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