From gslindstrom at gmail.com Sat Oct 2 14:42:04 2010 From: gslindstrom at gmail.com (Greg Lindstrom) Date: Sat, 2 Oct 2010 07:42:04 -0500 Subject: [PyAR2] pyArkansas - 2 Weeks Out Message-ID: Good morning, everyone - Before I get going (and forget), my employer -- Novsys Health -- has an opening for an entry-level IT professional. The position would involve learning and running our claim adjudication software and running reports (as well as working desktop support). This would lead to helping us automate our reports, which has a lot of very cool technology associated with it. We run Python/Linux/Postgres/Oracle on the back end and Windows in the "cube farm". It's a great place to work. If you are interested (or know someone) please get in touch. We may also have 2 or 3 inter positions open as well (which may grow into full-time positions). OK. We're two weeks out and I am officially freaking out (so, things are right on track :-). Have you checked out the web site? Kelly has put up a Plone site and gets extra credit for getting it to work with my WebFaction account. She worked for two or three days to get it running and wants to continue development after the 16th aiming for next year (something I want to do, also, but let's get through this year, first). Registration is at 27 but i know many more who are coming. Here's a shot at a schedule, though it's likely to change (right up until the conference): 8:30-9:00 - Registration 9:00-10:15: Morning Session I A. Introduction to Python (Dr. Carl Burch) B. Python Teach-In (Brad Allen and Volunteers) C. Data Visulization with Python (W. Emeneker) D. Intro to the Google Application Engine (Chris Harris) 10:15-10:30 - Break. Allow people to deposit their tickets for door prizes. 10:30-11:30 - Morning Session II A. Introduction to Python (cont) B. Python Teach In (cont) C. Introduction to GUI Programming (Wayne Werner) D. Open Space 11:30-1:00 - Lunch on your own. 1:00-2:00 A. Simple Game Design (Dr. Bernard Chen) B. Blender I (Gordon Fisher) C. Web Framework Overview (Gloria W. Jacobs) D. Scientific Computing (W. Emeneker) 2:00-3:00 A. Freeseer - A Live Presentation Recording Application (L.J. Estorninos) B. Blender II C. MongoDB (Gloria W. Jacobs) D. Python Meets 3-D CAD (30 min, Nicholas Seward)/Real-time Image Processing (30 min, Dr. Gabriel Ferrer ) 3:00-4:00 A. What Does This Code Do? (Jeff Rush) B. Concurrency (Gloria W. Jacobs) C. Web Security and Django (Chad Files) D. Programming Mindstorm Robots (Greg Lindstrom) If I have forgotten someone or a class please let me know. There is some "wiggle room" in the schedule. In particular, I've signed up to teach a class on Lego Mindstorm Robots which may, or may not be a good idea. I believe that O'Reilly Publishing is sending someone to the conference! That's pretty cool in my book (no pun intended). The rest of the door prizes have arrived and Gloria has threatened to have some of her friends supply even more. We'll hand out tickets with registration so people can decide which prizes they want. If you are teaching and want software installed on the University computers, please let up know what you need ASAP. UCA will in stall it but they would like some time to make sure it's right. For those of you interested, let's plan on having dinner Saturday evening. If you are speaking, I (pyArkansas, actually) will pick up the tab as a small attempt to say "thank-you". We don't have a much $$ this year as in the past (because I haven't worked at raising any) but there will be enough for dinner. Do we want to do anything after dinner? Even gathering at a hotel and having someone teach me how to contribute to the core distribution would be cool. Or you could teach me about distribution methods or making packages. I'd like Allen to teach me about unit tests (as opposed to smoke/functionality tests). Honestly, the more I think about it the less I know about coding! Let's get more people signed up. I'll send notes to the newspapers and radio stations to get some PR. Am I missing anything? Do you have concerns/issues? Let me know. And keep a list of what we can do for next year. I already have plans to make this a State-wide event next year and will be asking for ideas by the end of the month. Thanks, --greg -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jeff at taupro.com Sat Oct 2 17:14:16 2010 From: jeff at taupro.com (Jeff Rush) Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2010 10:14:16 -0500 Subject: [PyAR2] pyArkansas - 2 Weeks Out In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4CA74C48.9030609@taupro.com> On 10/02/2010 07:42 AM, Greg Lindstrom wrote: > > 8:30-9:00 - Registration > 9:00-10:15: Morning Session I > A. Introduction to Python (Dr. Carl Burch) > B. Python Teach-In (Brad Allen and Volunteers) > C. Data Visulization with Python (W. Emeneker) > D. Intro to the Google Application Engine (Chris Harris) > > 10:15-10:30 - Break. Allow people to deposit their tickets for door prizes. > > 10:30-11:30 - Morning Session II > A. Introduction to Python (cont) > B. Python Teach In (cont) > C. Introduction to GUI Programming (Wayne Werner) > D. Open Space > > 11:30-1:00 - Lunch on your own. > > 1:00-2:00 > A. Simple Game Design (Dr. Bernard Chen) > B. Blender I (Gordon Fisher) > C. Web Framework Overview (Gloria W. Jacobs) > D. Scientific Computing (W. Emeneker) > > 2:00-3:00 > A. Freeseer - A Live Presentation Recording Application (L.J. Estorninos) > B. Blender II > C. MongoDB (Gloria W. Jacobs) > D. Python Meets 3-D CAD (30 min, Nicholas Seward)/Real-time Image > Processing (30 min, Dr. Gabriel Ferrer ) > > 3:00-4:00 > A. What Does This Code Do? (Jeff Rush) > B. Concurrency (Gloria W. Jacobs) > C. Web Security and Django (Chad Files) > D. Programming Mindstorm Robots (Greg Lindstrom) > > If I have forgotten someone or a class please let me know. Greg, I'm not seeing my other talk, "Distributing Your Python Code" in the schedule. And I might suggest that my talk "What Does This Code Do?" be placed in the morning as it a guided tour of code fragments and can act as a tutorial for intermediate programmers. It is much more a group discussion than a lecture. But I defer to your scheduling. > Do we want to do anything after dinner? > Even gathering at a hotel and having someone teach me how to contribute > to the core distribution would be cool. Or you could teach me about > distribution methods or making packages. I'd like Allen to teach me > about unit tests (as opposed to smoke/functionality tests). Honestly, > the more I think about it the less I know about coding! I'm game to meet after dinner and talk tech, assuming people are around and not falling asleep. -Jeff From jeff at taupro.com Sat Oct 2 17:18:54 2010 From: jeff at taupro.com (Jeff Rush) Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2010 10:18:54 -0500 Subject: [PyAR2] [PyAR2-organizers] pyArkansas 2010 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4CA74D5E.6030509@taupro.com> On 08/21/2010 10:35 AM, Wayne Werner wrote: > > I'm really looking forward to PyArkansas this year. As an aside, have we > talked to the Texas Pythonistas to invite their attendance? I know that > happened the first year and our attendance suffered because of it. Um, the presence of the Texas folk "reduced" attendance? ;-) Actually for the 2nd PyAR2 it was scheduled against PyTexas so people had to choose which to attend. That is not a problem this year. -Jeff From gslindstrom at gmail.com Sat Oct 2 18:14:36 2010 From: gslindstrom at gmail.com (Greg Lindstrom) Date: Sat, 2 Oct 2010 11:14:36 -0500 Subject: [PyAR2] [PyAR2-organizers] pyArkansas 2010 In-Reply-To: <4C6FF979.7090807@gmail.com> References: <4C6FF979.7090807@gmail.com> Message-ID: 2010/8/21 Bob Fahr > Greg, > First of all, thanks for continuing to drive this effort! > Thanks! It gets take a lot of time, but I think we're going to have a good year. > > I really like the idea of 30 min classes for a track. We can cover a lot > of topics and appeal to a broader audience. > Me, too. I want to push it more next year because I think there are people who are ready to step up. > > I think it is great that the high schools are contacting us, if we are > getting enough participation from the high schools I think it would be worth > ensuring that we have present topics that would be useful to them. As an > offshoot of our conference I'd be interested in presenting to the EAST > classes or high school computer classes on-site too. > Yeah...I like the idea. I think it would be very cool (tm) if we could have people willing to go to High Schools and present talks on programming and Python. Time to get some year round exposure going. I think there will be interest and support from our University friends. > > I'll work on getting some donations of $$ and swag. > > Do you have a summary of the stats on the prior conferences we've held? > That would be useful in persuading supporters that this is serious. > Something like number of attendees, where they came from, number of > presenters and their background, past sponsors, feedback from participants, > etc. > Sure. First year, 55 (or so) attended. There was pretty serious weather all day which hurt us a little. Sponsors; Novasys Health, Southwest Poser Pool, Conway Chamber of Commerce. We brought in Jeff Rush and Noah Gift as speakers and had great support from our friends in Texas. Last year, I believe we had 78. Sponsors: Novasys Health, Conway Chamber of Commerce and Conway Advertising and Promotion Commission. This year we lost our supported at the CoC (Chad Russel) left and I have not made a new contact. We brought in Jacob Kaplan-Moss (developer of Django) and Gloria W. Jacobs. We had representatives from at least 5 Universities/Colleges including about 20 from Harding University. There was huge interest in the Blender class which crosses over from Computer Science into the Arts. HTH, --greg > > Bob > > > On 8/21/2010 7:34 AM, Greg Lindstrom wrote: > > Good Morning, Everyone - > > pyArkansas is scheduled for Saturday, October 16th and once again, our > friends at UCA have agreed to host us. This is our 3rd pyArkansas and I'd > like to start leaning on local talent more than we have in the past two > years. Part of that is because I think there are plenty of Python > developers/user right here and the other is that the bast majority of our > budget the past two years has been devoted to flying people in and housing > feeding them. I am going to pyTexas this Saturday and may ask Jeff Rush if > he could come up (he was here in 2008) but, unless there is a huge cry from > the masses, that will be it this year. > > Our format has been classes in the morning and talks in the afternoon. > This worked well when our primary thrust was to introduce Python to people > but, as I mentioned, there are a lot of people using Python and we need to > accommodate them as well. To that end, I'd like to propose that we have at > least 1 classroom devoted to talks or open space in the morning. We need a > "Python for Programmers" class for experienced coders to learn Python (Dr. > Burch from Hendrix College has already offered to repeat his class from last > year) and I'm torn on the "Python for Complete Beginners" class. Dr. Chen > (UCA) did a fantastic job teaching it last year but, if memory serves, we > only had 4 people in it [however, one was a representative from Philander > Smith College looking to evaluate Python for their CS curriculum!]. > > I have been contacted by Michael Finch, EAST Lab Facilitator out of Greene > County Tech High School (Paragould) about pyArkansas. For those of you who > are not aware, the EAST program -- Environmental And Spatial Technologies -- > is an effort to get technology into High School classrooms and, I think, is > a perfect fit for us. Michael has stressed that they do not promote one > technology over another, but is interested in making his students aware of > pyArkansas; this may be a perfect opportunity for us to offer the "Python > for Complete Beginners" class. I've included him on this email and will > contact him separately to see how we can work together. > > If we are going to have talks, we need people to speak! I will put > together a "call for papers" and I need *YOU* to think about presenting > something. If can be on a specific Python topic (how to program objects, > database, web) or on something cool where you have used Python. I have even > toyed with having 30-minute talks as well as 60-minute talks because I think > we cold get more people to speak for shorted periods of time and I'd love to > see all sorts of topics. We will need to get a list of topics people would > like to see. I am working on getting our wiki up (friends from pyTexas are > helping me with that). > > So, here's where we stand. We need to get word out to everyone (Dr. Burch > has volunteered to get word out to Universities/Colleges and I'm handling > High Schools). We need to get a wiki up (hopefully tomorrow) and then we > can get a call for papers out. I need someone to handle swag (if we want > it); I can help out, but someone has to do the legwork (write email/make > phone calls). And we will need some $$. I'll ask Novasys but does anyone > have a contact at Acxiom or HP? Anywhere else in Conway that we can think > of? > > This may have repeated some of what I wrote two weeks ago, but I only > received 2 responses. If this is going to go forward, more people have to > get involved! Let me know what you want pyArkansas to be this year! > > --greg > > > _______________________________________________ > PyAR2-Organizers mailing listPyAR2-Organizers at python.orghttp://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pyar2-organizers > > > > _______________________________________________ > PyAR2-Organizers mailing list > PyAR2-Organizers at python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pyar2-organizers > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gslindstrom at gmail.com Fri Oct 8 01:14:12 2010 From: gslindstrom at gmail.com (Greg Lindstrom) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2010 18:14:12 -0500 Subject: [PyAR2] pyArkansas Flier Message-ID: Here's a flier that Kelley put together for us. It's not too late to get some up! --greg -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: pyarkansasflyer.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 235874 bytes Desc: not available URL: From gslindstrom at gmail.com Sat Oct 9 15:25:10 2010 From: gslindstrom at gmail.com (Greg Lindstrom) Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2010 08:25:10 -0500 Subject: [PyAR2] pyArkansas - 7 days out Message-ID: We're in the homestretch. My thanks to everyone working to make this happen (and there are quite a few of you!). Here's the (pretty close to) final schedule: 8:30-9:00 - Registration 9:00-10:15: Morning Session I A. Introduction to Python (Dr. Carl Burch) B. Python Teach-In (Brad Allen and Volunteers) C. Data Visualization with Python (W. Emeneker) D. Intro to the Google Application Engine (Chris Harris) 10:15-10:30 - Break. Allow people to deposit their tickets for door prizes. 10:30-11:30 - Morning Session II A. Introduction to Python (cont) B. Python Teach In (cont) C. Introduction to GUI Programming (Wayne Werner) D. Web Security and Django (Chad Files) 11:30-1:00 - Lunch on your own. 1:00-2:00 A. Simple Game Design (Dr. Bernard Chen) B. Blender I (Gordon Fisher) C. Web Framework Overview (Gloria W. Jacobs) D. Scientific Computing (W. Emeneker) 2:00-3:00 A. Python Packages (Jeff Rush) B. Blender II C. MongoDB (Gloria W. Jacobs) D. Python Meets 3-D CAD (30 min, Nicholas Seward)/Real-time Image Processing (30 min, Dr. Gabriel Ferrer ) 3:00-4:00 A. What Does This Code Do? (Jeff Rush) B. Concurrency (Gloria W. Jacobs) C. Freeseer - A Live Presentation Recording Application (L.J. Estorninos) D. Open Space Gloria has agreed to present a class on MongoDB. If you are into database applications you will want to see this! Mongo also sent some cool stickers to put out for swag. Jeff Rush will present a class on packages and distribution. It makes for a killer line up of classes. Kelley, would you update the web page (thanks for all of your help, btw). Since schedules for mini-conferences remain pretty fluid up to the day of the conference, I want to propose the following to help assign rooms (we have 4 rooms; 2 large (40 people) and 2 small (24 people)). I will make 8-1/2 x 11 inch signs for each class and use either sticky-tack or architectural tape to make a master schedule on the wall of the hallway at UCA. This way, classes can be moved from small to large or large to small on the fly. When people register, they will be handed 15 raffle tickets and some adhesive dots. Using the dots, they will indicate which classes they are likely to attend by placing a dot on the sign for each class. We can then arrange the classes with more dots to the larger rooms. Not exactly scientific, but I think it will work. Brad Allen (Texas Users Group) is going to get more information concerning the "Teach-In". It's an independent study type class using some very cool software. Students are able to work at their own pace while helpers circulate. It's an innovative idea that, I hope, will have quite a few takers. We also have the traditional classroom presentation by Dr. Burch as well as some more advanced classes for experienced Pythonistas. All rooms will have a projector and computers for all students. Attendees are welcome to bring their own machines, of course. If you are teaching a class and want/need additional software installed please let me know ASAP. UCA will install just about anything, but they would like some lead time. I have asked about temporary accounts from UCA so attendees could have Internet access but have not heard back on it. Michael is on this email and, perhaps, he can give a yes/no on it? All speakers are invited to a post conference dinner (location to be decided). We may have a short meeting after the conference to discuss what went well and what to improve on next year (and next year we are going to try some new ideas). If I've missed anything please let me know (and be gentle). Thanks! --greg -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bradallen137 at gmail.com Sat Oct 9 16:30:37 2010 From: bradallen137 at gmail.com (Brad Allen) Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2010 09:30:37 -0500 Subject: [PyAR2] pyArkansas - 7 days out In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: It seems like a bad idea having the Python Teach-In scheduled against the Introduction to Python. Maybe we should keep the Intro to Python in the morning, but try having the Python Teach-In afterward and just rename it to "Lab Exercises: Python Koans". The "Python Teach-In" concept won't really fly unless it is coordinated with registration to wrangle all the experienced Pythoneers into being tutors at the start of the day. However, if the goal/expectation is only lab exercises, it won't require a small army of Python tutors; I can run it with only one or two experienced Python developers to help. Once people students get going through the Koans, they will only need help occasionally when they get stuck. On Sat, Oct 9, 2010 at 8:25 AM, Greg Lindstrom wrote: > We're in the homestretch.? My thanks to everyone working to make this happen > (and there are quite a few of you!).? Here's the (pretty close to) final > schedule: > > 8:30-9:00 - Registration > > 9:00-10:15: Morning Session I > A.? Introduction to Python (Dr. Carl Burch) > B.? Python Teach-In (Brad Allen and Volunteers) > C.? Data Visualization with Python (W. Emeneker) > D.? Intro to the Google Application Engine (Chris Harris) > > 10:15-10:30 - Break.? Allow people to deposit their tickets for door prizes. > > 10:30-11:30 - Morning Session II > A.? Introduction to Python (cont) > B.? Python Teach In (cont) > C.? Introduction to GUI Programming (Wayne Werner) > D.? Web Security and Django (Chad Files) > 11:30-1:00 - Lunch on your own. > > 1:00-2:00 > A.? Simple Game Design (Dr. Bernard Chen) > B.? Blender I (Gordon Fisher) > C.? Web Framework Overview (Gloria W. Jacobs) > D.? Scientific Computing (W. Emeneker) > > 2:00-3:00 > A.? Python Packages (Jeff Rush) > B.? Blender II > C.? MongoDB (Gloria W. Jacobs) > D.? Python Meets 3-D CAD (30 min, Nicholas Seward)/Real-time Image > Processing (30 min, Dr. Gabriel Ferrer ) > > 3:00-4:00 > A.? What Does This Code Do? (Jeff Rush) > B.? Concurrency (Gloria W. Jacobs) > C.? Freeseer - A Live Presentation Recording Application (L.J. Estorninos) > D.? Open Space > > Gloria has agreed to present a class on MongoDB.? If you are into database > applications you will want to see this!? Mongo also sent some cool stickers > to put out for swag.? Jeff Rush will present a class on packages and > distribution.? It makes for a killer line up of classes.? Kelley, would you > update the web page (thanks for all of your help, btw). > > Since schedules for mini-conferences remain pretty fluid up to the day of > the conference, I want to propose the following to help assign rooms (we > have 4 rooms; 2 large (40 people) and 2 small (24 people)).? I will make > 8-1/2 x 11 inch signs for each class and use either sticky-tack or > architectural tape to make a master schedule on the wall of the hallway at > UCA.? This way, classes can be moved from small to large or large to small > on the fly.? When people register, they will be handed 15 raffle tickets and > some adhesive dots.? Using the dots, they will indicate which classes they > are likely to attend by placing a dot on the sign for each class.? We can > then arrange the classes with more dots to the larger rooms.? Not exactly > scientific, but I think it will work. > > Brad Allen (Texas Users Group) is going to get more information concerning > the "Teach-In".? It's an independent study type class using some very cool > software.? Students are able to work at their own pace while helpers > circulate.? It's an innovative idea that, I hope, will have quite a few > takers.? We also have the traditional classroom presentation by Dr. Burch as > well as some more advanced classes for experienced Pythonistas. > > All rooms will have a projector and computers for all students.? Attendees > are welcome to bring their own machines, of course. > > If you are teaching a class and want/need additional software installed > please let me know ASAP.? UCA will install just about anything, but they > would like some lead time.?? I have asked about temporary accounts from UCA > so attendees could have Internet access but have not heard back on it. > Michael is on this email and, perhaps, he can give a yes/no on it? > > All speakers are invited to a post conference dinner (location to be > decided).? We may have a short meeting after the conference to discuss what > went well and what to improve on next year (and next year we are going to > try some new ideas). > > If I've missed anything please let me know (and be gentle). > > Thanks! > --greg > From gslindstrom at gmail.com Sat Oct 9 17:56:35 2010 From: gslindstrom at gmail.com (Greg Lindstrom) Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2010 10:56:35 -0500 Subject: [PyAR2] pyArkansas - 7 days out In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Here's my thinking (and yours may vary)- We typically have many people show up who have never programmed before. They don't know how to write "hello, world" and need extensive hand-holding. We also have people who have coded (or are in CS courses, etc) who don't need or want a course presented to them and would rather have a set-up where they can progress at their own pace. Having the two courses run at the same time is an attempt to give both what they want/need. Two complaints we have had the past two years is the the intro to programming class was "too basic" and that there were no classes for intermediate/advance Pythonisitas in the morning. Hopefully, my "there's more than one way to do it" line of thinking won't get me into any trouble :-). On Sat, Oct 9, 2010 at 9:30 AM, Brad Allen wrote: > It seems like a bad idea having the Python Teach-In scheduled against > the Introduction to Python. > > Maybe we should keep the Intro to Python in the morning, but try > having the Python Teach-In afterward and just rename it to "Lab > Exercises: Python Koans". The "Python Teach-In" concept won't really > fly unless it is coordinated with registration to wrangle all the > experienced Pythoneers into being tutors at the start of the day. > However, if the goal/expectation is only lab exercises, it won't > require a small army of Python tutors; I can run it with only one or > two experienced Python developers to help. Once people students get > going through the Koans, they will only need help occasionally when > they get stuck. > > > On Sat, Oct 9, 2010 at 8:25 AM, Greg Lindstrom > wrote: > > We're in the homestretch. My thanks to everyone working to make this > happen > > (and there are quite a few of you!). Here's the (pretty close to) final > > schedule: > > > > 8:30-9:00 - Registration > > > > 9:00-10:15: Morning Session I > > A. Introduction to Python (Dr. Carl Burch) > > B. Python Teach-In (Brad Allen and Volunteers) > > C. Data Visualization with Python (W. Emeneker) > > D. Intro to the Google Application Engine (Chris Harris) > > > > 10:15-10:30 - Break. Allow people to deposit their tickets for door > prizes. > > > > 10:30-11:30 - Morning Session II > > A. Introduction to Python (cont) > > B. Python Teach In (cont) > > C. Introduction to GUI Programming (Wayne Werner) > > D. Web Security and Django (Chad Files) > > 11:30-1:00 - Lunch on your own. > > > > 1:00-2:00 > > A. Simple Game Design (Dr. Bernard Chen) > > B. Blender I (Gordon Fisher) > > C. Web Framework Overview (Gloria W. Jacobs) > > D. Scientific Computing (W. Emeneker) > > > > 2:00-3:00 > > A. Python Packages (Jeff Rush) > > B. Blender II > > C. MongoDB (Gloria W. Jacobs) > > D. Python Meets 3-D CAD (30 min, Nicholas Seward)/Real-time Image > > Processing (30 min, Dr. Gabriel Ferrer ) > > > > 3:00-4:00 > > A. What Does This Code Do? (Jeff Rush) > > B. Concurrency (Gloria W. Jacobs) > > C. Freeseer - A Live Presentation Recording Application (L.J. > Estorninos) > > D. Open Space > > > > Gloria has agreed to present a class on MongoDB. If you are into > database > > applications you will want to see this! Mongo also sent some cool > stickers > > to put out for swag. Jeff Rush will present a class on packages and > > distribution. It makes for a killer line up of classes. Kelley, would > you > > update the web page (thanks for all of your help, btw). > > > > Since schedules for mini-conferences remain pretty fluid up to the day of > > the conference, I want to propose the following to help assign rooms (we > > have 4 rooms; 2 large (40 people) and 2 small (24 people)). I will make > > 8-1/2 x 11 inch signs for each class and use either sticky-tack or > > architectural tape to make a master schedule on the wall of the hallway > at > > UCA. This way, classes can be moved from small to large or large to > small > > on the fly. When people register, they will be handed 15 raffle tickets > and > > some adhesive dots. Using the dots, they will indicate which classes > they > > are likely to attend by placing a dot on the sign for each class. We can > > then arrange the classes with more dots to the larger rooms. Not exactly > > scientific, but I think it will work. > > > > Brad Allen (Texas Users Group) is going to get more information > concerning > > the "Teach-In". It's an independent study type class using some very > cool > > software. Students are able to work at their own pace while helpers > > circulate. It's an innovative idea that, I hope, will have quite a few > > takers. We also have the traditional classroom presentation by Dr. Burch > as > > well as some more advanced classes for experienced Pythonistas. > > > > All rooms will have a projector and computers for all students. > Attendees > > are welcome to bring their own machines, of course. > > > > If you are teaching a class and want/need additional software installed > > please let me know ASAP. UCA will install just about anything, but they > > would like some lead time. I have asked about temporary accounts from > UCA > > so attendees could have Internet access but have not heard back on it. > > Michael is on this email and, perhaps, he can give a yes/no on it? > > > > All speakers are invited to a post conference dinner (location to be > > decided). We may have a short meeting after the conference to discuss > what > > went well and what to improve on next year (and next year we are going to > > try some new ideas). > > > > If I've missed anything please let me know (and be gentle). > > > > Thanks! > > --greg > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gslindstrom at gmail.com Thu Oct 14 19:35:08 2010 From: gslindstrom at gmail.com (Greg Lindstrom) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:35:08 -0500 Subject: [PyAR2] Fwd: Software In-Reply-To: <4CB6EB7902000006001BB705@gwia1.uca.edu> References: <4CB6EB7902000006001BB705@gwia1.uca.edu> Message-ID: Any more software? --greg ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Michael Nooner Date: Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 11:37 AM Subject: Software To: gslindstrom at gmail.com Well we are two days away. The only two pieces of software so far requested are pythonxy and tkinter on the windows machines. You might want to prompt the speakers with any more requests since tomorrow is the the absolute deadline. Thanks. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bradallen137 at gmail.com Thu Oct 14 21:22:33 2010 From: bradallen137 at gmail.com (Brad Allen) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:22:33 -0500 Subject: [PyAR2] Software In-Reply-To: References: <4CB6EB7902000006001BB705@gwia1.uca.edu> Message-ID: For the Python Koans, we need Python 2.6 (2.7 might work ok) as well as a text editor. For Windows, I'd suggest Bluefish, Notepad++, or something equivalent. Will any these machines be running Ubuntu Linux, as they did last year? Last year, at least some of the machines had an Ubuntu host OS and Windows guest virtual machines. Ubuntu has plenty of decent text editors included, but we might need to check which versions of Python are pre-installed. On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 12:35 PM, Greg Lindstrom wrote: > > Any more software? > --greg > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Michael Nooner > Date: Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 11:37 AM > Subject: Software > To: gslindstrom at gmail.com > > > Well we are two days away. > > The only two pieces of software so far requested are pythonxy and > tkinter on the windows machines. You might want to prompt the speakers > with any more requests since tomorrow is the the absolute deadline. > > Thanks. > > > From gslindstrom at gmail.com Sat Oct 23 15:38:43 2010 From: gslindstrom at gmail.com (Greg Lindstrom) Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2010 08:38:43 -0500 Subject: [PyAR2] pyArkasas 2010 Message-ID: Good Morning, Saturday morning finds me at Chick-Fil-A once again and it's amazing the difference between the weeks leading up to pyArkansas and post pyArkansas (although, I'm the tutorial coordinator for the national conference, PyCon, next Match and it's ramping up, already!). I'm very happy with how things went last week and want to thank everyone who helped out in front of and behind the scene. The classes this year were very well received and I have heard a lot of positive comments. I had to chuckle when reading what people wanted to see covered next year when I saw "Ruby" ("Hey, get your own conference!"). I had the opportunity to take a couple of days off this week with a rather nasty stomach virus that's been going around so I don't have all the comments summarized. Kelley has put a survey up on the web page and I may send out a request to everyone to fill it out. The main point today, other than thanking everyone, is to start thinking about what you would like to see for next year. What did you see this year that worked? What didn't work? What could we do better? When I work with clients to design software I often tell them to "dream bigger" meaning that I want to know their wildest dreams because, quite often, we can meet them (or, at least, start in their direction). With that in mind, I'm going to list some of my ideas. YMMV. - Have a 2-day conference with Friday being for "professionals". This would entail bringing in teachers, finding meeting space (I assume UCA holds classes on Friday), and other details but, I think we could bring in a sizable audience. We may even be able to charge for this to cover the expenses of the Saturday event. - Webcast classes to other Universities. One of my main desires for pyArkansas is to introduce students to programming in general; particularly programming as a means to an end, not just for programming sake. I also like the idea of showing our young ladies that it's OK to be a "nerd". I have been told that there is a State-wide video system in place for this type of thing; could we have remote locations where we show the "introduction to Python" class where they could ask questions? Gloria Jacobs has experience with this sort of thing and may be willing to help us out. - Have classes targeted specifically at teachers (High School, College/University, Tech Schools) to help them get Python introduced in their schools. Show them how Python can be used to enhance their curriculum. - Have a "presentation track" consisting of 30-minute talks. There is a classroom at UCA with desks (no computers) just begging to be used by people to tell the cool things they have done with Python. This would be a great way for students to get experience preparing and presenting a paper. - Do we open the conference up to other technologies? - I'd also like to have quarterly meetings this year. Do we have them at UCA or rotate them around the State? I don't see these being near the effort of last week, though they could be if "a local" would want to do most of the work (I'd be happy to help out with all I've learned over the past 3 years). Those of you who do not know Chenyi Hu (C.S. Department Head, UCA) may not know of his intense -- and intense is correct word -- commitment to developing young professionals for not only graduate studies but for the business world, too. My dream is to develop talent in Arkansas to the point of bringing business into the State. I really want to get into some of the "poorer" areas of the State where, I think, we can make a substantial difference in many lives. The possibilities are real and just waiting for someone to take them on. Why not us? Again, thank-you to everyone who helped this year. Now, what do you want to see for next year (or, next quarter)? --greg -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bradallen137 at gmail.com Sat Oct 23 17:23:03 2010 From: bradallen137 at gmail.com (Brad Allen) Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2010 10:23:03 -0500 Subject: [PyAR2] pyArkasas 2010 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I took the PyArkansas survey. :-) Say, what's the difference between teh Feedback: * We wasted a bit of time knowing where to go for lunch. Does UCA allow chalk marks on pavement? A few well-placed arrows pointing to the cafeteria could have saved several people 15 minutes of looking at maps. * Have you thought about reserving a single big room for plenary sessions? I missed the prize drawing, so maybe it happened there, but it seems like a good idea to have a keynote or something similar. A good keynote topic would be "Building the Arkansas Python Community" or something similar. * I've heard that the new PyCon software will be designed to work for regional conferences. Do you think that might be useful for PyArkansas? I'd like to investigate that for PyTexas as well. * Make a PyArkansas t-shirt! A front pocket would be nice. I know someone who might like to do the graphic design. * It might be worth thinking about to recruit corporate sponsorships and let the PSF handle the money. This could be a fund raiser for the PSF but also fund moderate conference costs (like the t-shirt!). * More swag!!! Swag bags would be nice too. On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 8:38 AM, Greg Lindstrom wrote: > Good Morning, > > Saturday morning finds me at Chick-Fil-A once again and it's amazing the > difference between the weeks leading up to pyArkansas and post pyArkansas > (although, I'm the tutorial coordinator for the national conference, PyCon, > next Match and it's ramping up, already!).? I'm very happy with how things > went last week and want to thank everyone who helped out in front of and > behind the scene.? The classes this year were very well received and I have > heard a lot of positive comments.? I had to chuckle when reading what people > wanted to see covered next year when I saw "Ruby" ("Hey, get your own > conference!"). > > I had the opportunity to take a couple of days off this week with a rather > nasty stomach virus that's been going around so I don't have all the > comments summarized.? Kelley has put a survey up on the web page and I may > send out a request to everyone to fill it out.? The main point today, other > than thanking everyone, is to start thinking about what you would like to > see for next year.? What did you see this year that worked?? What didn't > work?? What could we do better?? When I work with clients to design software > I often tell them to "dream bigger" meaning that I want to know their > wildest dreams because, quite often, we can meet them (or, at least, start > in their direction).? With that in mind, I'm going to list some of my > ideas.? YMMV. > > Have a 2-day conference with Friday being for "professionals".? This would > entail bringing in teachers, finding meeting space (I assume UCA holds > classes on Friday), and other details but, I think we could bring in a > sizable audience.? We may even be able to charge for this to cover the > expenses of the Saturday event. > Webcast classes to other Universities.? One of my main desires for > pyArkansas is to introduce students to programming in general; particularly > programming as a means to an end, not just for programming sake.? I also > like the idea of showing our young ladies that it's OK to be a "nerd".? I > have been told that there is a State-wide video system in place for this > type of thing; could we have remote locations where we show the > "introduction to Python" class where they could ask questions?? Gloria > Jacobs has experience with this sort of thing and may be willing to help us > out. > Have classes targeted specifically at teachers (High School, > College/University, Tech Schools) to help them get Python introduced in > their schools.? Show them how Python can be used to enhance their > curriculum. > Have a "presentation track" consisting of 30-minute talks.? There is a > classroom at UCA with desks (no computers) just begging to be used by people > to tell the cool things they have done with Python.? This would be a great > way for students to get experience preparing and presenting a paper. > Do we open the conference up to other technologies? > I'd also like to have quarterly meetings this year.? Do we have them at UCA > or rotate them around the State?? I don't see these being near the effort of > last week, though they could be if "a local" would want to do most of the > work (I'd be happy to help out with all I've learned over the past 3 > years). > > > Those of you who do not know Chenyi Hu (C.S. Department Head, UCA) may not > know of his intense -- and intense is correct word -- commitment to > developing young professionals for not only graduate studies but for the > business world, too.? My dream is to develop talent in Arkansas to the point > of bringing business into the State.? I really want to get into some of the > "poorer" areas of the State where, I think, we can make a substantial > difference in many lives.? The possibilities are real and just waiting for > someone to take them on.? Why not us? > > Again, thank-you to everyone who helped this year.? Now, what do you want to > see for next year (or, next quarter)? > > --greg > > > From bradallen137 at gmail.com Sat Oct 23 17:25:19 2010 From: bradallen137 at gmail.com (Brad Allen) Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2010 10:25:19 -0500 Subject: [PyAR2] pyArkasas 2010 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Oops, I pressed send prematurely. The incomplete question below was find out the difference between the pyar2[a]python.org and the arkansas[a]python.org mailing lists. On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 10:23 AM, Brad Allen wrote: > I took the PyArkansas survey. :-) Say, what's the difference between teh