Tag Archives: open source

Tech Events this Week: Open Source, Joomla, Tech for Social Causes, Bio/HealthTech, Azure, PHP

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Here is a list of technology events happening in Pune over the next few days. To be informed of these events in advance, you should subscribe to get the PuneTech calendar event announcements by email. Click here to subscribe.

Scaale Event: Resource management for Business Efficiency for Indo-US Businesses

  • Date: Thu, 31 Jul 5:00pm – 8:00pm
  • Location: Auditorium, Cluster-C, Eon Free Zone, MIDC Kharadi

To sustain in today’s competitive global market, having a presence in the world’s best markets is imperative. A combination of the world’s best markets as well as those that are cost-effective helps in bringing in the required competitive advantage.

Both India and the United States of America have always been the centre of attraction for global investment. While India is well known as the best source for skilled human resource at the best cost, US is always a preferred market, especially the Mecca of IT, San Francisco – CA, by IT companies worldwide

While many growth stage companies are looking forward to explore both the destinations for growth and sales, there are many unanswered questions they have like, how to get started, what are the legalities, associated costs, etc.

The objective of this event is to answer this queries through insights on Indo – US relations, real life experiences of some senior entrepreneurs / industry veterans and the support system available through Scaale Group.

The event is being organized by Scaale Group, a venture resource group, headquartered in San Francisco, dedicated to implement solutions for startups, SMB’s & Corporations through innovation, sales, capital and talent in association with
Indo American Chamber of Commerce, a non-government, industry led and managed organization, playing a proactive role in India’s development process and serves as a much needed link between the business communities of India and the United States of America and UBER, a global transport network company based in San Francisco.

Fees and Registration

This event is free and open to anybody, but only via registration and prior confirmation. Please register here: http://scaale.com/group/events#contact

Please double-check the date/time/venue of the event at the above link. We try to ensure that PuneTech calendar listings are accurate, but occasional errors creep in.

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FOSSsumMIT: 2-day Free/Open Source Software conference at MIT Pune

  • Date: 1- 2 Aug
  • Location: MIT Pune

FOSSsumMIT is a 2-day conference on Free/Open Source Software, organized by the Dept. of Computer Engineering, at MIT College, in association with PLUG (Pune Linux Users Group), happening on 1 & 2 August, 2014.

The conference has introductory talks and workshops for students on various topics, and is free for anyone to attend. Day 1 has 5 tracks – Python, Scientific Computing, Linux, Linux Overview, and Big Data. Day 2 has 4 tracks – Python, Scientific Computing, Linux, and Cloud Computing.

See Day 1 Schedule and Day 2 Schedule for details.

Fees and Registration

Register here: http://fosssummit.in/register – it’s free. And you get a certificate.

Please double-check the date/time/venue of the event at the above link. We try to ensure that PuneTech calendar listings are accurate, but occasional errors creep in.

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My Story @TiEPune: Bikram Dasgupta, Founder & Executive Chairman, Globsyn Group

  • Date: Fri, 1 Aug 6:30pm – 8:30pm
  • Location: Sumant Moolgaokar Auditorium, Ground Floor, Wing A, ICC Trade Center, SB Road

TiE Pune presents a “My Story” session with Bikram Dasgupta, Founder & Executive Chairman, Globsyn Group

Career History of Mr Dasgupta:

  • Alumnus of Harvard Business School, USA and IIT Kharagpur, India
  • Dell Deal : Single handed win of the single largest (US $50 million) export contract from Dell Computer, USA
  • Conceptualised Globsyn group of companies
  • Pioneered the first IT Park in India in form of Infinity in, formed the roadmap for IT Parks in India
  • Software Finishing School : Pioneered the concept of Knowledge Finishing Schools in India (high aptitude engineering students are exposed to the relevant software engineering & management skills – SFS has trained over 15000 students, across 21 states in India)
  • Setup India’s first Corporate B-Schools in India (Crisil A** rated & AICTE approved)
  • Setup India’s first integrated BPO Training institute
  • In the form of Globsyn crystals, created “Work Habitat”, bringing Life and Work Together

Industry Connects :

  • President, TiE Kolkata, Member – Executive Council, Indian Chamber of Commerce; Member, Eastern Region Council, NASSCOM;
  • Confederation of Indian Industry : Member of Executive Committee – Easter Region; Member of National Skills Council; Member of National Commitee, Integrity & Transparency in Governance

About TiE Pune My Story Sessions!

“My Story – Inspiring Journey of an Entrepreneur”

This program is created to celebrate entrepreneurship and bring stories from successful entrepreneurs in their own words. The invited speakers will share their entrepreneurial journeys and talk about lessons learned, mistakes they wish they avoided, and key decisions that helped make their venture successful.

Fees and Registration

This event is free and open for anybody to attend. Please register here: http://tiepune1staugust.eventbrite.com/

Please double-check the date/time/venue of the event at the above link. We try to ensure that PuneTech calendar listings are accurate, but occasional errors creep in.

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Pune Joomla User Group Meeting

  • Date: Sat, 2 Aug 6:30am – 8:30am
  • Location: Tekdi Office, #6, Silver Fern Building, Karve Road, Opposite Kothrud Bus Stand & Above Canara Bank

Hey all ! Its been a while since we had a Joomla meetup in Pune. So make sure you don’t miss this one ! From Beginners to advanced users, we have topics to interest all. Plus a chance to socialize & meet Joomlians like yourself !

Schedule

  • 6 30 to 7 00 : Open Networking
  • 7 00 to 8 00 : Tech Sessions
  • 8 00 to 8 30 : Discussions

Session Topics ( 30 mins each)

  1. Joomla 3 (Site Builders) – Are you Building it right ?
  2. 10 mistakes to avoid when writing Joomla code (Developers)

Fees and Registration

This event is free and open for anybody to attend. Please register here: http://www.meetup.com/Joomla-User-Group-Pune/events/194988962/

Please double-check the date/time/venue of the event at the above link. We try to ensure that PuneTech calendar listings are accurate, but occasional errors creep in.

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Global Shapers (GSC) Pune: Tech 4 Dev

  • Date: Sat, 2 Aug 10:00am – 2:00pm
  • Location: Courtyard Marriott, Near Pune Station

A half-day session organized by Global Shapers Community- Pune Hub (an initiative of World Economic Forum) on the theme of “Tech 4 Dev” – How technology is playing an important role in revolutionising the development sector.

The program will be attended by I.T professionals from Amdocs, KPIT, Convertex amongst others companies, NGOs in the city, Youth activists, Students and other like minded individuals. It will be a platform for a wide range of stakeholders to interact and explore possible avenues of engagement.

This 3-hour convention will brainstorm on:

  • Technology in Governments
  • Technology in Politics
  • Technology in Education
  • Technology in Non-Profits

About Global Shapers Community Pune

The Global Shapers Community (GSC), is a World Economic Forum (WEF) initiative that comprises a network of hubs founded and led by young people who are exceptional in their potential, their achievements and their drive to make a contribution to their communities.

The Mission and Vision for the Pune Hub and these are:

  • Mission: ‘To make Pune the world’s most inclusive and caring city’
  • Vision: ‘Leverage the World Economic Forum and Global Shapers Platform, to successfully execute projects that will directly impact every citizen of Pune and will improve Gross Happiness Index (GNH) of Pune > 20% by Dec 2018’.

Fees and Registration

This event is free and open for anybody to attend. Prior registration is required: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1T9wRe5aG0ycXnchnmnp1yiGvSL27wyf5XGSJhJyRAIc/viewform

Please double-check the date/time/venue of the event at the above link. We try to ensure that PuneTech calendar listings are accurate, but occasional errors creep in.

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Venture Center Event: Planning and Funding BioTech, HealthTech and other Bio-Enterprises

  • Date: Sat, 2 Aug 10:00am – 12:30pm
  • Location: Library, Venture Center, NCL Innovation Park, Pashan Road

Venture Center presents an event on Planning and Funding Bio-Enterprises with emphasis on Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIRAC)

The primary aim of this event is to in crease awareness around an important grant funding opportunity in the biotechnology and healthcare space, viz. the DBT-BIRAC Biotech Ignition Grant (BIG) scheme. The focus of this event is to provide background information on this grant, the application through funding process-flow, guidance on writing winning proposals, and an opportunity to interact with BIG grantees and learn from their experience.

DBT-BIRAC’s Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG) scheme

  • BIG provides for high level of discovery and innovation in the Biotechnology sector to establish and validate proof of concept, and enable creation of spin-offs. BIG is a very attractive funding scheme for budding bio-entrepreneurs. It is offered as a grant to carry proof of concept and proof of concept validation activities. This is a great opportunity for innovators and entrepreneurs to begin building a start-up.

Broad domains allowed for BIG:
– Health care & medical biotech: Therapeutics, Biologicals, Vaccines & preventives, Diagnostics, Biomedical devices, Tissue engineering, Oncology etc
– Agriculture, food security, secondary agriculture and allied: Agro and plant biotech, Animal biotech, Marine biotech, medicinal and aromatic plants, Seri biotech, Biocontrol/biofertilizers, Food and nutrition, etc
– Industrial product and processes
– Green technology & industrial biotechnology: Biochemical engineering, Biomass value addition to fuels/ chemicals/ materials
– Others: Bio-IT interface, bioinformatics, Analytical methods and new techniques, etc
– Others falling in to DBT mandate

Participants would also get to learn about how to plan a scientific start-up.

About Venture Center

Entrepreneurship Development Center (Venture Center) – a CSIR initiative – is a not-for-profit company hosted by the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. Venture Center strives to nucleate and nurture technology and knowledge-based enterprises by leveraging the scientific and engineering competencies of the institutions in the Pune region in India. The Venture Center is a technology business incubator specializing in technology enterprises offering products and services exploiting scientific expertise in the areas of materials, chemicals and biological sciences & engineering.

Fees and Registration

This event is free and open for anybody to attend, but prior registration is necessary. Please register here: http://vcevents.pandaform.com/pub/xzyhwf/new

For more information, contact: Miss. Lipika Biswas, Venture Center, Phone: +91-20-20250934/64011024; Email: eventsdesk@venturecenter.co.in

See also: http://www.ipface.org/workshops.php

Please double-check the date/time/venue of the event at the above link. We try to ensure that PuneTech calendar listings are accurate, but occasional errors creep in.

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>@PuneUserGroup event: (Microsoft Technologies) Transforming the Data Center

  • Date: Sat, 2 Aug 10:00am – 5:30pm
  • Location: Sumant Moolgaokar Auditorium, Ground Floor, Wing A, ICC Trade Center, SB Road

In the face of an exploding need for technology that supports the business, we need to transform the datacenter to increase agility and make it easier to deliver resources faster. Today, every area of the business, from marketing to sales to human resources, depends on technology. As a result, the need for IT resources is growing steadily. The move to cloud computing reflects the trend: as business requirements grow, a flexible option for keeping up with that growth is by accessing cloud capacity.

We are all seeing trends that reflect the growth of cloud—the question is: how can IT build a cloud strategy that makes sense? And just as important, how can IT continue to take advantage of the strengths of today’s datacenter while evolving to a new hybrid cloud model? One critical step is upgrading older resources. Now is especially timely for an upgrade as July 14, 2015 marks the end of support date for Windows Server 2003. This provides a wonderful opportunity for you to modernize your infrastructure.

Please join us and learn how latest Microsoft technologies provide great options for reducing cost and complexity, as well as simplifying management. As we mark one year until Windows Server 2003 end of support, we want customers to feel confident that they have a great
path forward. During this event, you’ll learn many features of Cloud and Datacenter management including:

  • Computing with Cloud OS
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Still with Windows Server 2003? Migrate it!
  • Virtualization and Cloud Backup
  • System Center in Datacenter Management

About Pune User Group

Pune User Group (aka PUG) is a Pune (India) based not-for-profit organization, an association of professionals and students interested in Microsoft technology who are dedicated and devoted to the noble cause of spreading knowledge. It is a platform for you to share your experiences and educate professionals through the learnt lessons of the best Gurus in IT indutry….because “Knowledge is wealth..” and we “Gain Knowledge by Sharing knowledge…”

Fees and Registration

This event is free and open for anybody to attend. Please register here: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032592405

Please double-check the date/time/venue of the event at the above link. We try to ensure that PuneTech calendar listings are accurate, but occasional errors creep in.

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PHP Reboot Meetup: Web Security in PHP

  • Date: Sat, 2 Aug 11:00am – 1:00pm
  • Location: GraciousSoft Office, First Floor, Above Jijamata Sahkari Bank, Karve Nagar Bus Stop

Speaker: Kapil Sharma, Technical Architect at Eastern Enterprise with 10 years experience in Web Development.

Web securities in PHP.

Most important factors for a web application are:

  • Performance
  • Maintainability
  • Scalability
  • Reliability and
  • Security

Among developers, Security is one of the most ignored topics. In this session, we will discuss some of the common security threats for a web application and how we can fix them.

Web Security is technology/language independent topic and most of the session will not use any specific programming language. Thus any web developer is most invited to attend the event. However please note, towards the end, we will use simple PHP examples to demonstrate how can we practically take care of security issues.

About PHP Reboot

Today, web development is completely different from what it was two decades ago. PHP matured and developed many new features during this time. However one of the biggest problem with any old language like PHP is, developers have access to lot of old training material/book and learn things which were good in past but not in present.

Major and only goal of PHP reboot is to share and learn, latest and best offering from PHP. This is continuous learning curve and we are here to do it continuously.

Fees and Registration

This event is free and open for anybody to attend. Please register here: http://www.meetup.com/PHPReboot/events/187702032/

Please double-check the date/time/venue of the event at the above link. We try to ensure that PuneTech calendar listings are accurate, but occasional errors creep in.

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FOSSsumMIT: A 2-day, 5-track open source conference at MIT Pune

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FOSSsumMIT is a 2-day conference on Free/Open Source Software, organized by the Dept. of Computer Engineering, at MIT College, in association with PLUG (Pune Linux Users Group), happening on 1 & 2 August, 2014.

The conference has introductory talks and workshops for students on various topics, and is free for anyone to attend. Day 1 has 5 tracks – Python, Scientific Computing, Linux, Linux Overview, and Big Data. Day 2 has 4 tracks – Python, Scientific Computing, Linux, and Cloud Computing.

See Day 1 Schedule and Day 2 Schedule for details.

Register here: http://fosssummit.in/register – it’s free. And you get a certificate.

DrupalCamp Pune on 5/6 April; Call for Speakers is open

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The Drupal Community in Pune presents DrupalCamp Pune on 5/6 April 2014, a conference for Drupal developers and users. This is a free conference, and open for anybody with an interest in Drupal in particular, or web development / PHP in particular.

Call for papers

DrupalCamp would love to get your proposals for sessions to be delivered in Drupal Camp Pune. You may select any topic from development, design or anything interesting that you would like to share. Last date for submitting your proposal is 27th March, 2014.

Call for papers: http://camp2014.punedrupalgroup.com/session/add

DrupalCamp Background

Drupal in Pune started back in February 2009 as Pune Drupal User Group (PDRUG), with an objective to strengthen the local Drupal community in Pune. The first meetup saw 3 Drupalers, in last year we have been able to engage Drupalers in monthly code sprints where focus is on on D8 core contributions. In addition to code sprints, Pune community has also organised global training days and specialized workshops for Pune colleges.

The first Drupal Camp Pune was organized back in 2009. In this first camp there were 300+ attendees. One of the fun highlights of the Drupal Camp Pune 2009 was the Drupal Song which featured in Dries’s blog :), we soon followed up Drupal Day/Hackathon in presence of Addison Berry (former documentation lead, Drupal). Between 2010 and 2014, Drupal community has been focusing on a lot of Drupal meet ups and now its time to have a bigger event: “Drupal Camp Pune 2014.”

What to expect?

In Drupal Camp Pune 2014 you will meet some of the earliest contributors to Drupal in India from around the country. For developers and students, the event presents opportunities for learning, getting involved in community contributions via code/ review/ QA for Drupal 8. One of the main objective of this camp is to engage students more personally in a ladder like workshop. For the business community there will be an opportunity for learning from sessions based on case studies of Drupal websites, meeting representatives of the leading Drupal companies in India, and some of the brightest individuals working on Drupal.

What should I bring to Pune Drupal Camp?

Just come with Open mind and laptop with Drupal 7 installation. You can follow instruction over here.

Keynote – Jacob Singh

Jacob is the country head for Acquia India where he manages all alliances, business development and services in the region. He is an experienced trainer, project manager, developer and scrum-master with 14 years of experience building great web experiences, seven with Drupal.

One of the early Acquians (2008), Jacob holds the distinction of working in the most departments. He has been an integral part of the Acquia Search and Drupal Gardens products, a recognized Drupal trainer and consultant and a solution architect.

Important dates:

  • Call for Papers starts on 12th March, 2014 and ends on 27th March, 2014
  • List of Accepted sessions to be announced on 29th March, 2014
  • Actual event is on 5th and 6th April

Call for Sponsors

Not only does a platform like Drupal Camp make the community stronger, but it also contributes to grow economic ecosystem. By Sponsoring Drupal camp you show your commitment to Drupal and the community at large.

Become a sponsor: http://camp2014.punedrupalgroup.com/sponsor-camp

Fees and Registration

This event is free and open for anybody to attend. Please register here: http://camp2014.punedrupalgroup.com/user/register

Event website: http://camp2014.punedrupalgroup.com/

Please double-check the date/time/venue of the event at the above link. We try to ensure that PuneTech calendar listings are accurate, but occasional errors creep in.

Pune has more tech and startup events each month than there are days in the month. Because of the large volume, information about most of our events is not posted to the PuneTech blog – they directly go to the PuneTech Calendar. Please sign up to get event announcements by email. Click here to subscribe (free), or follow @punetech on twitter.

Call for Speakers: GNUnify 2013 – 3-day open-source technologies conference

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The call for speakers for GNUnify 2013, one of India’s biggest open source conferences, which runs for 3 days in February (15, 16, 17 Feb) in SICSR, Pune, is now open.

If you have done any work with any open source technology, whether it is in the area of System Admin, Networking, Security, Web Technologies, Mobile Technologies, Cloud Computing, Scientific Computing, System Programming, or any General Topics or Trends in FOSS, please submit a proposal for a talk.

Lots of people from all over India, and also some from abroad, come for this conference. This is your chance to connect with people passionate about technologies, and enthusiastic students.

You can put in a proposal for a techie talk (short), a workshop (long – and more geared towards beginners), or a BOF (Birds of a Feather – where you just decide the topic and drive the discussion, and all the people interested in that topic collect together and discuss).

You don’t need to be an expert in the topic you propose for a talk. You just need to have done work in that area, and have actual hands on experience – that is good enough. At this point, you just need to submit a one paragraph abstract – so you have no excuse for not submitting a talk.

To submit a proposal go to the GNUnify website, create an account either using OpenID or username/password, and once you log into your account you should see a “Register a Talk/Workshop” button on the right side of the screen.

Call For Speakers: WordCamp Pune 2013 (WordPress Developers)

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(Update: This event has been postponed to 23/24 February. See updated details below.)

Word Camp is a gathering of all the WordPress lovers in Pune on 23rd & 24th of February, 2013.

It is organized by the WPoets, Span Shah, and volunteers from students of Modern College, where developers, designers, bloggers and casual users can attend talks and workshops, exchange ideas and mingle in an informal setting.

If you are someone who is a WordPress developer, or has used WordPress in an interesting way, or just have some interesting talk to give to an audience of wordpress lovers, you should submit a talk proposal

For more information, see the WordCamp Pune website.

Call for Speakers: GNUnify – India’s Biggest Open Source Conference

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(Sorry about the late notice. This CFP for GNUnify is open until Wednesday Feb 1st, so please hurry and register as a speaker.)

GNUnify, organized by Pune Linux Users Group (PLUG) and SICSR is one of the biggest free and open source conferences in India. It will be held on 10th and 11th Feb in Pune and will feature speakers and attendees from all over the world (yes, it regularly gets international visitors).

This year, the theme is “Emerging and Next Generation Technologies in the World of FOSS,” and they are looking for speakers in these tracks/categories:

  • Mobile Computing
  • Cloud Computing
  • System Programming
  • Emerging Languages
  • Sys Admin
  • Security
  • Web Technologies

To register as a speaker, go to the Speaker Registration Page and follow the directions there. All you need to do is provide a short abstract of what you would like to speak about. This, you should be able to do, in spite of the fact that PuneTech has provided you with just 1 day notice 🙂

Benefits of being a speaker at GNUnify:

  • Accomodation and reimbursement of travel expenses for speakers from out of Pune
  • Get established as an expert in your area of work
  • Interact with some of the most passionate students and professionals in open source
  • Give back to the community that has given you so much.

Register Now. See the GNUnify Website for more details.

FUDCon – Conference for Fedora Linux Users and Developers – 4-6 Nov

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Abhijit A.M. of CoEP writes:

We are very pleased to invite you to FUDCON’11 (Fedora Users and Developers Conference) to be hosted in CoEP from 4th (Fri) to 6th (Sun) of Nov 2011. FUDCON is one of the world’s biggest Free and Open Source (FOSS) conferences. Fedora itself is one of the most popular GNU/Linux distributions. The event is being organized by the Fedora Community, sponsored by and in association with Dept. of Computer Engg and IT, CoEP and Red Hat, Inc. The event is open, and free for all to attend ! Please visit the FUDCon website for details.

FUDCON is the meeting place for Fedora developers, but in line with all FOSS conferences, the talks are always targeted to educate people on various FOSS technologies. So it is a unique opportunity for all the students to get exposed to a variety of state of the art technologies in FOSS domain. The bigger opportunity lies in getting a chance to meet and chat with some of the prolific programmers from all around the world. Here is the list of talks

Speakers and delegates will be visiting from many parts of the world for FUDCON. Please note that the sessions will be held in Barcamp style which is quite unconventional and different from the way regular conferences are conducted. The style is the one FOSS community works with. To get a better idea of the talks, please visit the FUDCon website and get yourself registered (Free of course!)

Python, Django, Git, Virtualization and more at Fedora Activity Day 1 – Sept 24

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A Fedora Activity Day (FAD) is scheduled for Saturday, September
24, 2011, 1000 IST onwards at Red Hat office in Pune. The
objective of this FAD is to get any beginner, particularly students,
introduced to Open Source and Linux in general,
and involved in Fedora in particular, in preparation of FUDCon, Pune.

Agenda

Since this is an unconference, the final agenda will not be known until the day of the event, but you can see the agenda for the list of talks already registered. These include:

  • Introduction to Python
  • Introduction to Django
  • Communication Guidelines (on how to use IRC, wiki, mailing lists, etc)
  • Introduction to virtualization in Fedora
  • Introduction to Git – How to manage your love letters using Git

and a bunch of other talks.

Other details

Entry is to this free, but, there is limited seating capacity (maximum 70
people). If you are interested in giving a talk, please include your
name and talk details to the agenda. It is highly recommended that you
bring your laptops (with Fedora) to the event.

In addition to the sessions listed in the wiki, if you would like any
specific topic to be addressed, please contact Shakthi Kannan or
Rahul Sundaram.

The second FAD will be held in COEP on Saturday October 8, 2011.

Fees and Registration

The event will be on Saturday, 24 September, from 10am onwards at Red Hat Software, Tower X, Level-1, Cybercity, Magarpatta City, Hadapsar.

This event is free and open for anybody to attend. Please register by adding your name to the wiki here. You will be required to bring atleast one photo ID (driving license/voter ID/PAN card) to enter the premises.

Overview of Wikipedia Campus Ambassador Program in Pune

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The Wikimedia Foundation has recently launched the India Education Program. The goal is to encourage professors in India to join a growing global community of educators who use Wikipedia as a teaching tool in their classes. Both teachers and students will receive guidance and support from Wikipedia experts as well as free educational materials developed by the Foundation and tested at first class universities in the United States like Harvard, Berkeley, and others.

This is the first time that they have tried the initiative outside the US. As a first step they have decided to run the program at select universities in Pune. This would give students the opportunity to participate in the world’s largest online encyclopedia and to improve their media literacy skills. Hisham Mundol the coordinator of the program in India shared with us that ‘Information about India and contributions from India is not adequately represented on Wikipedia, and we want to change that.’

As part of the plan they will have a number of Campus Ambassadors – volunteers chosen by the Wikimedia team, who would train students on how to write and edit articles on Wikipedia. These Campus Ambassadors will support both students and teachers during the course of the semester. This program generated an overwhelming response. ‘We got more than 700 applications and enquiries from all over the country. It’s been heartening and inspiring!’ says Hisham. They have selected 22 people who will work with educators in Pune.

At the core of the program, they propose to replace some coursework that students do (projects/reports/homework) with working on Wikipedia articles. The Campus Ambassadors would work with professors and teachers to identify potential articles on Wikipedia that can be created or improved through coursework for that particular semester.

Hisham and his team have been working closely with teachers and administrators in various institutions in Pune to evince interest in the program. ‘We also conducted detailed faculty workshops for 6 institutions in Pune where nearly 30 teachers and administrators attended. This was for the institutions that we have selected for the very first roll-outs. I’ve also visited Pune to support the training for the first lot of Campus Ambassadors that we have.’

They saw Pune as the ideal location for this program for a number of reasons. The large number of colleges and universities with over than 2,00,000 students attending was one of the main attractions. ‘Pune’s student community comes from all over the country, making it an ideal place to engage a diverse group of participants. In addition, the largest part of the success of any Wikimedia program is the community of volunteers, of which there is a vibrant and active community in Pune.’ Says Hisham.

Pune Students – Become a Wikipedia Campus Ambassador

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Wikipedia wants lots of Indian students to be involved in contributing to the Wikipedia, and with this in mind they are starting an ambitious program in India. And this will start with a large-scale, high-impact pilot in Pune.

The basic idea is to recruit “Wikipedia Campus Ambassadors” in Pune, who will find, recruit and train students to be Wikipedia editors, and organize campus events around Wikipedia activities.

This is planned across all colleges and universities in the Pune municipal area. It is not focused on any one academic subject area – but cover as wide a range of subjects as possible. Those in India but outside Pune can register their interest in applying, and are welcome to attend training sessions that the Wikimedia Foundation will conduct in Pune (details of which will be provided to successful applicants.)

This is your chance to change the world, and at the same time significantly improve your resume.

Details are as follows.

About Wikipedia Campus Ambassadors

This will be unpaid, volunteer work. You will need to work approximately 3 to 5 hours per week, through the semester. You can be an undergraduate/graduate/post-graduate student, faculty/staff member, or anyone geographically close to the college/university – the main qualification is that you must enjoy teaching people and spreading your passion for free knowledge.

Last year, there were Wikipedia Campus Ambassadors in Harvard University, Georgetown University, Indiana University, UC Berkeley, and many other schools in the United States. Now, for the first time, they are expanding outside the USA, and Pune has been chosen as a test for this program.

Typical Activities for a Wikipedia Campus Ambassador

Before the term starts: Help identify and recruit instructors on your campus who would be interested in incorporating Wikipedia-editing into their classes.

Before and during the term start:

  • Work with interested instructors on your campus in adapting existing teaching methods to include Wikipedia-editing.
  • Provide face-to-face training and support for the participating instructors’ students on Wikipedia-related skills. This means doing in-class presentations, possibly holding office hours, and in general providing in-person mentorship for students. Prior Wikipedia expertise is not required for the role, as the Wikimedia Foundation will provide training for all Campus Ambassadors – but would be useful
  • Organize engaging on-campus events to encourage editing (and continued editing) of Wikipedia
  • Think of creative ways for promoting Wikipedia in your region
  • Help recruit new Wikipedia contributors on campus, possibly through the creation of a Wikipedia student club
  • Set up a Wikipedia help desk on your campus
  • Be a point of contact for new contributors and channel the feedback to the Wikimedia Foundation and its chapters
  • Recruit and train new Wikipedia Campus Ambassadors

What do Wikipedia Ambassadors get?

  • Increase your knowledge about Wikipedia, free knowledge, and collaborative writing
  • Learn and develop communication, teaching, and leadership skills
  • Create a name for yourself and network with a great team of people within one of the most significant online communities ever
  • Work closely with college/university teachers/professors
  • Receive Wikipedia swag (merchandise: maybe T-shirts, maybe mugs) to give out at events.
  • Receive funding for running events for food, soft drinks, etc.
  • Potentially receive sponsorship to other Wikimedia events, such as Wikimania

Requirements – Who can apply?

You must have:

  • Passion for Wikimedia’s values and mission
  • Patience with people who have varying levels of computer literacy
  • Knowledge about how to edit Wikipedia or the willingness to acquire this knowledge
  • Understanding of how teachers/professors design teaching programs, or the willingness to gain this understanding
  • Ability to transform complex technical information into actionable steps for beginners
  • Ability to give positive, encouraging and clearly targeted feedback to the people you interact with
  • Ability to motivate and excite others
  • Genuine interest in teaching people and organizing events
  • Convenient transportation access to the university campus
  • Willingness to be a public figure (for example, to make known the connection between your real name, your Wikipedia username, and your face. Your role is providing face-to-face guidance to professors and students, so comfort with being “public” is very important)

How to Apply

Interested? Please complete the application and email it to

  • ambassadors-ind [at] wikimedia [dot] org – Campus Ambassador Program India

For any questions, email Annie Lin, the Campus Team Coordinator, at alin [at] wikimedia [dot] org.

More details

See the Wikipedia Campus Ambassador webpage for full details.

Please spread the word

If you know enthusiastic, passionate students who want to do something more interesting with their life than just working in an outsourcing company, please forward this to them. Or maybe you know professionals who’re so interested in education that they spend significant time every week in a University – they would make good ambassadors too.

We owe it to the students of Pune, and to ourselves to make this program a resounding success.