This post details how we executed planned activities for Internet of Things (IoT) in Goa, India. First, thanks to Espressotive (headed by Sudhir Shetty and CIBA) for doing all the prep work from registration to our accommodation. Over a span of three days, more than 400 students from three colleges and universities attended the event.

Introducing IoT in Goa

The primary agenda topic was the Internet of Things (IoT). To help get students up to speed, we started with basic webpage structure and how NodeJS can come handy to write web servers. Mrinal Jain, a Mozilla Rep from Indore, led discussion about HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript to write webpages. He used web creation tools to explain the basic structure of webpages and how the web works in general. GitHub was an item of major focus, as we wanted participants to understand how they can collaboratively build and contribute to projects. We talked about how students can commit code and do basic git operations in a command line interface or a GUI.

Mrinal Jain, a Mozilla Rep from Indore, led discussion about HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript to write webpages in Goa, India

“Mrinal Jain, a Mozilla Rep from Indore, led discussion about HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript to write webpages.”

Server applications and communicating

Soon after the basics were clear, we moved ahead. I began talking about how a server works and what NodeJS helps us accomplish. The session was about different types of pub-sub frameworks and protocols (e.g. MQTT), which ensures a standard way of interfacing and communicating with hardware (e.g. an Arduino Uno).

FOSS Wave - Boa, India: Talking about how a server works and what NodeJS helps us accomplish

“I began talking about how a server works and what NodeJS helps us accomplish.”

After the basic architecture of the IoT and NodeJS, we jumped into writing small API functions. Finally, we made our way to controlling a LED attached to a particular PIN number on an Arduino. For ease of understanding, we made sure that the code and the step-by-step process were clearly documented.

FOSS Wave - Boa, India: Introducing the Internet of Things (IoT)

Teaching to build

As nothing is ever complete without a hands-on application, we held a workshop about how they can start working towards building small IoT projects of their own.

FOSS Wave - Boa, India: Hands-on workshop teaching Internet of Things (IoT)

“…we held a workshop about how they can start working towards building small IoT projects of their own.”

We also gave the participants a free Fedora 24 installation DVD to install and start using Fedora as a cutting-edge platform to build their college projects.

FOSS Wave - Boa, India: Giving Fedora to students to develop with

Wave washes over Goa

These sessions mark the beginning  of FOSS Wave: Goa, India. We have seen a lot of enthusiasm in this event and many people were interested in learning about FOSS and cutting-edge technologies. Contributors are already flowing in and we expect more in the near future!