November 14, 2004

Most of them were my students! I’m so proud of everyone. <grin>
I think Great Things are possible.

More news from Mike Gonzalez:

Miguel’s team was only slightly slightly behind the winners. And the
sample output was simply wrong on one of the problems that they
solved, so it caused a few wrong submissions and enough penalty points
to kick them into 2nd place. I think they’re contesting that to see if
they can do anything about it… in any case, the organizers told them
they have a good chance at being a wildcard team to be sent to the
world finals in Shanghain in April. :)

Hey, at one point Miguel’s team was the only team with four problems
solved, my team was the only team with three problems solved, and all
the other teams had two problems or less. Doc Mana must have been
thrilled. ;p

That’s out of the 80+ teams at the Manila site! Me and Miguel’s team
are the 1st and 2nd best Filipino teams, respectively.

Thanks for everything you taught us in CS139.3 last sem, you were a
great help. And thanks for the congratulations, we couldn’t be more
proud. :)

Hope you’re doing well in Japan! Take care, Sacha. :)

Let me just say that we owe Doc Mana _so_ much. Heh. Father of
competitive computing in Ateneo. ;)

E-Mail%20from%20Mike%20Gonzalez

Mom said:

Faye’s story is on the front page again, this time with the newspaper saying
the Bread of Life Ministry will apologize for this hoax of a story. (I’m
sure your friends will send you the full article – it was on Inquirer or
Star, I think).

Poor Faye. She must feel really confused being used this way.

I was actually hoping that this story was true, as it might get media,
government and the private sector to give proper attention to achievements
in this (computers/technology/academe) area.

I just hope there will be positive developments arising from this
roller-coaster ride.

More details to follow.

E-Mail%20from%20Harvey%20Chua

Pity, that. Anyway, full story below.

We%20lied%20because%20no%20one%20loved%20us,%20says%20′whiz’%20kid%20ma%20-%20INQ7.net

Which doesn’t mean that Cool Things don’t happen in the Philippines.
I’m thrilled by the recent (_really_ recent!) achievements of our ACM
kids (some of them are older than I am, but I taught them, so I can
get away with it). See the note below for more details. Also, am very
proud of Celsus Kintanar for TopCoder achievement, noted
previously on my bog.

When Faye’s story came up, my mom and I talked about the controversy
over the truth of the story. My mom said that even if the story was
false, she _knew_ things like this happened. She knew that people who
participate in contests sometimes don’t get support from the
government or from organizations, that they’re sometimes just used for
publicity. She knew because we went through some of those things
during the international competitions I joined in high school.

But my story isn’t sad. My story is a story of the boundless support I
received from people around me—my parents, my friends, my teachers. I
owe so much to people like Ma’am Sonia Javier and Dr. Pablo Manalastas
(Hi, Doc Mana!) not only for helping us prepare for the contests but
for helping us grow as people. Now, with the new generation of what we
jokingly refer to as computer science varsity, I feel confident that
we’ll get even better.

To all those who participated in the contest, may the experience be
as wonderful for you as it was for me.

Roy Patrick Tan blogged
about recent (verifiable) contest achievements. He mentioned Ateneo’s
wonderful ICPC thing.

Eh, need the scores clarified. Was under impression around same number
of problems solved. Fix, fix. <grin>

Also interesting to note: Look at the difference between 2 and 3! That
means that Ateneo had either solved things much faster or had fewer
incorrect submissions. Way cool, Ateneo.

Did you know Ateneo has always been the top Philippine school in this
competition? <grin> And that we’d improved our position each
year (hah, strict monotonic sequence)? We’d have to get first place
next year to keep that record. Ateneo’s hosting, though, so our
resources will be split and, err, delicadeza…

http://flyingroc.org/comment.php?id=86

(defun sacha/ffap-quick ()
  (interactive)
  (save-window-excursion
    (save-excursion
      (ffap))))

This makes browsing the output of ref.pl (previously blogged; it just
extracts the referrer) much easier. I local-set-key it to RET. Hitting
RET twice opens the URL as a w3m tab in the background.

Mentions PlannerMode as an ‘even more obsessive rendering of this
idea’. Mwahahahaha!

Hmm, I think I should obsess even more about it… <grin>

Metawareness

Funky cool. Not that I can understand anything, but cool nonetheless.

KLDP%20BBS%20::%20주제%20보기%20-%20Wiki%20질문(%201,%20윈도우용%20Standalone,%202.%20vi%20로%20편집?)

- Ruminate
- [[http://www.weblogg-ed.com/discuss/msgReader$2517][

Should help people make that connection also when demonstrating
something. Currently reaching people mainly on the enthusiasm level,
and am not sure if this translates into actual use.

Explore both blogs for more posts on social software and education.

As I can’t go, can someone else go and take notes?

From: Sunil Abraham 
Subject: Asia Source: Tech camp for the voluntary sector [Details and Form]
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2004 00:36:34 +0900

Dear Friends,

Please apply if you are interested in Free/Open Source Software and
Development.

AND/OR

Please forward to your colleagues from the voluntary sector in South
Asia / South East Asia.

Thanks,

Sunil
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asia Source: Tech camp for the voluntary sector [Details and Form]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangalore, India. January 28th to February 4th 2005.

Asia Source hopes to bring together over 100 people from 20 countries to
increase the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) amongst the
voluntary sector in South and South East Asia.

This week long event will bring together NGOs and NGO technology support
professionals working at the grassroots level across the region to learn
new skills, exchange tips, and share experiences. Together with
regionally and globally renowned experts and specialists they will look
at the use of FOSS within the non-profit sector from both an access and
a content perspective. Offering participants the opportunity to explore
the practical technical side of FOSS whilst providing a conceptual
backdrop.

Asia Source will be the first event of its kind in the region, bringing
together regional non-profit professionals with a rights based focus, it
will invite those from both the technical and content end of the
spectrum to focus on the practical elements of FOSS deployment.

Participants with a range of expertise will be provided with a space for
intensive peer learning. They will be given the opportunity to develop
their understanding of FOSS, learn how to select and apply alternative
technologies, and be provided with the skills and tools to utilise this
within the context of their daily work. They will also be encouraged to
explore the challenges and the future potential of FOSS adoption within
the social context.

During this 'camp' style event,  participants will take part in a range
of sessions. From planning and helping an NGO to migrate to FOSS, to
sharing tips and techniques on using FOSS tools for content development,
advocacy and campaigning. In parallel to this they will look beneath
user-level scenarios, and break-down tricky issues such as localisation
techniques and how to develop total cost of ownership models.

Four themes will flow throughout the event

     1. 'FLOSSophy' for NGOs
     2. Migration and Access
     3. Tools for content and communication
     4. Localisation

Asia Source will be held in a small artists community on the outskirts
of Bangalore. Its aim is to become a community building event, with the
potential to seed connections and future partnerships across borders and
between skillsets.

The event is co-organised by Mahiti.org (Bangalore) and the Tactical
Technology Collective (Amsterdam). The event is guided by an advisory
board of established non-profit and FOSS professionals from across the
South and South East Asian region.  Asia Source belongs to a larger
family of Source Events that seek to increase the viability of FOSS use
by the non-profit sector. Other source events have taken place in South
East Europe, Southern Africa and are planned in 2005 in Western Africa.

For more information please visit http://www.tacticaltech.org/asiasource
or http://www.mahiti.org/asiasource

Participants will be selected by the advisory board based on their
interest and experiences. There will be a small registration fee for the
event. A limited number of travel and registration fee scholarships will
be available and may be applied for on application. If you have any
questions
please write to asiasource@tacticaltech.org.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asia Source: Application Form
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please send the application to asiasource@tacticaltech.org. The deadline
for sending applications is 19th of November 2004.

We will confirm receipt of the application immediately and will
ask you to check and reserve (if you do not have to pay for this)
your flight to Bangalore, India. We will also ask people who need
visas to check how they can apply for it.

As we have limited space and funds, we cannot accept all
participant applications and cannot reimburse the expenses for all of
them. Between the 19th of November and 3rd of December 2004 we will
personally inform each applicant by email if we are able to invite
him/her and in some cases reimburse expenses.

Dates:-
Asia Source is a week-long meeting, to be held January 28th -
February 4th 2005 in Bangalore, India. If you would like to
participate, you will need to attend the entire event, which means
arriving in Bangalore on or before January 27th and leaving on or
after February 5th.

Fees and subsidies:-
Participants will arrange for their own travel to Bangalore, India.
Once there, transport to the venue from the airport in Bangalore
will be provided. All meals and accommodation during the meeting
will be provided, for the modest participation fee of US$ 75.

There are a limited number of participation fee subsidies available
to cover this US$ 75 for those who are not able to raise the
funds. Travel subsidies are also available for participants who
would not otherwise be able to attend the meeting. Please apply as
soon as possible for subsidies as there availability is limited.
Who should attend?

This is an event for experienced professionals actively working with the
non-profit sector in South and South East Asian countries. To be
eligible to attend, you will need to answer the questions below,
providing detailed information about projects you have worked on. The
application deadline is November 19th, 2004. We are interested in all
kinds of non-profit and technical experience, but areas of particular
focus will include the following:

     1. Localisation and multi-language projects
     2. The use of technology within monitoring or campaigning projects
     3. The use of technology for organising and collaborating
     4. Audio/video, streaming media and/or radio
     5. Innovative use of technology within non-profit projects
     6. Experience deploying FOSS operating systems or applications

Demonstrating that you have worked on projects in one or more of the
above areas will make your application stronger.

All participants at Asia Source are required to be proficient desktop
users of computers, have been involved in at least one NGO/technology
project before and to have an existing awareness of the concept of Free
and Open Source Software.

Applications from women are highly encouraged by the event organisers.

Application Questions:-
Please answer the following questions. You do not need to write long
responses, but please provide us with enough information to understand
your skills and interests, and to have a sense of why you want to attend
Asia Source and what you can contribute to the event.

Please provide answers to all the following questions.

1) Basic personal information:
        a. Name:
        b. Gender:
        c. Nationality:
        d. Country where you live and work now:
        e. E-mail address:
        f. Telephone and emergency contact number(s):
        g. Anything else we should know about you (allergies, diet,
           medical condition, special needs):
        h. Do you need a visa to come to India?

2) What is your experience of working with non-profit organisations/the
   voluntary sector. What kinds of projects and initiatives have you
   worked on?

3) Have you been involved with any technology projects for non-profit or
   civil society organizations? If so please briefly explain them.

4) Where are you from, where do you live now, and what is your current
   professional affiliation (organization you work for, mission of the
   organization, position you have in the organization, is your
   organization a non-profit, etc.)?

5) Please describe your current technical expertise and ability.

6) Why are you interested in attending Asia Source; what do you hope to
   learn?

7) Asia Source participants are encouraged to teach as well as to learn.
   What tutorials, development sessions or discussions would you like to
   lead (or help lead)?

8) Will you need to receive a participation fee subsidy in order to
   attend Asia Source? If so, please explain why.

9) Will you need to receive a travel subsidy in order to attend Asia
   Source? If so, please explain why and estimate how much your
   round-trip travel to Bangalore will cost.

Sunil Abraham  sunil@apdip.net  http://www.iosn.net
Manager - International Open Source Network
UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme
Wisma UN, Block C Kompleks Pejabat Damansara.
Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights. 50490 Kuala Lumpur.
P. O. Box 12544, 50782, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: (60) 3-2091-5167, Fax: (60) 3-2095-2087
Mob: (60) 1-6311-1330

E-Mail%20from%20Sunil%20Abraham