Presentations

The following presentations will be give at AbleConf 2011:

Moodle GIFT Question Format

Moodle supports many import/export formats for test and quiz questions. The GIFT format is an easy to use text markup that allows the instructor to concentrate on the questions rather than the tool.

The talk will give examples and live imports of GIFT formatted questions. Supported question types include automagic grading for types such as MCSA, MCMA, TF, short answer, matching, fill in and numerical. It also supports essay questions.

Categories, comments, question names, question feedback, multiple answers and weighted answers are all supported.

Presented by: der.hans

Paying for Free Software

It's important to have support for all parts of a company's critical infrastructure. One component is the software and networking necessary to keep the business operational.

Free Software opens up opportunities. In addition to purchasing traditional support contract companies using Free Software have several other support options. Options means there's competition and competition drives down costs while increasing service.

Why should you pay for support? Come to the presentation and find out why.

Presented By: der.hans

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Keeping Calm in a Collaborative World

Wikis provide the perfect platform to collaborate on projects, both internally and externally -- if managed properly. Wikis can power your internal project organization, or can be used as a CMS for your documentation team or your entire website. This presentation will look at the upsides and downsides of using MediaWiki to manage your project, the software that powers some of the most popular websites on the internet, such as WikiPedia, as well as some best practices, and how to deal with the issues of spam and vandalism that plague nearly every public wiki.

Presented By: Ryan Rix

FOSS in Translation

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) such as Firefox, OmegaT, OpenOffice.org and the Linux operating system are an essential part of the translator's software toolbox.

The reasons are obvious: FOSS is secure, functional and reliable and allows translators to work productively without worrying about high costs and licensing constraints. Beyond this, professional translators use Integrated Translation Environments (ITE), Translation Project Management (TPM) software and Machine Translation (MT) tools.

Find out how you can get started integrating these with concordancers and term extraction and term management tools into a full suite of FOSS programs into your current computing environment.

Presented By: Dierk Seeburg

Applying FOSS with Business Servers

Mr. Shubert will talk about various considerations involved with implementing a Server in a Home Office or SMB (Small/Medium Business) environment. He will then present an approach to system architecture using FOSS and Virtualization Technology for building affordable, efficient servers which meet the IT needs of such environments.

Presented By: Eric Shubert

The Hale Theatre: A case study in getting the most out of Wordpress and the LAMP stack

The Top Three Things Every Website Should Include

• Professional design (graphic, messaging, layout)
• Marketing Integration ( lead generation, sales, marketing mix )
• Content Management

Hale Theatre's Usage of WordPress to Get All Three

• Choosing a design theme vs creating a custom theme
• Free add-ons, plug-ins, widgets to extend functionality (free is good)
• Content management, automation, source control, security, and community.
• Integration and customization options (advantages of open source)

The Bottom Line - ROI

• Return on investment / cost of ownership comparison chart
• Short term and long term investment comparisons
  • LAMP Vs Microsoft Windows/IIS/SQL Server/ .NET
  • Static HTML - vs - Custom CMS -vs- Wordpress

Presented By: Matt Curtin

Competitive Advantages of Free/Open Source Software in a Logistics Enterprise

In this presentation, Paul will present lessons learned from porting and building large scale enterprise systems with Free software.

The presentation will focus on:

• Usage of off the shelf Free Software products available for the logistics industry.
• Usage of Free software tools to build custom in house systems.

Paul will explain how a logistics company can leverage GNU Linux and Free software development tools to save money on recurring licensing and support costs, reduce bugs and errors in in-house software, decrease outages, and increase worker productivity. Paul will show how you can avoid some of the common pitfalls associated with the introduction of Free Software tools.

Presented By: Paul S Hahn

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Open Source Cars

Open source software supporting open source hardware

• While the software we use isn't exotic, the way we leverage it to create open source cars will change the industry.
  • Brief overview of Local Motors
    • Co-created cars made for local consumers
  • Why is open source important to Local Motors
    • Empower customers
  • Enable venders / aftermarket parts
    • Feedback loop to a better product
• We contribute to open source
  • Talk in a general sense (not super techy) of some of our innovative IT projects
  • Industry leader in open source
    • Driving open source initiatives
  • DARPA

Presented By: Tim Thomas

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Using Commodity Services To Create Elastic Computing Services

Differences, including the pros and cons to each, for using Amazon like services vs. GoDaddy type services vs. RackSpace like services and when you should use each and how to determine the economic sweet spot for each.

Presented By: Bryan O'Neal

Business Migrations to Open Source Software

A general discussion on challenges, opportunities and tasks for migrating systems from proprietary platforms to Linux and Open Source. Will include reference cases, current business trends and environment, and a broad discussion of the Open Source Community and status.

Presented By: Curtis Zinzilieta

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GIMP workflow for digital photographers.

Using comman tools in GIMP to improve your photos. No alien babies here, just simple tools you can use every day to improve all your photos.

Presented By: Dennis Kibbe

Freemind for Organizations

Capture Ideas and Organize your Thinking with Freemind. Freemind is a java based Mind Mapping tool with a rich set of formatting tools to display your ideas clearly and with Impact. Freemind includes tools that help you manage idea capture and development including the ability to work with anything on the internet or your internal network.

Presented By: Ed Nicholson

Hackerspaces as innovation incubators

A wide number of innovations in technology have resulted from the collaboration of people sharing physical space and exercising a certain degree of freedom on what to innovate on, from the PARC to NYU's ITP. Hackerspaces are spaces where technologists can meet in person and build or break things together without any specific mandate from an academic, commercial, or governmental institution. This presentation will explain the advantages hackerspaces have in fostering innovation.

Presented By: David Huerta

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Tame your web site with the MODx content management system

The purpose of the presentation is to demonstrate MODx and how it can allow a non-technical small or medium-sized business owner to maintain their own website.

• Introduction: What is a CMS and what is MODx? Why should I build my website with it?
• Gallery: A quick showcase of websites built with MODx
• Behind the scenes: The MODx administrative interface
• Modification Demo: Demonstrate various edits - front page, blog, new page.
• Technical: Templates, Template Variables, Chunks, Snippets and Plugins - what they are and how they make life easier.
• Wrap up: Closing thoughts and hosting companies that support MODx

Presented By: Jason Holtzapple

Open Technologies in the Education Enterprise

Open-source software, open standards, and open content have been described as "the most disruptive technologies of the 21st century." While open technologies are fast making inroads into education, most of the discussion has focused on cost. The mentality of "doing the same for less" has sadly overlooked the true benefit of open technologies: value.

The potential of open technologies is not merely cost savings but a fundamental transformation of the way education technology leaders drive innovation. From infrastructure to classroom applications, this session will demonstrate tangible benefits and real world examples of open solutions in action on a large scale. Discover the value of open technologies, as well as their impact on ed-tech innovation from the perspective of a large Southern California school district with a well-established open technologies program.

Presented By: Jim Klein

Resources mentioned
1. Jupiter http://www.jupiterapplet.org/
2. The Open Disc http://www.theopendisc.com/
3. Italc http://italc.sourceforge.net/
4. elgg http://www.elgg.org/

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