PyCon Australia 2014 News

Initial Video releases

Tue, 05 Aug 2014 21:35:43 +1000

In partnership with out video sponsor New Relic, PyCon Australia 2014 is proud to release our first two videos, our keynote presentations:

Python For Every Child In Australia by Dr James R. Curran
Accessibility: Myths and Delusions by Katie Cunningham

Over the coming days we'll release the rest of our videos at www.youtube.com/PyConAU.

Important Information for Delegates

Wed, 30 Jul 2014 22:10:29 +1000

We're very, very close to the conference now, and we have some important announcements to make:

If you're coming by car, the Grey street car entrance is closed to cars, it is still open to pedestrian access however.
If you're coming by plane, we've got a letter from AirTrain that will give you a discount on return travel from either the Domestic or International train station to the city, please read the details carefully.
Registrations for our Friday night Icebreaker dinners are now open on our wiki, add your name to the food venue you'd like to go to.
We've added a lot more information to our About Brisbane page for those of you arriving early.
The PyLadies Breakfast is still taking registrations, anyone who identifies as a women is welcome, men are welcome as the guest of a women attendee.
We're still looking for participants and mentors for our three workshops.

I know it's a lot, but a lot is happening!

Workshops, call for Mentors

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 23:41:59 +1000

This year we're trying something new, introductory workshops designed for beginners not attending the conference. It's an attempt by the Python community to reach out to the wider community. All of these workshops are being held at our venue partner, The Edge, part of the State Library of Queensland at South Brisbane.

DjangoGirls workshop (Monday 4th August, 9am-12pm)
Introduction to Programming in Python (Friday 1st August, 10am-4pm)
Introduction to Electronics in Python (Friday 1st August, 10am-4pm)

The full details of the workshops can be found at http://2014.pycon-au.org/programme/workshops

All of our workshops need mentors, please consider signing up as a mentor.

Final weekend for Dinner tickets

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 22:14:57 +1000

We're passing along numbers to our venue for catering on Monday, so this is your last weekend to grab tickets for our conference dinner! As well as fine food and company, we have an important speaker lined up, Paul Gampe.

Get along to the registration page and be sure to select dinner as one of the options.

We'd also like to know if you're coming along to the sprints so we can cater for them appropriately, please head along to our handy-dandy form and let us know!

Dinner Speaker: Paul Gampe

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 18:41:51 +1000

Netwhois. logfilerotate. logfileradius. What do these three things have in common? They were all written in Perl by Paul Gampe to solve problems faced by ISPs in the 90s. Those are problems he would know about, being the man who connected Japan to the internet.

Paul Gampe’s dinner talk is entitled “The Rise and Fall of Perl: Lessons for Python from an old Perl guy”. Paul will share war stories from his long career in open source software, illustrating how Perl got big by being the language of choice for solving a wide range of software problems. Paul believes that Python now fills that role, and sounds a cautionary note, warning that “If you forget where you came from, you might wind up like Java”.

He will also draw on experience gained through his involvement with Open Source Industry Australia (OSIA), especially in preparing a response to the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership. Paul knows first-hand about the need to be ever vigilant of the complexity of these multilateral agreements that have immense challenges for an economy such as Australia’s, which needs to preserve the existing flexibilities and freedoms Australians enjoy under our own legal frameworks.

Paul Gampe currently directs information management, security, applications and software development, communications technology and service management for Australia’s leading Data-Centre-as-a-Service (DCaaS) provider, NEXTDC Limited. Before that, Paul was Vice President of World-Wide Engineering Services and Operations for Red Hat, where he directed a global function delivering software engineering services and pioneered development of Red Hat’s Asian language products. You might have seen him at linux.conf.au talking about how to make money from open source software.

DjangoGirls: Free programming workshop for women

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 19:19:25 +1000

Following the success of the amazing DjangoGirls at Euro Python, we're running a workshop on the first day of sprints.

So come along to pick up an Open Source project to work on in a supportive environment or just sprint with other girl programmers for the day.

No Django experience is required just an interest in learning.

There'll be cupcakes and excellent coaches/mentors.

We'd love to have anyone who identifies as a women to come along!

Keynote: Dr James R. Curran

Wed, 09 Jul 2014 08:53:05 +1000

Following up last week’s announcement that Katie Cunningham would be one of PyCon 2014’s plenary speakers was always going to be hard. We love a challenge!

So it is with equally great excitement that we announce the second of our keynote speakers: Dr James R. Curran, Associate Professor and ARC Australian Research Fellow at the University of Sydney.

There’s a lot of people in the Australian Python community who got their start in Python through James’ activities: He has taught Python to thousands of school students and teachers since version 1.5.1 (1999), and for over 10 years he has been involved in a wide range of high school outreach activities, primarily through the National Computer Science School.

In his talk, “Python for every child in Australia”, Dr Curran casts his eyes over an important opportunity to bring Python into classrooms all over Australia. The once in a generation “Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies” curriculum presents an opportunity to teach computer science and programming to Australian school children from Year 3 to Year 10.

James argues that the very future of Australian computing is at stake, and that the Python community has an exciting part to play in shaping that future.

Aside from his Python outreach work, James is a computer scientist at the University of Sydney, researching computational linguistics with a focus on statistical approaches to syntactic and semantic natural language processing on web-scale datasets.

We are excited to hear Dr Curran’s keynote address and see his vision for the future of Python in Australian schools. Will you be there?

Registrations for PyCon Australia 2014 are already open and tickets going at alarming rate (the good kind of alarming). Book your conference ticket today! http://2014.pycon-au.org/register/prices

Call for Volunteers

Tue, 08 Jul 2014 21:38:47 +1000

PyCon Australia is organized and run by volunteers from the Python community. This year we're looking for over 200 on-site volunteer hours to help make sure everything runs smoothly.

Everyone who is attending PyCon Australia is welcome to volunteer, but you must be registered to volunteer. There will be discounts given for people who can give us a minimum of 1 full day of help.

All volunteers will be given the necessary training required to do the various jobs at PyCon Australia. Because some jobs will require more training than others there will be a number of training sessions held in the lead-up to PyCon Australia (every Sunday from now until the conference). Unfortunately this means certain jobs will need to be filled by people who can attend those training days.

Anyone who puts their hand up to volunteer - regardless of how much they contribute - will be entitled to attend the volunteers after-party on Sunday night. The event is to show our appreciation to the volunteers for your hard work. You can expect some free drinks and food!

To register as a volunteer, please fill-out the question form at http://2014.pycon-au.org/volunteer/new.

All help is very much appreciated. Thank you!

Questions: Email pycon@lists.humbug.org.au

Keynote: Katie Cunningham

Wed, 02 Jul 2014 12:09:33 +1000

Last week, we revealed the programme schedule for Pycon Australia 2014 (2014.pycon-au.org/programme/schedule). Such an impressive line-up of talks we are fronting this year, we couldn't be more proud. Kicking off proceedings are, of course, our plenary speakers and we are absolutely thrilled to have Katie Cunningham deliver a keynote at PyCon Australia 2014.

Katie is no stranger to Python conferences. A prolific speaker and advocate for accessibility, she has taken the stage at several PyCon and Django conferences. This year, her keynote titled "Accessibility: Myths and Delusions" will invite us to look at accessibility from a usability perspective. Whether you are developer, designer or content creator, Katie's talk will challenge you to question the online experience your website is really delivering.

Accessibility is very close to her heart and she defines it simply as "all of the data and all of the functionality for all of the users." Katie adds, "Accessibility is one of the least understood areas of modern UI/UX, most often resulting in a below-par experience for users with different needs. Myths and delusions about creating an accessible interface are everywhere and it's time we change that." In her talk, Katie will debunk some common misconceptions surrounding accessibility, the tools, compliance, impact on the audience and examine effort vs. cost considerations.

Katie lives and breathes Python, Django and Open Source. Her job as Python developer at Cox Media Group is just the tip of the iceberg. A true champion for diversity and inclusivity, she nurtures PyLadies in her hometown of Washington DC as well as co-founding Young Coders. She is also an author, working on her third book. She writes at therealkatie.net and tweets at @kcunning.

We can't wait to hear Katie's keynote and we are sure you will enjoy it as well.

Registrations for PyCon Australia 2014 are already open and tickets are flying fast. Our t-shirt printing deadline is coming up in a little over a week, to ensure you get your t-shirt, book your conference ticket today, visit: 2014.pycon-au.org/register/prices

PyCon Australia 2014 has revealed its programme!

Wed, 25 Jun 2014 13:26:26 +1000

PyCon Australia is very proud to be able to reveal our programme for the 2014 conference, to be held on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August 2014, following our Miniconfs on Friday 1 August.

Following a record-breaking response to our Call for Proposals, the conference will feature three full tracks of presentations, across two days, covering all aspects of the Python ecosystem, presented by experts and core developers of key Python technology. Our presenters cover a broad range of backgrounds, including industry, research, government and academia.

PyCon Australia is a great place to keep up-to-date with the latest trends in Python web technology: Django lead developer, Simon Willison will be presenting "A new default web stack". We have many experts in their fields, including CPython core developer, and Brisbane local, Nick Coghlan who will present some "elegant and ugly hacks in CPython".

As well as DjangoCon AU and the OpenStack miniconf, the main conference will feature talks on testing, deployment, and optimisation of Python-based web apps. For the first time this year we're also having a miniconf dedicated to talks on using Python in the Sciences.

This year, talks on growing the Python Community make up a large amount of our programme, with "The Curse of the Django Podcast" by Elena Williams exploring the role of community-driven media, and Anna Gerber's "PyBots! or how to learn to stop worrying and love coding" covering approaches to Python in education.

We've also made sure that beginners, or people looking to brush up on their Python skillset, have a clear path through the conference. Starting with Peter Lovett's "Python 101+" tutorial, you can rapidly enhance your knowledge of Python, and then you can attend our general stream talks to glean a snapshot of the state of the art in Python.

The full schedule for PyCon Australia 2014 can be found at http://2014.pycon-au.org/programme/schedule

Registrations for PyCon Australia 2014 are now open, with prices starting at AU$50 for students, and tickets for the general public starting at AU$220. All prices include GST, and more information can be found at http://2014.pycon-au.org/register/prices

We're looking forward to seeing this excellent programme brought to life at PyCon Australia 2014, in Brisbane, this August.

About PyCon Australia

PyCon Australia is the national conference for the Python Programming Community. The fifth PyCon Australia will be held on August 1--5, 2014 in Brisbane, bringing together professional, student and enthusiast developers with a love for developing with Python. PyCon Australia informs the country’s Python developers with presentations, tutorials and panel sessions by experts and core developers of Python, as well as the libraries and frameworks that they rely on.

To find out more about PyCon Australia 2014, visit our website at http://pycon-au.org or e-mail us at contact@pycon-au.org.

PyCon Australia is presented by Linux Australia (www.linux.org.au) and acknowledges the support of our Platinum Sponsors, Red Hat, and Eventbrite; and our Gold sponsors, Google Australia and Netbox Blue. For full details of our sponsors, see our website.

Early Birds almost sold out!

Tue, 10 Jun 2014 13:17:42 +1000

The good news about Early Bird Registrations: We are almost sold out! But wait for the great news: We still have fewer than 25 tickets up for grabs. So if you are keen to attend PyCon Australia 2014, act now to get your hands on these unbelievable early bird offers. These will sell out very quickly.

Early bird rates start at $50 for full-time students, $180 for enthusiasts and $450 for professionals. You can find the complete details of what each ticket includes on our Website. Tickets are selling out fast, so head straight to http://2014.pycon-au.org/register/prices and register right away.

While there, you may also want to check our accommodation page at http://2014.pycon-au.org/register/accommodation. As always, we have worked out some great deals for you. However plan and book early as these offers are open for a limited time only.

About PyCon Australia

To find out more about PyCon Australia 2014, visit our website at http://pycon-au.org or e-mail us at contact@pycon-au.org.

PyCon Australia is presented by Linux Australia (www.linux.org.au) and acknowledges the support of our Platinum Sponsors, Red Hat and Eventbrite, and our Gold sponsors, Google Australia and Netbox Blue. For full details of our sponsors, see our website.

Financial Aid applications now open

Mon, 02 Jun 2014 11:09:52 +1000

Following in the footsteps of PyCon North America, PyCon Australia offers a generous financial aid programme, so that some attendees and speakers have some, or in rare cases, all of their expenses such as flight, hotel and admission provided to them from the conference budget.

PyCon Australia strongly encourages people to apply for financial aid -- even if we can’t cover all of your expenses, we will give you free admission based on need. The application process is simple, and straightforward. It’s also very liberal -- the only caveat is that speakers at the conference "get bumped to the top" of the applications so that we don’t lose a good talk because of financial need. We also don’t ban anyone from applying.

Essentially, the financial aid programme is the PyCon Outreach programme -- it's the community holding up the community and making itself accessible at this major event through these financial grants. It is the very spirit of the conference; make the information, knowledge, friendships and connection available to everyone.

The generous contribution of the Python Software Foundation has helped us in offering this programme. Financial aid is core to the mission of the PSF -- The mission of the Python Software Foundation is to promote, protect, and advance the Python programming language, and to support and facilitate the growth of a diverse (http://www.python.org/psf/diversity/) and international community of Python programmers.

For full details of the financial aid programme, and details on how to apply, see http://2014.pycon-au.org/grants.

About PyCon Australia

To find out more about PyCon Australia 2014, visit our website at http://pycon-au.org or e-mail us at contact@pycon-au.org.

PyCon Australia is presented by Linux Australia (www.linux.org.au) and acknowledges the support of our Platinum Sponsor, Red Hat, and our Gold sponsors, Google Australia and Netbox Blue. For full details of our sponsors, see our website.

Early Bird Registrations Now Open!

Mon, 02 Jun 2014 11:07:05 +1000

We are delighted to announce that online registration is now open for PyCon Australia 2014. The fifth PyCon Australia is being held in Brisbane, Queensland from August 1st – 5th at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre and is expected to draw hundreds of Python developers, enthusiasts and students from Australasia and afar.

Starting today, early bird offers are up for grabs. To take advantage of these discounted ticket rates, be among the first 100 to register. Early bird registration starts from $50 for full-time students, $180 for enthusiasts and $450 for professionals. Offers this good won’t last long, so head straight to http://2014.pycon-au.org and register right away.

PyCon Australia has endeavoured to keep tickets as affordable as possible. We are able to do so, thanks to our Sponsors and Contributors.

We have also worked out favourable deals with accommodation providers for PyCon delegates. Find out more about the options at http://2014.pycon-au.org/register/accommodation

To begin the registration process, and find out more about each level of ticket, visit http://2014.pycon-au.org/register/prices

Important Dates to Help You Plan

27 May: Early Bird Registration Opens -- open to the first 100 tickets
July 9: Last day to Order PyCon Australia 2014 T-shirts
19 July: Last day to Advise Special Dietary Requirements
August 1: PyCon Australia 2014 Begins

About PyCon Australia

To find out more about PyCon Australia 2014, visit our website at http://pycon-au.org or e-mail us at contact@pycon-au.org.

PyCon Australia 2014's Call for Proposals closes this week!

Mon, 21 Apr 2014 09:44:52 +1000

This week marks your last opportunity to submit proposals to present at PyCon Australia 2014, the national conference for the Python programming community, to be held on August 2 and 3 in Brisbane, Queensland.

The deadline for proposal submission is Friday April 25, 2014, and more information can be found at http://pycon-au.org/cfp

PyCon Australia is an excellent opportunity to share experience and knowledge with like-minded Python developers from all walks of life -- we attract professional developers from industry, government, science and education, along with enthusiast and student developers. Presentations can be targeted at all skill levels, on any topic related to Python programming.

This year, DjangoCon AU returns under the PyCon Australia umbrella, it'll run on Friday 1 August, before the main conference. Every Django-related proposal we receive in the PyCon Australia CFP will also be considered as part of the DjangoCon AU programme.

Likewise, we'll also be running a Science and Data Analysis miniconf alongside DjangoCon AU. Every Science, Engineering, and Data Analysis-related proposal will be considered as part of that miniconf's programme.

If you're a first-time Python developer, don't be afraid to submit a presentation -- we're a community-driven conference, and we have a focus on building the next generation of Python programmers.

We can't wait to see your proposals.

About PyCon Australia

To find out more about PyCon Australia 2014, visit our website at http://pycon-au.org or e-mail us at contact@pycon-au.org. PyCon Australia is presented by Linux Australia (www.linux.org.au) and acknowledges the support of our Platinum Sponsor, Red Hat, and our Gold sponsors, Google Australia and Netbox Blue. For full details of our sponsors, see our website.

Call for Proposals is Open!

Fri, 28 Feb 2014 19:13:46 +1000

PyCon Australia 2014 is pleased to announce that its Call for Proposals is now open! The conference this year will be held on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August 2014 in Brisbane. We'll also be featuring a day of miniconfs on Friday 1 August. The deadline for proposal submission is Friday April 25, 2014, and more information can be found at http://pycon-au.org/cfp