Andrew Ward, Author at Fedora Community Blog

Author: Andrew Ward

Fedora tackles Southeast Linux Fest (SELF) 2018

Fedora tackles Southeast Linux Fest 2018

Ambassadors Report for Southeast Linux Fest -Ben and Cathy Williams, Andrew and Julie Ward, Rosnel Echervarria, and Nick Bebout

Southeast Linux Fest June 8 – 10, 2018, Charlotte North Carolina

Julie and Ben just after setup

The annual event reached its historical 10 year mark this year. Southeast Linux Fest has been one of the most successful and long running events when it comes to Linux and only is topped by Scale and Linux Fest Northwest. Southeast Linux Fest (SELF) an event that is held at the Sheraton Airport Hotel Charlotte North Carolina. This event was centralized to accommodate attendance (easy access from Airport) from many of the surrounding states. We saw many individuals from the Tennessee, Georgia (Atlanta/Macon area), South Carolina, and Florida, as well as the local attendees from the Charlotte area and the state of North Carolina.

Event Goals from the desk of Southeast Linux Fest Coordinator

Discussing the primary goal of this event with the Coordinator (of Southeast Linux Fest), the target was to draw from the surrounding southern states. The secondary goal was opening the event to everyone interested in learning about free and open source software. Later in this report we will discuss some of the feedback given to the Coordinator about Southeast Linux Fest.

Event Report for Ohio Linux Festival 30 September – 01 October 2017

March 21, 2018 / Andrew Ward / Comments Off

Ohio Linux Festival, Hyatt Regency Columbus, Ohio 29-30 September 2017

Event Report:
Andrew Ward (award3535), Julie Ward (jward78), Ben Williams (kk4ewt), Cathy Williams (cwilla)

The Fedora community has been a steadfast supporter of this event for the past 6 years. Ohio Linux Festival is the only major Linux community event that is located in the Northern Midwest region, with no Texas Linux Festival this year it is the only major event in the Midwest. The event attendance in the previous few years has gone down due to venue changes and event staff changes, but in light of 2017 the event brought just under a thousand registered enthusiasts as the OLF event president Beth Lynn Eicher (also a Fedora Ambassador) informed us the morning of 30 September while we were getting set up, which this did not count the walk-ins that showed up the morning of the EXPO opening. So the attendance was most impressive as compared to the previous year’s events and could be soundly stated that there was upwards of 1100 at the event.

FAmSCo Elections: Interview with Andrew Ward (award3535)

August 2, 2017 / Andrew Ward / 1 Comment

Fedora Ambassador Steering Committee badge

This is a part of the FAmSCo Elections Interviews series. Voting is open to all Fedora contributors. The voting period starts on Tuesday, August 8th and closes promptly at 23:59:59 UTC on Monday, August 14th. Please read the responses from candidates and make your choices carefully. Feel free to ask questions to the candidates here (preferred) or elsewhere!

Interview with Andrew Ward (award3535)

Fedora Account: award3535
IRC: award3535
Fedora User Wiki Page

Southeast Linux Fest (SELF) 2017 Ambassadors report

July 17, 2017 / Andrew Ward / Comments Off

Ambassadors Event Report

Southeast Linux Festival – Charlotte North Carolina
June 9 – 11, 2017
event website: http://www.southeastlinuxfest.org/

Attending Ambassadors

Ben and Kathy Williams (kk4ewt/cewillia) (Fedora event coordinators)
Andrew and Julie Ward (award3535/jward78) (Event report author)
Nick Bebout (nb)
Dan Mossor (danofsatx)
Rosnel Echevarria (reher)

Summary

Fedora has been involved in this particular event since its first festival in 2009 and has continued to be a vital part of the event through 2017. The event is the only large scale Linux and open source festival for the South Eastern United States. Even though there is a large number of Linux Users Groups throughout the south this is the only event that draws various communities together in celebration of Linux and Open Source Software. There was a similar event in Orlando Florida in 2015 called FOSSETCON, but the event coordinator announced that the event would occur every two years vice annually. Hopefully the event did not come apart for the fall this year as it normally is scheduled. Most of the Ambassadors arrived on Thursday 8 June the night prior to the event commencement.

North America and Fedora: 2017 Year in Review

North America and Fedora: Year in Review

February 17, 2017 / Andrew Ward / 3 Comments

The past year has proven to be both challenging and demanding for our Ambassadors. During the past year there have been a lot of new ideas proposed and more events that are being sought out attempting to expand our base. Many of the ventures have been with hack-a-thons in several states. This has been a relatively new venture in those areas. Since our involvement in these types of events, we quickly discovered that Fedora and the associated spins were a new tool for most of these individuals attending and participating. That was a surprising fact within the community that the young and impressionable individuals seemed to be using Windows more than any other operating system available. Since those few we (Fedora) attended, there has been an increase in the open source software utilization across the board at these types of events, a total and undeniable success.

Southeast Linux Fest (SELF) 2016

July 8, 2016 / Andrew Ward / Comments Off

The Southeast Linux Fest (SELF) is an annual Linux conference in the southeast region of the United States. This year, the conference ran from June 10 – 12, 2016. SELF was located in the Sheraton by the airport in Charlotte, NC. As expected, the booth site was the same as the earlier years while at this venue. Booth placement plays a vital role in visibility and accessibility. When presentations finish, attendees come out and the first booth visible is Fedora.

Ambassadors, North America – Year in Review

January 26, 2016 / Andrew Ward / Comments Off

Ambassadors, North America – Introduction

Throughout 2015, the Fedora Ambassadors of North America (FAmNA) have been a determined and dedicated group for Fedora, and has been for many years prior. As with any group, there is always going to be changes either in personnel or the program. Being adaptive and willing to overcome change is a quality with our Ambassadors that falls into the four foundations in First. Being the leading edge also indicates that “First” is also another word: “change”. Since we work with the foundation “First” it is expected that change goes hand in hand with everything we do within the project.

Fedora Ambassadors of North America representing Fedora

Say hello to Fedora! Fedora Ambassadors of North America in action at Ohio Linux Fest

As we continue to grow and adapt, changes to what is expected of us as Ambassadors also must detail on how we need to promote Fedora. In recent meetings, many ideas have been tossed around in what or how we could further spread the product outside of events. As we continue to grow the “Freedom” to explore more events and ideas, it only gains positive influence both inside our organization and with the public. The last two foundations, “Features” and “Friends”, stand on their own. We have a fantastic group of people that provide valuable information and programming that is included in our software product, and friends are what we embrace as a group and live it in our everyday life with Fedora.

Fossetcon 2015 – Orlando, Florida

November 25, 2015 / Andrew Ward / Comments Off

Fossetcon 2015 Orlando Florida – Lake Buena Vista Hilton 19 – 21 November 2015

Fossetcon Ambassadors Report for Andrew Ward (award3535) and Julie Ward (jward78)

Fossetcon is a 3 day event focusing on a variety of free and open source training and speeches. Source: Fossetcon.org

Fossetcon is the second annual event in Orlando and the surrounding areas. The Free/Libre and open source software expo/technology conference (FOSSETCON) was based upon free open and diverse expressions within the community. The events main focus was directed on the open and free aspect of software and technology. The event’s organizer Mr. Bryan Smith is a very enthusiastic and dedicated individual that strived for nothing less in the conference.