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There are a total of 18 talks that have been accepted. This list is just for 14 of them, the balance are still being worked upon. If you don’t see your talk listed “Don’t Panic”

freed.in/2008 - Speaker List

Name of Speaker	Title of Talk
Rahul Bhalerao	Harfbuzz : Indic text rendering
Niyam Bhushan	What Every Software Developer Must Know About Interface Design
Atul Chitnis	Open Mobility
Sayamindu Dasgupta	OLPC: It is an education project, not a laptop project
Rene Ejury	Open Course Development. Empower your Students.
Jayesh Gohel	Information Dissemination System for the City Public Transport
Venkatesh Hariharan	Open Standards, Open Society.
Friji Karthikeyan	Open source audio/video streaming
Kiran Jonnalagadda	Remote management of rural telecentre computers
Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay	Communities is an oft used word
Aanjhan Ranganathan	FOSS for Electronics Enthusiasts
Samiah Sultana	All work and no play
Shreyas Srinivasan	Independent Music Ecosystem
Valsa Williams	Maximizing creation and access to content

Name of Speaker: Niyam Bhushan

Organisation / Affiliation	ILUG-D
Title of Talk	What Every Software Developer Must Know About Interface Design
Talk Abstract	User Interface design is not taught as a subject or discipline in India, the world’s self-proclaimed “IT-superpower” with millions of software developers. Yet User Interface (UI) makes or breaks any software or device’s adoption and success. Insights into how to think and design User Interfaces, for software, web, mobile, content, and more.
Relevance to freed.in/2008	Talk covers multi-disciplines from techie, art, non-techie, design, and covers concepts, techniques, and based on 100% foss tools and workflows. this is a talk, not necessarily a workshop.

Name of Speaker: Atul Chitnis

Organisation / Affiliation	FOSS.IN and Geodesic Information Systems Limited
Title of Talk	Open Mobilty
Talk Abstract	While the world focussed on the battle for the PC desktop, a quiet coup happened elsewhere - mobile devices not only became mainstream, but many of them boot out of the box into platforms based on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). This is a market that addresses the “Next Billion Users” - people who do not think of these devices as “computers” but as digital lifestyle accessories. They use these devices for everything from information, entertainment and communication.This talk presents a range of such FOSS-based devices, ranging from the Simputer through the Nokia N8×0, the OpenMoko phone, micro-laptops and even some very familiar devices you didn’t even know used FOSS! The talk also discusses the future directions and opportunities such open devices represent.
Relevance to freed.in/2008	Addresses new directions for FOSS and FOSS technologies, and how these technologies allow faster addressal of information and knowledge needs.

Name of Speaker: Sayamindu Dasgupta

Organisation / Affiliation	None
Title of Talk	OLPC: It is an education project, not a laptop project
Talk Abstract	The OLPC project has started the deployment of XO-1 laptops in countries all around the world, and now the focus is on the education aspect of the project. In reality, the OLPC is a education project, and not a laptop project - and we are starting to see a large number of “Activities” (programs for the kids) starting to take shape around the “Sugar” graphical environment of the OLPC. This new software ecosystem needs a lot of Free/Open Source developers, and the comparative young stage of the project makes it, in some ways, the ideal thing for new FOSS developers to be involved with. This talk will provide an introduction to the OLPC project and its goals, try to explain the software framework the project provides and explain how one can get involved in the project.(..and yes, I will be carrying an XO-1 laptop with me)
Relevance to freed.in/2008	One of the central theme of Freed.in seems to be Knowledge. The OLPC project has the potential of making the knowledge accessible to more and more kids all around the world, in a sustainable way. Instead of the hardware, I will be concentrating on the software and the educational aspects of the project, making it relevant to the theme of Freed.in 2008.

Name of Speaker: Rene Ejury

Organisation / Affiliation	Opennet Rostock, Germany / Janastu Bangalore
Title of Talk	Open Course Development. Empower your Students.
Talk Abstract	New technologies changed the way learning happens at schools, colleges and universities as well as the role of the teacher. Online resources are widely used to create courses, and course-materials are often published in the net after the course was done.The talk will introduce the audience to a project at IIITM Kerala in cooperation with Janastu.org Bangalore which aims to include students in the development of courses in the field of IT. Beside the creation of courses in public spaces like Wikiversity will be introduced.In a brainstorming about the open course development the potentials, risks and fears of including students in the early stage should be discussed. The session will be open to share experiences between participants.
Relevance to freed.in/2008	Topic 4 is about new forms of pedagogy. Facilitating learning and moderating the learning process starts typically with the development of a course. Most of the times this early stage is missed in attempts to change educational institutions, so a open discussion about reasons and potentials seems required.

Name of Speaker: Jayesh Gohel

Organisation / Affiliation	openmap.info
Title of Talk	Information Dissemination System for the City Public Transport
Talk Abstract	The city public transport forms a networked system which generates information, on the basis of which the people of the city interact with it. Such systems are required to provide this information to the end-users so that the system itself can function well. This information can be in form of signages, timetables, maps etc.A central system would facilitate aggregating data about the system in a manner that is extensible to various systems ranging from basic text interfaces to advanced GPS based maps. These, along with other inputs, would also be helpful in planning of the system itself. It would also converge points of interaction with the system, by providing feedback methods within the same core.
Relevance to freed.in/2008	1. It aims at ‘free’ing maps (such interfaces, and information thereof), as it assists orientation. 2. The system is built with OS Technologies, to be able to percolate and situate itself in various contexts.

Name of Speaker: Venkatesh Hariharan

Organisation / Affiliation	Red Hat, IndLinux, ODF Alliance, Open Source Foundation of India, Knowledge Commons
Title of Talk	Open Standards, Open Society
Talk Abstract	The recent debate around OOXML has focused an unprecendented amount of attention around Open Standards. Standards are the first control point in a knowledge economy and control over standards is a powerful tool for extracting monopoly rent. The open standards movement aims to ensure that public data is stored in public formats and that users have the freedom to encode and decode their data. This talk will explain the implications of open standards for India and also elaborate on the policy initiatives that the ODF Alliance and the open source and free software community in India has been involved in.
Relevance to freed.in/2008	Open Standards are the foundation for any knowledge society based on digital technologies. Standards are the first control point in a knowledge economy and therefore it is essential to understand them and establish free and open standards so that we can reach a higher level where “Knowledge Shall Set You Free.”

Name of Speaker: Friji Karthikeyan

Organisation / Affiliation	Radio Schizoid
Title of Talk	Open source audio / video streaming
Talk Abstract	Open source audio/video streaming is a boon for NGO/ local groups to connect. and share their media content with the world. In this talk he would explain the technologies behind streaming multimedia content on the internet and would also present live examples to set up a radio station.Also he would share his codes he had written to run his own radio station . Tech details: The talk would give hands on details about streaming audio server on unix systems 1) Streaming technologies 2) Setting up a radio station 3) Setting up icecast streaming server 4) Running icecast server with various streaming clients ( ices, darkice, VLC, etc., ) 5) Automating the radio station with custom scripts 6) Legal / Licensing issues about the music played on radio station Video streaming server In this part, He would present the audience with hands on demo of how to use VLC to set up video streaming over the internet. Also he would explain about the various codecs and technologies behind video st! reaming.
Relevance to freed.in/2008	Audio / video streaming over the internet gives local communities and groups a better way to reach out .

Name of Speaker: Kiran Jonnalagadda

Organisation / Affiliation	Comat Technologies
Title of Talk	Remote management of rural telecentre computers
Talk Abstract	India is currently witnessing a race to setup rural information telecentres in every single village across the country. These are shops with a computer, printer and internet connection, delivering a variety of electronic services and serving as community interaction centres.Providing technical support to these centres is a significant challenge, given the limitations of traditional support infrastructure, whether roads or a reasonably competent techie in the nearest urban area.This talk will present an open source work-in-progress framework for remote management of these computers, supporting both Linux and Windows.
Relevance to freed.in/2008	The project is in use in Haryana and due to be deployed in UP and Uttaranchal, areas in physical proximity to Freed.in and its participants. The applicability of this project should be easily apparent to anyone from a non-urban background.While it was developed as an internal project, we are releasing it in the hope it will be useful to others, and that the familiarity of the use case will make it easier for developers to participate in, especially new developers seeking a project that will be relevant to the people around them.

Name of Speaker: Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay

Organisation / Affiliation	OpenOffice.Org,Various Linux User Groups
Title of Talk	Communities is an oft used word
Talk Abstract	In the domain of Free and Open Source software communities is an oft used word. There are various communities - of creation, of consumption and of criticism. The one thing that gets lost in the din is that “it is not about the code”. A free culture requires putting in places practices of sharing and collaboration. The tools blend in with the culture. This talk touches upon the practices of a free and collaborative culture which organically leads to creation of people interested in the work. Trying to avoid the glass walling of communities, it is an attempt to explore the building up of a collaborative creative practice.
Relevance to freed.in/2008	This year the event focuses on knowledge, collaboration and the tools that enhance the methods of collaboration. In this aspect, a generic high level talk as the one suggested which touches upon various tools that organically seed sharing is relevant. I propose that the very fact that this talk is not fixated on tools but the culture is going to be of interest.

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