Don Watkins – How to Set Up a Basic Computer Lab to Teach Kids Linux (Beginner)
The future of technology rests on how we teach our children. Attendees of my session will learn how to set up a room and structure an hour (or more) of time in order to teach kids from elementary age and up how to dissect a computer and then how to install Linux on it. In this hands-on environment, kids learn about relevant hardware (what is an ethernet cable?) and software technologies (what is Linux?), as well as programming languages (what is Python?). Once you have what you need to get started, opportunities to teach others will present themselves to you. All are welcome.
Heidi Ellis & Gregory Hislop – Humanitarian FOSS – An Attactive Entry Point for Diversifying the Open Source World (Beginner)
Humanitarian FOSS (HFOSS) is open source software that somehow benefits the human condition. The ability to “do good” via HFOSS holds potential to attract more women to computing in general and to open source in particular. This talk will present results of a survey of 129 participants in an Open Source Day held at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Results of the study show that involvement in Humanitarian FOSS (HFOSS) has broad appeal to women in computing across a variety of demographic factors and that HFOSS participation can reinforce their interest in studying computing. The ability to help society in some way, to “do good”, was a common theme among participants. The talk will outline the survey and discuss the results.