Hey Chennaiites,
Geek culture is not something new to Chennai. For years, this city has been home to
numerous geeks, developers, bloggers, hackers and a multitude of free software
enthusiasts. Chennai also has a large number of OSS communities – much of them being
splinter groups. But, the problem inherent to the communities here is that they are small
in size, there is no proper outreach medium and above all there is no coordination between
the various groups.
Of course, each of us have different motives and goals. But, on the whole, in one way or
the other, each community envisions the same thing - promote the web, technology and
software freedom in an “open way”. That cannot happen unless we have a unified
approach.
Also, it has been a very long time since Chennai has played host to any big OSS
conference, meetup or movement as such. I guess its time we change things.
This is where we introduce “Open Sundays“ - a day full of activity sprints, unconferences,
workshops, talks, hackathons, where various community members, enthusiasts, students and
geeks in Chennai region come together - all under a single roof. Open Sundays can provide
a great platform for like minded people to come together, promote inter-community
coordination and exchange of knowledge and know-how.
As such, let’s not try to hit big at the very beginning. The event can take place once
every two or three months during weekends, preferably Sundays. What we require is a set of
rooms - probably an office space with internet connection can get us started. All that we
are aiming, is to create a banner under which all the communities in Chennai region can
come together and work towards something unique and constructive.
Let us all be a part of this initiative and create something big. If there are any ideas
or suggestions, that you may have to improve this, I’m all ears :)
Thanks,
Dwarak
Mozilla India Community Member,
http://www.dwarak.in