Lightning Talks

Gunnar Hellekson, Technology Strategist for Red Hat's U.S. Public Sector Group, presents a timeline created by tying together data about software the government has released as open source.

Interesting facts: » Read more

HFOSS, Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software, is a movement inspired first by the December 2004 Asian tsunami, and then by other humanitarian needs in the health, civic, finance and academic sectors (especially for women and people of color).

Leslie Hawthorn, part of Red Hat's Community Action and Impact team, gives example after example of how HFOSS has improved and made possible disaster preparedness and relief programs, as well as empowered other projects: » Read more

Dave Neary manages open source standards at Red Hat, so he thinks a lot about what makes open source communities work and what makes them unique.

First, everything we are doing in open source is not brand new. People have gone before us; we should take notice of the lessons they learned and learn them ourselves. Then, two books, one about architecture and the other city planning, highlight key guidelines for design and process. » Read more

Education is broken, but there is a new culture of learning gaining traction, according to Sebastian Dziallas, a student at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering.

He describes how fluid learning (departing from the 20th century "stable" structure) is first seeing what's going on (hanging out), then sticking your feet in the water (messing around), and finally getting deeply involved (geeking out). » Read more

Do you see government as an institution without much room for growth and change? The open source way is creating a path for citizens to become empowered and help their community make improvements where traditional methods have failed—through active participation, gained knowledge, and a two-way conversation with city officials. » Read more

From Nine Inch Nails to Star Trek, open source principles are represented in much of pop culture. Ruth Suehle, community marketing leader for the Fedora Project and moderator of the Life channel at opensource.com, found this to be a great approach to explaining the open source way to people who don't know much (or don't want to know much) about its humble beginnings in software.

Opensource.com takes it a step further by writing original content and inviting contributors to share ways that open source is far-reaching—into the areas of business, education, government, health, law, and life. 

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How can open source concepts and technologies change the world? Help poor communities and build eco-villages? John S. Camilleri, EVP of Product Development for Green Energy Corporation, describes how microgrids can leverage natural resources in places like Haiti to help improve the standard of living. Based on a system Camilleri calls "Reef," each piece of the ecosystem is allowed to grow and thrive on its own merits. 

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