Last monday we met for the third time. 15 people showed up following in a relaxed 2 hours on these topics:
You want to join ? Next meetup not yet scheduled. Drop by ww.meetup.com/JUG-Singapore
OSSPAC 2009 – The first (of its kind in Singapore?) conference attracts developers, adopters and companies from Singapore and the neighboring countries to follow a diverse string of sessions, talks and labs for 3 days this week.
From some very general talks and keynotes to very specific technical sessions and labs everyone should have found his cup of tea. I was surprised by the small number of participants, despite Singapore being a technology hub (not in terms of OS..) and attending the SUN TechDays (blog entry) some 2..3 weeks back with a overwhelming number of people (a commercial roadshow at the fraction of the price, I know).
The conference reflects the OSS landscape in Singapore: Small and not very vivid (yet) as in other countries and cities around the world. Still a way to go ! It lives by participation ! I try to add to it.
I like to compare OS communities a bit with the arts scene, it starts very small, usually by individuals or small groups without any professional or commercial backing, eventually it would pick up pace and more people join in and ultimately companies to sponsor or finance it. It (the initial spark) cannot be engaged, enforced or bought.
Joining last years OS conference in Sydney Australia (blog entry), I found a very vivid and colorful event, some of that spirit could be injected here.
I really welcome the organizers effort to get this conference started, hoping this will be a regular event in the OSS community of Singapore. So far it was worth attending, some very good speakers and I get to know some new people, companies and products.
Feedback:
Conclusion (for me):
OK. After digging further I found a group… not dead, just not as active (at least online).
More info at Google Groups. Will add more info after joining them and see whats going on.
Will join this 2 days course run by Processworks (Phil Robinson) to round up the use of UML. The possibilities you have with UML is tremendous but you easily can get lost in the attempt to make usa of all diagrams !
Check the course content here: Link – Requirements Analysis (A UML Use Case Approach)
17. and 18. November 2008, Singapore
Despite the need to keep yourself up-to-date on a pure technical level by reading books and websites, and even more important, by DOING it (IT), means try tools, IDE’s, solutions, basically getting your hands dirty, it is always worth looking out for ongoing conferences in your neighborhood. Just 2 weekas ago I joined 2 sessions at a conference in Singapore about Software Process Engineering (by Processworks Group, link). One about distributed development teams (Evan Leybourn from Looking Glass Solutions (LGS), Australia) and the other one about Advanced Testcase Design Techniques (Phil Robinson from Lonsdale Systems, Australia). Both pretty good presenter and sharing lots of experience.
So look out for conferences nearby. And dont forget to cover topics that are not of pure technical nature only.
