Penguin Day San Francisco: This Saturday (and before)

This Saturday, I'm heading to Penguin Day San Francisco. This will be my third Penguin Day, and this time I'll be leading two discussion sessions: Introduction to Free and Open Source Software and Learnings from Summers of Code. Other awesome topics include CiviCRM, Introductory and Advanced Level sessions on Drupal and Joomla!, and even Introduction to Blogging led by our fabulous facilitator, Allen "Gunner" Gunn of Aspiration fame. Should be a truly awesome way to spend a Saturday in the City by the Bay.

Performed a true drive by at today's MySQL Camp, a.k.a. the MySQL Conference Unconference. I'm hoping to get a chance to stop by the camp tomorrow since it'sso close to my house. We had an half and half mix of experienced and newbie in the small audience, so we opted for group discussion of Open Source for Newbies over lecture format. Communication sans slides ftw!

The number one question: how do I use Open Source to help further my career prospects. For those wondering more about this question, take a look at How to Put Free Software Experience on Your Resume; it's aimed primarily at newly graduating students, but it's useful for all takers. Folks were also interested in good resources to learning more about software licensing. Wikipedia is a good place to start for an overview of each of the Free Software Licenses and Open Source Initiative Approved Licenses. I'd also recommend Intellectual Property and Open Source: A Practical Guide to Protecting Code by Van Lindberg. Always nice when you can get a FLOSS programmer writing about matters FLOSS legal.

Open Everything NYC this past weekend rocked. Highlight: Schuyler Erle on RapidSMS. I covered a basic model for folks to get involved with social causes in their local neighborhoods in my talk Common Sense. As conference organizer John Britton put it best "It's great that you're all here. It's even more important that you go out and do something."

Amen.

8 days, three unconferences. Wow.

New York City was, as usual, lovely. Too densely populated for my long-term tastes, but the chance to catch up with friends in between Summer of Code madness was quite welcome. City Island in the Bronx - beautiful, just beautiful. Even saw a falcon on the drive over the rough bridge onto the island. The park two blocks from my friend's house has giant bronze seals and an overly smiley dolphin, but looked like a great place to play when you're a wee one. And I finally got to eat at Dinosaur Barbeque.

Life is good.

Open Everything NYC: Tomorrow at UNICEF HQ

For those not familiar with Open Everything events, think ultimate unconference. These gatherings focus on, well, everything open, from what that terms means to each participant to how principles of openness impact art, media, public policy, science and, yes, even tech. I'll be speaking at the closing session of Open Everything New York City, discussing what open means to me and my thoughts on where applying the principles of openness and transparency have the greatest potential to improve our world, short and long-term.

If you're heading to the conference, take a look at the Open Everything NYC wiki. At time of writing, it's a bit spartan. Help fix that: add information on public transportation, nearby restaurants or coffee shops, or anything else you think will be helpful. Already know what you want to talk about tomorrow or have a burning question you'd like to explore with your fellow attendees? Add your comments to the suggested sessions page. The canonical tag for the event is openeverything, or #openeverything for all you microbloggers. The organizers are hoping to see the event become a trending topic on identi.ca and Twitter, so make sure to tag your dents and tweets.

Can't join us at UNICEF HQ tomorrow? The best part of Open Everything is that everyone is welcome and encouraged to host their own events in their own communities. You can find resources to plan on the Open Everything wiki, including information from past event organizers and participants. If you're looking for inspiration, start on the wiki and feel free to contact folks for more details.