Sam Varghese
Tuesday, 26 February 2008 07:21
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 3
There's still nearly 11 months to go before the penguin sets up camp on the Apple Isle but the wheels are slowly being cranked into motion by the Tasmanian Linux Users Group as they prepare to host the 2009 Australian national Linux conference.
Given that Hobart is a quieter place than any of the other cities which have played host, the conference will proportionally be a much more noticeable event, according to Ben Powell, one of the co-organisers of the event.
Powell has been working in IT and IT-related areas for the last 10-odd years. "I've come out to Melbourne to work but I've still been involved in the Linux community in Tasmania; up until last year I was president of TasLUG," Powell said, adding "that's quite a vibrant little group and after the announcement of our successful bid for to host the conference interest is growing exponentially."
He said TasLUG's
bid had succeeded this year because the group went back to the drawing board after losing the 2008 bid to Melbourne and put together "an excellent programme that should attract some pretty high-quality speakers and high-quality delegates as well."
Asked how the bid had been strengthened, he said: "We've improved the Penguin dinner and the sorts of things we're going to do. One of the things we were looking at doing is involving the arts community in Tasmania, specially those who are involved in releasing work under an open content licence.
"We've got a good amount of buy-in from some influential members of the arts community in Tasmania. At first it was kind of a vague idea to put on an exhibition and it grown to (be slotted in as) a full-blown event on the Monday night of the conference week."
Those getting involved from the arts community are mainly in digital arts but some are involved in music and some in more traditional art forms as well.
