September 2014 News

Errietta Kostala, Shadowcat's latest staffer and intern from the University of Huddersfield, will be attending and presenting at the MozFest in London in October . Errietta, like the rest of the Shadowcat team, is a keen contributor to a number of Open Source projects and events. The MozFest will be the first time Errietta has presented and she is bounded with enthusiasm, and probably nervous anticipation, at the prospect.

Errietta wil be talking about how using IRC is still just as relevant in a modern project as it was fifteen years ago and the manner in which you can contribute and collaborate using it as a valuable tool in your OS toolbox.

A full list of the proposals can be found at this location, but the text of Errietta's presentation is shown here:

## IRC isn't just old school: enriching community through text-based chat

What will your session or activity allow people to make, learn or do?

Participants will learn how to use IRC networks like freenode and moznet to communicate with other contributors of open source projects. They will be taught the necessary IRC commands to connect to a network, register a nickname and find channels and, if applicable, how to create a chat room for their own community.

How do you see that working?

We will help people install an IRC client if they do not already have one installed - a relatively quick process. We will have short tutorials of teaching IRC commands and after each one we will encourage participants to experiment with using them and also learning other IRC commands on their own. The session will use material adapted from this blog post.

How will you deal with varying numbers of participants in your session?

An IRC client doesn't take long or much background knowledge to install, so as long as people have that set up on their laptops they should be able to keep up with the session relatively easily. Having a co-organizer means we can split helping people in between us, and participants can even help each other.

What do you see as outcomes after the festival?

After the festival, participants will be able to access IRC channels for their favourite projects and collaborate with other contributors. They will also know how to get additional help on IRC features and commands, if needed. Ultimately this could mean more contributors to Mozilla and Mozilla projects!

Facilitators

• Errietta Kostala – @errietta
• Aki Rose Braun – @gesa

Organization

Shadowcat Systems LTD

Theme

Build and Teach the Web

Notes

This year's London Perl Workshop will once again be held at the University of Westminster's Cavendish Campus on Saturday 8th November. The theme this year will be Perl and the Internet of Things.

Once again the Shadowcat staff will be in attendance at the workshops and the surrounding social activities and once again we will be helping out with the vast majority of the organisational duties.

Mark Keating is once more the chief conference overlord and chair of the proceedings. Ian Norton and Claire Jackson will be on hand all day running workshops and registration. Tom Bloor will be managing the electronic toy room, a new feature at this year's event. Matt S. Trout and our latest intern, Errietta Kostala, will both be in attendance. Matt will once again present and if we can persuade Errietta to talk we will do so.

Each year the workshop has grown in size and splendour and we are glad to note that the complement of Shadowcat attendees has grown with it. We hope to see you there.

Notes

On Wednesday the 24th September the last Lancaster Social of 2014 will be held at The Hall on China Street, Lancaster. This is the third event of the year, and since this is the innagural year the third event ever. This is all the more reason to sign up for tickets.

Shadowcat Systems are once again proud to be amongst the sponsors and to give help in the organising of the event. The Lancaster Social is designed to be a free to attend, open access event that does not distinguish between the different social groups, instead it seeks to unite them.

If you are a business owner, community member, or just a curious individual wishing to meet people in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere this is the event for you.

The theme of this event is 'LinkedIn'. The proceedings will be opened by Shadowcat's very own Mark Keating; Jane Binion wil provide an excellent quick 'LinkedIn Introduction (Jane's Social Media)'; Shadowcat's Ian Norton will chair the Q&As and the event will be closed by Sarah Thornton (Back Room Sam).

Notes