OLPC Belgium/Meetings/20090409
(pls add your complementary info, links to pics, ...)
Thanks for joining in this first of a never-ending weekly cycle of OLPCafés and OLPC-Meetings... I'm writing this whilst the 2 guys who came over from Ghent are probably driving back home. We were some 15 people... quite international community... New Zealand, Germany, Rwanda, Morocco, Ghent, Italy, ...
Hero of the day and under big applause - it is a lady:
Giulia D'AMICO - the OLPCeu/Brussels Communication Officer, who took the initiative to kick-off this cycle of OLPCafés and Meetings :)
Well done, Giulia ... you really showed how great you are!
Belgium is of course blessed with one of the top-open source community gatherings in Europe, if not the World: google Fosdem ...
The feeling was that this was rather for the hard core coders and hardware amators/pro's and that somehting "lighter", more cosy was needed to bring more multi-disciplinary and color to compelement the teams. OLPC really needs multi-disciplinary teams: hardware, software ... of course ... but also antropologists, pol&soc, teachers, pedagogists, reporters, students, service providers, engineers, ... help with calculating the CO2e-Certificates, PhotoVoltaic panels that are delivered with every laptop, fundraisers, people that prepare food/barbeque, organize places where we can meet, contact schools, represent olpc with laptops that you can get at the olpc brussels office at meetings / events, ... that can explain newcomers the do's, don'ts and how to do it better, ... , management, knowledge management, project developers, ...
RfC: We met from 18h till 22h ... some left at 20h ... it's appreciated by all to be able to physically meet, next to the Virtual Meetings over irc, this wiki, email, mailing-lists, forums, ... Everybody likes some chit-chat time ... but I felt that many would appreciate a mix of that with the possibility to split-up in sub-groups to discuss something and then to come back to the bigger group, drink / eat something. How do you see this ... we formalize a bit like a "dating-café"? Welcome, 2' presentation of the timing ... who wants to do what ... chit chat for 45', then split-up for 30', come back to a group-session 15's whilst eating/drinking something and then everybody home and sleep? What sessions would you like to see, what do you need, what were the best meetings you ever took part in, what can we adopt from them, do's - don's - can do even better suggestions.
Bon, you all heard about "OLPCO2e, a new Entity that's going to unlock the "Kyoto Protocol" Potential of OLPC and its CO2e-reducing spin-outs... check http://www.OlpcNews.com
Since 2005 - start of the "Kyoto Protocol" - it is as if Society finally caught up with OLPC; OLPC has put enormous effort in making the greenest laptop out there... and it's now gets it in "cash": for every Watt of electricity that is not consumed, it gets the equivalent of CO2e-/Greenhouse Gas Emissions prevented in the form of these famous CO2e-Certificates... who keep rising in value ... stay tuned to www.olpcnews.com ... there's some interesting stuff coming up.
Bon... CO2e-Certificates is business ... so ... all of a sudden OLPCO2e needs a multi-disciplinary business team and develop a business, business plan, business cases ... Legal Dpt, Engineering Dpt, Deployment Dpt, Communications and Public Relations Dpt, Financial Dpt, Commercial & Marketing Dpt, Management Team, Conseil d'Admin, Ethical Advisers Council, ..., "Kyoto Protocol Consulting" Dpt, OLPCO2e Academy, ... , eh ... If you'd know some people/universities/companies/governments/ngo's that would be interested to partner-up ... it's a bit heavy for only Giulia and me.
Again Giulia ... well done ... thanks for all the guggling with the laptops the last-minute printing ... phone-calls ... your initiative, energy and high emotional iq, this was history in and for Belgium, we won't forget. :)
Good coders need good users, need good coders, need good organizers ... :)
--SvenAERTS 23:13, 9 April 2009 (UTC)
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