Latinoware 2012

Latinoware participants will be able to enjoy this year’s event with support from TelaSocial dashboards. What is the experience? it uses large TV appliaces but it is far from the idea of a TV and broadcasting. To start with, the actual TV appliance is placed in the vertical position and a layout arrangement brings a number of Web features that can inform real-time updates and what’s happening in the social scene. This is the second year that the technology is used as a solution for communication at Latinoware.

This year’s experience was tailored around 3 main goals. Quality — the experience is 24×7 and designed to work synchronously with data-sources. It incorporates a calendar grid system that is tied to Latinoware’s data-source calendar using web services. Voice — a live Twitter streaming channel creates an experience that improves participation and information sharing for important updates — it engages participants and support teams in the same page, thus solving communication gaps between what’s happening in the online and the physical. And accountability, which means the goal to monitor trends and changes and to understand how these trends can be shown to users in order to improve the event. As an example, when a talk schedule is changed, the system can highlight the change with overlay effects over the grid calendar plus it can also dispatch a message to users using the the social network  dashboard.

For developers

The system is based in the Web model and each terminal is comprised of a large TV appliance and a small computer with a Linux stack. Above the Operating system, there is a modified Gecko engine — thus TelaSocial is powered by Mozilla [http://www.mozilla.org/projects/powered-by.html]. The above layer is the application system with layout and components based in Web standards such as HTML5, CSS, DOM, and more.

The system conveys the use of web standards and modern web practices in order to improve the experience in community spaces — it gives voice to local communities and aims to highlight awareness on important and constructive events. For more information about telaSocial please visit the project’s web site at www.telasocial.com

For the first time in Brazilian free software events, there will be a special space for free databases. With the support from the PostgreSQL-BR database during Latinoware 2012, the LatinoDB space will be dedicated to raising relevant discussions on the topic.

According to Eduardo Santos, a member of the PostgreSQL -BR community, “Latinoware innovates again in making room for discussion of this topic. The timing could not be more opportune given the growth of non-relational databases (NoSQL) and their implications for traditional products. By inviting experts from both areas, a space for interesting discussions opens up. “

Among the topics covered are non-relational databases (NoSQL), cloud storage (cloud computing), troubleshooting and performance issues in extremely critical environments. The lectures will include all types of audiences, from experienced database administrators (DBAs) to programmers starting to model their first applications.

Once again, the Latinoware program will open space for novelties in the use of free software in classrooms throughout Brazil. This year, a team of 25 people will lead a lecture series on the Trail and also in the integration with free robotics.

Check out our interview with Frederico Guimarães, a founding member of the Free Software in Education group. He tells us about the group’s program at the event and also details on LibrEdu, a space created to pool ideas from the community about the sector. “In Latinoware, we will have an official meeting of the group on the 18th at 10 am. All user groups and individuals interested in discussing the educational use of free software are very welcome to join our meeting,” he says.

What activities related to FS in education will be held in Latinoware 2012 and which are the main novelties?

There are several lectures on education trail of this year, dealing with a number of different topics, including: inclusive education, lightweight terminals for labs, case studies, software and educational distributions, and philosophical contributions of the free software movement to education.

The most interesting novelty this year is that the education trail is working together with robotics free to structure activities in common, especially workshops, which will be offered in the robotics space. We will also have a meeting LibrEdu group, which is an initiative to organize a federation of Latin American groups that discuss education and free software.

In 2011, in addition Latinoware, Frederico also came to the PTI present examples of open source software that can be used in the classroom and in digital inclusion projects.

When and why did the intention to create the LibrEdu appear? What is the purpose of the group?

The original proposal for the LibrEdu was formulated at the2011 International Free Software Forum (FISL) at a conversation between the Brazilian Free Software in Education group and the Argentine groups SoLAr Gleducar. At this informal meeting, the existence of a number of isolated initiatives in education and free software in several Latin American countries which did not interact was discussed. With that came the idea of organizing a collective entity that would pool these groups, gathering information, disseminating news and providing inputs for the work done by these groups.

Our idea evolved and we are now beginning the work of organizing the group. For this, we held a meeting in person during this year’s FISL (2012), which resulted in the minutes available (temporarily) at this URL: http://miniurl.org/libredu1

And as a result of this meeting, we held another, this time in a distance attendance format, in an IRC room. The minutes of this meeting and the proposals are in the final stages of consolidation and will be available on our website as they become ready. Our URL is http://libredu.org

The idea is to be a space for aggregation. So instead of creating a completely new and independent structure, we are researching online tools that work in a distributed, preferablçy federated way so that the groups can continue with their regular work and our infrastructure undertakes to aggregate that.

At what stage is the LibrEdu? Are there activities planned for Latinoware?

We are now in the design phase of our digital infrastructure, disclosure of the group and construction of our work models. It is a moment of hard work and ideal for anyone wanting to start collaborating with us.

Marcelo André Soares’s lecture at 2012 Latinoware will be a good opportunity for those who are starting their careers and/or want to start their own business in this industry. In his presentation, he will show how to start, where the opportunities are and what the market expects this niche of work.

According to him, the opportunities are all around us all the time, all one needs is to study and be willing to make them real. Check out the full interview:

What qualities should this entrepreneur have?

They cover a wide range. I will try to mark out the basic qualities needed:

- Self-confidence: Any idea can be accepted, or find its niche, if explained with confidence.

- Willpower: Having your own business is a lot harder than having a formal job. There is no one pressuring you to accomplish any goals, and you are the only responsible for your success or failure.

- Discipline: The first thought when we start a company is that we have no obligation to schedule, boss or agenda. Thinking this way is a big mistake! Being your own boss means you must be master knowing how to divide your personal life and your work load. Time to work is time to work! When you hire people, in addition to doing the work, you must set the example for your teams. Be and show what you expect from your best employee, even if you do not have one.

- Organization: Do not miss appointments, loose contracts or misplace papers. In reality you are missing opportunities!

What are the main difficulties encountered in the area?

It takes a long time before you achieve your goals as an entrepreneur, and usually the road is very hard one. Patience is a virtue that either you have, or you must develop, in becoming a young entrepreneur.

Another very important thing is to identify where the market is going and try to shape your company in time, not to get left behind.

How is the domestic market in this regard? It is a promising area?

The technology area is one of the few in which an idea can change the world. No matter what country you are in, the opportunities are around you all the time, all it takes is to want to make them a reality!

What can the audience expect from your talk at Latinoware?

We will demonstrate in a practical and real way how to be an entrepreneur and make money with free software. We will discuss how to identify opportunities, how to think and how to behave so that your business becomes a success case!

Even if your objective is a formal career, we will show which roads lead to good jobs. And most importantly: Come prepared! We will be showing the concepts and the market as they are, not by telling anecdotes that will leave you unaware of the real challenges that await you!

Participants from almost all Brazilian states, and countries like Argentina, Paraguay, Italy and the UK, have already secured their registration for the ninth edition of the Latin American Conference on Free Software (Latinoware 2012), which will be held between October 17 and 19 in Foz do Iguaçu (PR).

Until next Sunday (30), registration can be done – on website: www.latinoware.org – at a cost of R$ 90. After this, the cost increases to R$ 110. The event – considered one of the largest of its kind in Latin America – should bring together at Itaipu Technological Park (PTI), about 4 thousand participants, including students, professionals and experts in various fields of technology.

Among the personalities confirmed for this edition are the legendary Jon “Maddog” Hall, president of Linux International; Frank Karlitschek, founder of OwnCloud Inc. and one of the leading experts in cloud computing and Ron Minnich, Google software engineer.

In addition to an intense program of lectures, round tables, workshops and short courses on topics related to information and communication technology, other parallel events are planned, as well as an exhibition space for the free software communities to disclose their main products and services.

Among the topics discussed will be issues such as security and infrastructure, GIS, languages and frameworks, graphics and multimedia, education, robotics, culture and society, database, business, public policy, and mobile devices.

Latinoware

Latinoware is promoted by Itaipu Binacional and Foundation Itaipu Technological Park – Brazil, with support from the State of Paraná Informatics Service (Celepar), the Federal Data Processing Agency (Serpro), of Dataprev, Google and the company Dextra.

Alessandro de Oliveira Faria (AKA Cabelo) is already an old acquaintance in the area of ​​technology. Since 1986, he has been providing software solutions to the market in many different languages ​​and platforms and, since 1998, leads the development of open-source solutions for Linux and technical documents available on the Internet.

At Latinoware 2012, he will talk about Augmented Reality – developed on free software – which uses computer vision techniques with computer graphics and offers an innovative man-machine interaction. In this environment, virtual objects can be manipulated with our hands, giving users an unprecedented and attractive type of interaction.

- What are the main objectives of the area of ​​augmented reality and the advances of recent years?

Augmented reality is the projection of three-dimensional virtual objects on live video. With this, we are able to interact with humans in the most intuitive way possible. In my view, this is the main objective of this technology.

- What is the main “free” tool for Augmented Reality and how is its development coming along?

The main tool used is the ARToolkit library, an open source project that serves as base for almost 90% of the Augmented Reality software.

- What can we expect for the future of this technology? What will it be possible to do?

La principal herramienta utilizada es la biblioteca ARToolkit, un proyecto de código abierto sirve como base para casi 90% del software de Realidad Aumentada.

- What can we expect for the future of this technology? What will it be possible to do?

The augmented reality technology, like all image processing technologies, is on the rise. The main factor is the availability of increasingly more powerful processors on the market at an affordable cost to everyone, but also the use of GPU processing in pattern recognition and other computations tasks.

But the main feature that will make the use of augmented reality technology unbelievable is the arrival of 3D cameras – as is the case of Kinect. So, once this hardware has been popularized, the interaction with the virtual objects rendered on the live video will be realistic and free of spatial reference constraints.