[Edu-sig] Pycon organizers is now talking about poster sessions

[kirby urner]

> The initial article was mine.  I said that I would like PyCON better
> if there was some way to get a track of 'what have you been doing
> lately'.  The sort of talks that would not get accepted to PyCON
> because they are not polished enough, or not of interest to a large
> enough segment of the community.  Somebody suggested posters, and
> the whole topic took off from there.
>
> Laura
>

I was on the list for awhile, gave Vern a boost with all the
background as I knew it, including an idea for poster session from
Steve.

Since Pycon this year, I've been alert to other conferences with more
feelers out to schools and user groups, not just private companies.

The ESRI-sponsored GIS conference, where I was a guest speaker, stood
out in many ways, as at least half the exhibit hall is devoted to
academic projects.

I took pictures and shared them, but I think many people, Steve, Vern,
Jeff included, already know what a poster session might look like.  I
hadn't attended one, a professional one (discounting science fairs I'd
entered, some awards received) until 1st International Conference on
Buckminsterfullerene in Santa Barbara in early 1990s.

I'm assuming Vern is still on the list and he's the designated driver
for this project.  He and Jeff went to NECC conference.  PyOhio also
has something postery I think.

Another Jeff, Jeff Rush, was floating the eduPycon idea, as a spin-off
of Pycon.

It may well be that the business-oriented mindsets of the people
organizing Pycon will preclude their doing an effective job, although
it's way to early too worry about that, plus this is just the first
year of trying, so jury out until 2012 at least.

I don't have time for nuts and bolts on this, think Vern will do fine.
 I'm mostly in bed with Microsoft these days, looking at IronPython's
classroom potential.  There's a chance Portland Public will embrace
Python in a big way, with more pilots beginning this year (in addition
to pilots already completed and documented) but it's not a given that
CPython will be their first choice.

Lots to think about, big meeting Aug 7.

More soon,

Kirby