Introduction

FOSSilize - FOSS Camp at Technice'10

Inspired by the dramatic increase in knowledge and use of FOSS by people all around the world, students in India have also focussed their attention to similar softwares. Students all around the country are getting involved in open source projects. At such a stage, we consider it our responsibility to bring together all the FOSS enthusiasts of the country and help them spread the word. We also strive to make the newcomers aware of the various open source tools and teach them to use the powerful tools. With this goal in mind, Techniche'10 hosts FOSSilize. FOSSilize aims to achieve all the above mentioned goals through a rigorous workshops-cum-presentations spread over three days, i.e. 3rd September to 5th September 2010 Students from all over the country are invited to participate in this event in which trainers from reputed institutes shall come together to help the students explore the world of Free and Open Source Software. So let's move towards a future dominated by Open softwares and open standards. Let us all switch to FOSS; let's "FOSSilize".

Schedule

The event plan for the three days is as follows. You can also download the event plan (link on the sidebar).

Time	DAY 1	DAY 2	DAY 3
	Python	ZEND	C++
8:00 - 8:30 am	Bootstrapping for FOSS development
9:00 - 9:30 am	Introduction and features
9:00 - 9-10 am	Coffee Break
9:10 - 10:00 am	code review with the intention to understand Professional coding guidlines, naming conventions, commenting
10:00 - 11:00 am	Deeper intro to the prgramming lanuage
11:00 - 11:40 am	Write small code snippets
11:40 - 1:10 pm	Break into small teams and work on any simple FOSS application, start with bug fixing
1:10 - 1:25 pm	Work on a live project
1:25 - 2 pm	Summarise thoughts and learnings from the day		Summarise thoughts and learnings of the entire programme and get feedback

 

To download the event plan, click here.

Partners

Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC)

Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) is the premier R&D organization of the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MCIT) for carrying out R&D in IT, Electronics and associated areas. Different areas of C-DAC, had originated at different times, many of which came out as a result of identification of opportunities.

Foundation for People Empowerment

Foundation for People Empowerment works towards development of the society through the use Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Mahiti

Mahiti is a 'Social Enterprise' based in the 'Garden City of India, Bangalore'. We empower clients to reduce the cost and complexity of Information Technology through the strategic use of Free/Open Source Software.

Facilitators

Experts from C-DAC and Mahiti shall be training the students in the various topics mentioned in the schedule.

About FOSS

FOSS - Free and Open Source Software

Free and Open Source Softwares are those that grant users the right to use, study, change and improve its design through the availability of its source code. Newcomers to the subject can be confused by the term "free". In the context of free and open source software, "free" is intended to refer to the freedom to copy and re-use the software, rather than to the price of the software. The Free Software Foundation, an organization that advocates for free software, suggests that to understand the concept, one should "think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer". Free Software Foundation (FSF) was founded by Richard Stallman, who is also one of the keynote speakers at Techniche'10.
Some examples of popular Free and/or Open Source Softwares (or Projects) are :-

• Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Mozilla SeaMonkey
• Chromium Project - Google Chrome, Chrome OS
• Ubuntu
• OpenOffice.org

This list is in no way exhaustive of the vast number of FOSS products available for users.

FAQs

What is Techniche?
Techniche is annual techno-management festival of IIT Guwahati organised by the students. Techniche'10 is its twelfth edition and, like all editions before this, aims at dissemination of knowledge for the youth of the country and help them stay abreast of the latest developments in Science and Technology.

What is FOSSilize?
FOSSilize is an event-cum-workshop organised as a part of Techniche'10. It aims at bringing together the FOSS enthusiasts of the country together and help them form groups for future alliances. For the beginners, FOSSilize strives to be a platform where they can find all they need to know about the various tools and give them a kick-start into this field.

Who can participate in FOSSilize?
Any college student interested in exploring the world of Free and/or Open Source Softwares can apply to register for the event. Send in the registration form to us. (for more information on registration, click here)

I have e-mailed the registration form, am I now eligible to attend FOSSilize?
After 25th August 2010 (deadline for submission of registration forms), we will scrutinize all the entries and based on past performance and interest in the field, only about 120 participants shall be chosen to come to IIT Guwahati for the event.

How will I come to know if I've been selected?
If you have been selected, you shall receive an e-mail from us. Only once you have replied to the e-mail, your selection shall be confirmed.

Contact Info

Rajat Khanduja +91-96785-54628 k.rajat@iitg.ernet.in

Requirements for the event

The participants are expected to make sure that following arrangements are made :

Stationary

• Pen(s)
• Paper(s)
• Notepad

Laptop and software requirements

• Laptop with any Linux distribution installed on it