SFD in Sydney 2006
Software Freedom Day 2006 in Sydney was an awesome day jam packed with great talks, workshops, and fun all round. We had no more than 100 visitors during the day, however many people stayed for most of the day and the retention rates from this year will likely be a lot higher than last year, where we gave out probably 1000 CDs and pamphlets, but got very little follow up participation. We were very happy with the event this year which was a lot of fun.
Congratulations to Stuart Hector who won the GP2X. The competition was to define what Software Freedom means, and it was voted on by the crowd. Stuart won with a short and concise "Software Freedom Rules!" which earned a cheer from attendees 
Location: University of New South Wales - the Main hall in the new law building G04 near the roundhouse. Ground Floor left at the entrance
Date: September 16th 2006
Local parent organisation: The Sydney Linux Users Group - (http://slug.org.au) with support from UNSW (http://unsw.edu.au) and CompSoc (http://www.compsoc.cse.unsw.edu.au/)
Goal: To introduce more people to why Software Freedom matters, and in particular how it is important to maintaining digital environments we can trust to work and play in. Some good examples where Software Freedom matters is in e-voting software, and Open Standards for long term access to your documents. After all, the basic freedoms we expect are only as free as the technology they are based on. The day will be of interest to any person interested in how technology is changing their lives and freedoms. It will also be fun for anyone interested in technology generally and we will have some great workshop sessions.
Conclusions: This year by running an actual event we reached less people, however those who came were from a broad set of backgrounds (legal, cultural, technical, media and political) and everyone had a brilliant day. We have a brilliant collection of talks that really encapsulate Software Freedom from many different angles.
The Agenda is below as part of our team report. I'll link videos as we get them.
Sponsors: Venue kindly sponsored by the Unlocking IP Project at UNSW Law Faculty. Event run by the Sydney Linux User Group, Linux Australia and also many thanks to all the speakers who are donating their time and knowledge about Software Freedom. Also many thanks to GP2X for provided a great gaming device as a prize for the day! There is a review of the device available at http://www.localfoss.org/node/245
Thanks: Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped out as well as the people who turned up to help if needed. Particular thanks goes to Silvia Pfeiffer and John Ferlito for keeping the video recording going (which will all be online soon!) even when we had to switch rooms during lunch.
Also to Sridhar Dhanapalan, Andreas Fischer, Chris Deigan, Shane Stephens, Conrad Parker, Andreas Fischer, Andrew Sinclair, Peter Baker, Bruce Badger, Billy Kwong, James Purser, Mark Phillips, and Raphael Kraus for the audio/video work, the morning setup and afternoon pulldown, the and in some cases for being there if we needed more help
Many thanks to all the speakers and workshop people who gave their time and expertise to making the day awesome!
Thank you also to our sponsors the Unlocking IP project at the Cyberlaw Centre, who organised the venue and helped promote the event. They also gave a great talk and workshop, thanks Professor Greenleaf, Abi, Catherine and Ben! To GP2X Australia who provided a very cool little gaming device for the competition prize. To Linux Australia and SLUG for providing support.
Thank you to Software Freedom International for making this day possible and supporting all the teams
Also a big thank you to my husband Jeff Waugh, who is always a wonderful support and inspiration!
Software Freedom Day Agenda 2006
Talks happened all day about Software Freedom from political, media, arts and of course technology viewpoints. There was also technology demos including great stuff from NICTA and local projects. The schedule for talks is below and the breakout room will be used to continue discussions, get technical help with using Free Software such as Linux or Open Office. Talks will be 20-25 mins with 5 mins for questions and speaker change.
Talks
- 10:00 - Opening for Software Freedom Day by Professor Graham Greenleaf and Pia Waugh
- 10:30 - Your freedom - a dream within an email - Jeff Waugh
- 11:00 - Nick Seow - Hiding the Rosetta stone: will you be able to access your information tommorrow
- 11:30 - Dr Chris Chesher - the power of social networks
- 12:00 - Freedom of Automation - Conrad Parker
- 12:30 - Lunch and lightening talks
- 13:30 - Unlocking IP - getting access to the commons - Ben Bildstein, Catherine Bond and Abi Paramaguru
- 14:00 - The Free Trade Agreement and what it means to you? - Kim Weatherall
- 14:30 - Getting freedom in the media - using the media to help you - Rodney Gedda (IDG)
15:00 - A Political perspective on Open source - Special guest Senator Kate Lundy - Speech
- 15:30 - Software Freedom - Essential for Business and Innovation - Professor Gernot Heiser from NICTA
- 16:00 - International development and aid with software freedom - Travis Harvey (Australian Development Gateway)
16:30 - Prizes draw, Software Freedom Day close and final comments - Pia Waugh
The day was fun, interesting, and interesting for geeks and non-geeks.
Workshops
- 10:00 - Talk over at lecture theatre by Pia Waugh and Jeff Waugh for everyone
- 11:30 - Open Source tools for Video and Video at LCA - Silvia Pfeiffer
- 12:30 - Lunch
- 13:00 - Build your own ISP - John Ferlito
- 14:00 - Linux and Open Source for students fun workshop - Stuart Rusthon
- 15:00 - Senator Kate Lundy Speaking in Main Hall
- 15:30 - Unlocking IP workshop - the Cyberlaw Centre
- 16:30 - Software Freedom Day close and final comments at main lecture theatre- Pia Waugh