Author: Pockey Lam

Announcing GNOME 3.0 Bangalore Hackfest | GNOME.Asia Summit 2011

Posted on by Pockey Lam

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholasjones/3536749487/sizes/m/in/photostream/

GNOME 3.0 Bangalore Hackfest 2011
March 28 – April 1 2011, Bangalore, India

We are hosting a 5 days hackfest for the release, documentation and marketing teams focusing on GNOME 3.0 release. This will ensure some heavy testing of the code during the last week before the official release of GNOME 3.0, as well as preparing the release to happen in an optimal way. And at the same time, it will help the marketing team to clarify messaging when needed and finalize the launch details.

It is not primarily aimed at users or new contributors but we may organize some training and hands on sessions during the last 3 days of the hackfest (March 30 to April 1). Apart from that any contributor involved in the release process is strongly encouraged to join.

Please let us know you are coming by registering on the Bangalore Hackfest 2011 page.

GNOME.Asia Summit 2011
April 2 2011, Bangalore, India

Right after the GNOME 3.0 Bangalore Hackfest, we will jump on the opportunity of having a lot of the GNOME developers already on site to aim for the greatest GNOME.Asia Summit of all time. Now in its forth year, GNOME.Asia Summit will have the pleasure to continue to bring GNOME to users and developers in Asia and more specifically India this year, but also to celebrate the release of GNOME 3.0 with the people who actually write the software!

The event will bring the light on the GNOME desktop both from a applications and a development platform point of view, as well as strengthen the GNOME community across borders.

Visitors should expect great insights into how GNOME 3.0 will transform their desktop experience, the changes and improvements under the hood and how to make the best out of this new desktop environment both from a developer and user perspective.

The call for papers is already out and we hope to receive a lot of submissions from the Hackfest participants. We are also finalizing our call for sponsors and, depending on the momentum, planning for an extra conference day to cover all the topics (based on available budget and paper submissions). So stay tuned and visit Gnome.Asia regularly for the latest information!

Hosting GNOME 3.0 Hackfest | GNOME.Asia Summit 2011 in Bangalore, India

Posted on by Pockey Lam

Mysore kottaram

It’s a great pleasure to announce that Bangalore, India has been selected as the venue of our upcoming GNOME 3.0 Hackfest | GNOME.Asia Summit 2011. It is important to highlight that GNOME.Asia Summit 2011 is matching the release of GNOME 3.0 and will be a great place to celebrate this launch. GNOME 3.0 is a big advance for GNOME bringing new desktop paradigms to facilitate users interaction with their computing world.

Potential sites for the hackfest are the offices of GNOME-friendly companies such as Novell and Intel. We’re still in discussion with several universities such as Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering for hosting the one day conference.

Bangalore, referred as the Silicon Valley of India, is known for its skilled and talented IT force. We believe hosting the event in Bangalore will bring the spotlight on GNOME 3.0 and make an impact locally, regionally and internationally in terms of business and community building.

We are currently discussing with the GNOME release, marketing and documentation teams about the best possible date of the event, and should be able to announce it within the coming week. It is important to mention that this GNOME 3.0 Hackfest will be the first GNOME hackfest in Asia, is already synchronizing with other GNOME communities around the world.

As a side note we also reviewed two other very strong proposals to host GNOME.Asia Summit this year (2011) and will continue working with the teams from Hong Kong and Bali to make it happen in 2012/3.

More about Bangalore

Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka and is India’s fifth-largest city. Often called “The Garden City,” Bangalore is full of parks famous for their flowering trees and greenery, giving the city a unique beauty. Many diverse cultures and customs exist in Bangalore, and its 5.3 million inhabitants favor activities such as football, cricket, bowling, hockey and rock climbing. For cultural lovers, Bangalore has maintained the preservation of its ancient arts and architectural wonders such as the Sri Radha Krishnachandra Temple, among many others. Please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalore for more details.

Credits

A big Thank You goes to Intel and Novell for offering their offices to host the hackfest as well as the Bangalore team (Akhil Laddha, Bharath Acharya, Ayesha Iqbal, Srinivasa Ragavan and Parag Goel) for their compelling proposal. We would also love to give a special Thank You to the Bali and Hong Kong teams for their participation, represented by Utian Ayuba, Arif Syamsudin, Wayan Sudana, Azhar Udin. Edmon Chung, Haggen So, Sammy Fung, KS Wong, Amanda Lam, etc. We have indeed received three very great proposals this year, making the selection task very difficult.

Venue visits in Hong Kong – GNOME.Asia Summit 2011

Posted on by Pockey Lam

The pre-event survey results gave us a lot of insights about the upcoming GNOME.Asia Summit 2011 and GNOME 3.0 Hackfest expectations. Since the preferred hosting city is Hong Kong where I happen to be from, Fred and I went for a site exploration and meetings with local partners such as DotAsia and OAKA last week.

Survey respondents preferred universities and resorts as venues, so we chose the City University of Hong Kong as the venue for the 1 day conference while Breakthrough Youth Village seems to be the perfect compromise between resort and retreat for the 3-day hackfest.

We really appreciate that the University is providing us with 2 halls for free to host the conference. With the help of  a local NGO, we will also benefit from a discount at Breakthrough (about 30% off).  As you can tell from the pictures here, there are a lot of different corners for group discussions and workshops, each with their own style; we felt it would definitely help to stimulate new ideas and make people feel at ease to work out all the details of such an important release. The price is very affordable as well, 44USD per person including three meals based on double occupancy (shared room for 2 persons). Each family suite is equipped with a living room, a kitchen, 2 bathrooms and 3 to 4 bed rooms (do check the the photos for more details).

With proposals from Bali, Bangalore and Hong Kong, I feel it will be a difficult task to chose one location over the other ones. Anyway, no matter what, those not selected would be high on the list to host another chapter of GNOME.Asia Summit in the upcoming years. I will of course keep you posted on the location decision in a later post.

Likewise, if you feel you will attend the GNOME 3.0 hackfest and have comments or questions about the location described above (accommodation, food, access to the city, etc) please do feel free to use the comment section for those.

GNOME 3.0 Hackfest Pre-event Survey Results

Posted on by Pockey Lam

Thank you to all of you who have participated and given their impression about hosting a hackfest during the 3.0 release and together with GNOME.Asia Summit 2011. The survey participation secret deadline being today we can now publish the results. To sum up, we have a total of 79 respondents, exceeding our target by roughly 50%. 30% of the survey participants are involved with the GNOME 3.0 release. More than 70% respondents are from Asia (I can see some lobbying right here! ). 71% of those 79 people will most likely join the event. The leading hosting city is Hong Kong, followed closely by Bali and Jakarta in Indonesia, then Bangalore (India). Most respondents favor a university as the venue of choice, followed by resorts and offices. The best moment for the hackfest is during or after the GNOME 3.0 release. Rather than the initial 5 days plan, 3 days seems to work better for everyone involved.

A big thank you goes to those who help to review and polish the survey questions and of course join the survey! Full details are available below.

Number of respondents: 79
1. How many past GNOME event(s) have you participated?
Answer Count Percentage
More than 10 events 5 6.33%
7 -9 events 3 3.80%
4 – 6 events 8 10.13%
1 – 3 events 17 21.52%
None 44 55.70%
No answer 2 2.53%
Not completed or Not displayed 0 0.00%

2. Are you involved with the GNOME 3.0 launch?
Answer Count Percentage
Yes 24 30.38%
No 53 67.09%
No answer 2 2.53%
Not completed or Not displayed 0 0.00%

3. Which selection below best describes your role in the GNOME community?
Answer Count Percentage
GNOME Release team 4 5.06%
GNOME Marketing 6 7.59%
GNOME Design 3 3.80%
GNOME Documentation 3 3.80%
GNOME Localization 7 8.86%
GNOME Support 6 7.59%
GNOME Sponsors 2 2.53%
Other (including evolution hackers, developers, packaging and bugfixing, maintainers, users) 10 12.66%

4. Where are you from?
Answer Count Percentage
Europe 10 12.66%
North America 4 5.06%
Central America 0 0.00%
South America 3 3.80%
Asia 57 72.15%
Australia / Oceania 1 1.27%
Middle East 0 0.00%
Africa 0 0.00%
Other (Mars and GNOME Planet…) 2 2.53%
No answer 2 2.53%
Not completed or Not displayed 0 0.00%

5. Have you ever heard about the GNOME.Asia?
Answer Count Percentage
Yes 52 65.82%
No 16 20.25%
No answer 2 2.53%
Not completed or Not displayed 9 11.39%

6. Where did you hear about it?
Answer Count Percentage
Community sites 30 37.97%
GNOME event e.g. GUADEC 23 29.11%
News sites 11 13.92%
Blogs 25 31.65%
Online social networks 15 18.99%
Friends 32 40.51%
Newspaper / Magazine / TV / POP advertising 4 5.06%
Other (collegeas visited GNOME.Asia event) 1 1.27%

7. Have you participated in any of the past GNOME.Asia Summits?
Answer Count Percentage
GNOME.Asia Summit 2008 in Beijing, China 4 5.06%
GNOME.Asia Summit 2009 in Ho-Chi-Minh, Vietnam 3 3.80%
GNOME.Asia Summit 2010 in Taipei, Taiwan 2 2.53%
None of the above 47 59.49%

8. How likely would you be to attend the 5-day Hackfest and 1-day GNOME.Asia Summit assuming it was held in Asia just before, during or after the launch of GNOME 3.0 in 2011?
Answer Count Percentage
Definitely 13 16.46%
Very likely 18 22.78%
Somewhat likely 25 31.65%
Unlikely 9 11.39%
Definitely not 3 3.80%
No answer 2 2.53%
Not completed or Not displayed 9 11.39%

9. Why?
Answer abstracts
Positive Answers
1) good for release team to work together
2) I’d only attend if a significant amount of other developers did as well.
Negative Answers
1) 5 days hackfest is too long, 3 days is better
2) time and budget contraints		 33 41.77%
No answer 37 46.84%
Not completed or Not displayed 9 11.39%

10. Would you need The GNOME Foundation to cover your travel expenses to this event?
Answer Count Percentage
Yes, all of my travel costs 27 34.18%
Yes, part of my travel costs 14 17.72%
No, thanks! I have other ways to cover my travel costs (A3) 21 26.58%
No answer 0 0.00%
Not completed or Not displayed 17 21.52%

11. How much do you expect you would need?
Answer Count Percentage
400 USD or less 6 7.59%
401 USD to 800 USD 9 11.39%
801 USD to 1,200 USD 11 13.92%
1,201 USD to 1,600 USD 8 10.13%
1,601 USD to 2,000 USD 5 6.33%
2,001 USD to 2,400 USD 1 1.27%
More than 2,400 USD 1 1.27%
No answer 0 0.00%
Not completed or Not displayed 38 48.10%

12. How do you plan to cover your travel expenses to the event?
Answer Count Percentage
My company will pay for my travel expenses 5 6.33%
I will pay by myself 25 31.65%
Other (maybe myself or the company) 3 3.80%
No answer 1 1.27%
Not completed or Not displayed 45 56.96%

13. From the list below, please select all the city(s) in which you might like the upcoming event to be held.
Answer Count Percentage
Bangalore, India 12 15.19%
Mysore, India 8 10.13%
Jakarta, Indonesia 13 16.46%
Bali, Indonesia 13 16.46%
Boracay, Philippines 1 1.27%
Hong Kong, China 28 35.44%
Any of the above 9 11.39%
Other (Tokyo) 2 2.53%

14. What kind of venues would you like for the Hackfest?
Answer Count Percentage
Resorts 22 27.85%
Youth hostel 8 10.13%
Universities 36 45.57%
Office 15 18.99%
Any of the above 10 12.66%
Other (Community) 1 1.27%

15. Do you have an interest in being a speaker or on a panel at the event?
Answer Count Percentage
Yes 7 8.86%
No 47 59.49%
No answer 0 0.00%
Not completed or Not displayed 25 31.65%

16A. Please briefly describe the type of talk or panel that you have in mind and include your name and email address.
Answers
1)something like ‘how to get involved in GNOME development’
2) Technical talk about GNOME 3.0
3) User or Developer Documentation
4) Test driven development, writing clean code, mordern engineering practices
5) Launch videos and future plans
6) Development plan		 6 7.59%
No answer 1 1.27%
Not completed or Not displayed 72 91.14%

16B. Please briefly describe the type of talk or panel that you have in mind and include your name and email address.
Answer 6 7.59%
No answer 1 1.27%
Not completed or Not displayed 72 91.14%

17. Do you think it’s good to have a technical help desk during the 5-day Hackfest?
Answer Count Percentage
A great idea, doing this would make it considerably more likely that I would attend 13 16.46%
A good idea, worth doing 26 32.91%
I don’t have strong positive or negative feelings about this idea 9 11.39%
Not a great idea, but I wouldn’t object to it 1 1.27%
A horrible idea, doing this would make it less likely that I would attend 0 0.00%
No answer 5 6.33%
Not completed or Not displayed 25 31.65%

18. Will you encourage any of your friends, co-workers or colleagues to attend the event?
Answer Count Percentage
Definitely 22 27.85%
Very likely 9 11.39%
Somewhat likely 13 16.46%
Unlikely 7 8.86%
Definitely not 0 0.00%
No answer 3 3.80%
Not completed or Not displayed 25 31.65%

19. If there is a tour or some social activities offered to participants, please describe your level of interest in participating.
Answer Count Percentage
High 24 30.38%
Medium 18 22.78%
Low 2 2.53%
Not interested at all 2 2.53%
No answer 8 10.13%
Not completed or Not displayed 25 31.65%

20. What kind of activities would interest you?
Answer Count Percentage
Boat trip 14 17.72%
Scuba-diving 5 6.33%
Cultural performance 18 22.78%
Museum visit 10 12.66%
Palace visit 10 12.66%
Temple visit 12 15.19%
Shopping 3 3.80%
Any of the above 14 17.72%
Others (Arcade visit and historical sites) 2 2.53%

21. When do you suggest this full event should be hosted?
Answer Count Percentage
Before the GNOME 3.0 release 9 11.39%
During the GNOME 3.0 release 17 21.52%
After the GNOME 3.0 release 16 20.25%
Any of the above 16 20.25%

22. What do you think the goals of the 5 day Hackfest should be?
Answer abstracts:
1) From a release team point of view it should be an opportunity to assemble releases from all modules, test them out, and iron anything we can.
2) The hackfest should include interaction of students with community member. Over Night hack project that include small features for any component. Discussion on encouragement for community in Asia and more involvement of students. Discussion on features for Gnome 3.0 Projects and Future Plans.
3) Publicity, Progress in development and growth of GNOME.
4) Strengthen the communication between members of Gnome Asia with the other members in the other communities
5) Get as many live systems to test 3.0 release to find any performance or slow startup issues. Help newbies to start contributing.
6) Improve i18n infrastructure (damned lies, transifex, also asian fonts)
7) Planning for the future 3.x development, as we’ll have a clearer view of where 3.0 stands then.
8.) Polishing GNOME to have a solid 3.0 release.
9) Porting applications to PyGobject:3 and GTK+:3 * Adding introspection support to various libraries * Cairo-opengl backend improvements * Profiling of and perf fixes in various parts of the stack * Bugfixes related to GNOME Shell (xulrunner, graphics stack, UX, etc)
10) Last-minute module and marketing issue resolution.		 27 34.18%
No answer 26 32.91%
Not completed or Not displayed 26 32.91%

23. Any other advice, wisdom, rants or raves to share with us as we ponder this GNOME event in Asia?
Answer abstracts:
1) A good publicity can help us to gather more people.
2) Beware of the holidays and other conferences going on. Language issues is also a problem for participants. Hong Kong is probably the best in this regard.		 10 12.66%
No answer 43 54.43%
Not completed or Not displayed 26 32.91%

SFD Team Leader Survey

Posted on by Pockey Lam

Software Freedom International is reaching out to Software Freedom Day team leaders and would like to gather as much feedback as possible to improve our support. Whether you have organized an SFD event in 2010 or the years before, with or without registering, we need your participation. There are 31 questions and it should take you about 5-8 minutes. We’re really hoping to learn a lot from this and therefore count on you. The survey is accessible here and powered by LimeSurvey. We’ll keep it running probably until around end of the year and publish the results afterwards, so please let your team leaders know about it.