra, the first CiviCon in Australia. CiviCRM is an opensource CRM platform, and it's what we'll be moving to after the rebrand. Yes, it will be awesome. https://civicrm.org/civicon/canberra-2017 As part of our sponsorship, we get a free ticket. If you're in Canberra, or can travel to Canberra and are free on the 23rd, please email Council. If there are multiple applicants we'll make a call based on how active you've been in the Linux Aus community. LCA2020 Bids are open!!!!!!! 11111!!!!! Want LCA2020 in your city? You do? Reckon you can do a kick-arse LCA? if (1) then submit an LCA2020 Bid!111!!!11 http://lists.linux.org.au/pipermail/linux-aus/2017-October/023216.html Warmly welcoming Linux Users Victoria as a subcommittee of Linux Australia Linux Users Victoria have disincorporated as an incorporated association in Victoria, and have reformed as a Subcommittee of Linux Australia. Many thanks especially to Andrew Pam and Wen Lin for all their professionalism and efforts during this transition. Check them out at @linuxusersvic on Twitter or https://www.luv.asn.au Rebrand update We've been through one draft of rebranding material, and have now narrowed down options, and our graphic designer will now further refine these. If you'd like to be involved, let me know. Grants Program 2018 Our end of financial year was September 30, which means that we're now operating on the 2017/2018 budget, which was set at Face to Face in August. It allocates $35k for Grants and Sponsorship for the year. At Council meeting on 26th September, we resolved to spend no more than $10k from this allocation before the new Council is elected in January - basically so we don't spend money that is really up to the new Council to administer. At some stage we'd like to do a review of how the 2017 Grants Program went but for now we'll operate under the same conditions / process / expectations as the 2017 Grants Program, then "re-launch" if we make changes to the process. The next Grant up for discussion is BuzzConf Grant for Kids Track http://lists.linux.org.au/pipermail/linux-aus/2017-September/023196.html We will soon be chasing Grant reports from 2017 Grant recipients.? If you've ever thought "Linux Australia should do more of X", then Grants are your avenue to help make that happen. Want more Indigenous reach out for open source? Submit a Grant so we can fund you to make it happen. Want better UX in open source products? Submit a Grant so we can fund you to make it happen. Awesome things happen because awesome people make them happen. Report from Nathan Sentance, Diversity Scholarship recipient for VALATechCamp Nathan Sentance was awarded the Diversity Scholarship for VALATechCamp, sponsored by Linux Australia. Nathan has provided a conference report of his experience, with an excerpt below - wise words indeed. Happy to provide the full report if desired. "Winning the VALA/Linux Diversity Scholarship and attending VALA Tech Camp was an invaluable experience for my career. I have long had an interest in being part of something like the VALA Tech Camp as I believe information technology presents exciting opportunities for Aboriginal communities to access, revitalise and disseminate our culture and knowledge. Just have a look at the many language apps coming out. Libraries and similar memory institutions have long been considered gatekeepers in regards to records relating to Aboriginal culture and history, but in the digital space that control can be handed back to community and potential access barriers may be minimised. Because of this, VALA Tech Camp sessions such as the introduction to Python were handy to my personal and professional development as it can help increase of understanding in regards to computer science which in turn I will use to help increase access to cultural heritage information for community as well as preserve it digitally. Additionally, the more I increase my digital literacy skills the more I will attempt to share those skills with my community and in this digital age those are not just useful, they are necessary. " Are you awesome? Want to learn to be more awesome? Should you be on Linux Australia Council? Linux Australia is awesome because we have many awesome people doing many awesome things. Part of that awesome is making sure that our legal requirements are fulfilled, running programs like our Grants Program, running our finances, building relationships with sponsors and grant recipients, building our digital presence, maintaining membership records and generally getting stuff done. Being a part of Council is a great professional development activity, but does require a time commitment. Start thinking about whether this is something you might be interested in, as Council elections will open soon (TM). Sae Ra Germaine, our longstanding Secretary, has compiled Position Descriptions here - https://github.com/linuxaustralia/position-descriptions Next actions Council is going to be pretty busy over the next couple of months with running-an-incorporated-association-administrivia such as * Doing the books for the 2017-2018 financial year and getting these audited * Preparing reports for AGM in January - this year we'll be doing a combined Annual Report * Submitting paperwork to relevant $AUTHORITIES * Preparing to open Council elections for 2018 * Ensuring that our activities are in a good place for handover to Council 2018 Parting thoughts On another note, many in our community will really enjoy the latest episode of #QandA, which featured a mature discussion on drones, artificial intelligence and their societal implications: http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/qanda/NC1703H033S00 On a more personal note, many in Australia will have already voted in the postal survey on marriage equality, and many more are yet to do so. My personal views on this are well known, but with my President hat on, let me make one and only comment on the issue. History, time and time again, has shown that the most successful societies and organisations are also those that are the most inclusive. Together we do better - and Linux Australia has endeavoured - sometimes well, and sometimes not so well - to be more inclusive over the years. My thoughts are especially with those in our community who are experiencing increased levels of anxiety, and psychological distress at this time. This debate is difficult for many. As always, your feedback, comments and concerns are warmly welcomed. May your dashboards be green and your packets be fast. 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 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From president at linux.org.au Tue Oct 17 12:01:46 2017 From: president at linux.org.au (Linux Australia President) Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2017 12:01:46 +1100 Subject: [Announce] Advance notification of Linux Australia Council elections Message-ID: <6f8289dd-ab89-4378-8e14-f953b2b10be3@linux.org.au> Hi everyone, This email is advance notification of the planned dates for Linux Australia Council elections, to allow plenty of time for any of our members who are considering nominating to investigate what's involved, have a chat with current or previous Council members and contemplate nominating for election. In order to nominate, you MUST be a member of Linux Australia. https://linux.org.au/membership/ *cue the flood of password reset emails* We are aiming to open nominations Monday 27th November, closing nominations on Sunday 24th December (Christmas Eve), opening voting on Monday 25th December until Sunday 21 January, with the AGM on Monday 22nd January 2018 at LCA2018 in Sydney. The day between 21 and 22 January will be used for the Returning Officer to scrutineer the election and results. For transparency, Council has held private discussions around who will likely stand for elections, so that succession planning and continuity planning can occur. I thank the Council for their openness. At this stage, at least 3 Council members will not be seeking re-election - for reasons of privacy I won't disclose who. Last year, a set of Position Descriptions, which outline the scope, expectations, as well as benefits of the Council roles was produced by long-standing Secretary, Sae Ra Germaine, so that you can have a better understanding of what you're signing up for. https://github.com/linuxaustralia/position-descriptions Serving on Council is a challenging, yet rewarding, volunteer role that provides exposure to board practices, governance and decision making and provides an opportunity to do Good Things for the open source community in Australia. So, please do consider nominating and serving on Council - feel free to reach out to myself or to past Council members for a confidential chat. https://www.linux.org.au/council 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