Fresh from the plantation

Calling all IT geeks and tech-savvy people!

NEW ZEALAND PYTHON USER GROUP INCORPORATED

Media Statement August 23, 2011
IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Calling all IT geeks and tech-savvy people!

Kiwi PyCon 2011, New Zealand’s conference dedicated to the Python programming language, is on this weekend at Te Whaea in Wellington. With a great lineup of speakers from Weta Digital, GitHub, a strong local and overseas contingent, as well as three international keynotes, there is still time to participate in this fantastic conference.

On Friday night there will be “CodeWars”, a fun event pitting eight teams of developers against each other in a three round competition. Saturday night will feature a conference dinner, and on Sunday morning a special women’s breakfast has been planned.

Friday night’s “CodeWars” as well as the weekend’s Kiwi PyCon conference will offer lots of giveaways ranging from software licenses, geek gadgets, t-shirts, books and loads more. Tickets are $60 for students/unwaged and $100 for everyone else. Morning/afternoon tea and lunch is included.

The event has garnered notable support, with the Python Software Foundation, Catalyst IT, Signify, the Plone Foundation, and Web Drive as major sponsors and many other well known companies including Enthought, GitHub, Mozilla, Tymar Systems Development, Weta Digital, and Tait Radio Communications all backing the conference.

Book now for this great opportunity: http://nz.pycon.org

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For media or conference enquiries please contact:

* Tim McNamara, Conference Director
* Phone: 021 499 2275
* Email: kiwipycon@nzpug.org
* Website: http://nz.pycon.org

Calling all Aucklanders, Whangarei-ites & Waikato-ites and everyone inbetween!

This weekend at the Copthorne Hotel in Waitangi is Kiwi PyCon 2010. We’ve got a great lineup of speakers including Jacob Kaplan-Moss - the creator of the Django web framework, speakers from Weta Digital, Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Catalyst IT, to name a few.

If that hasn’t motivated you to come along, we’ve also arranged a charter bus leaving from Auckland airport, Auckland University, and Massey University campuses for a ‘cheap as chips’ return ticket price of $20! The bus leaves Auckland this Friday at midday and returns Sunday night. Seats are still available so get in before the last minute rush!

The bus will arrive just in time for our Friday night CodeWars event, pitting 8 teams of developers against eachother in a 3 round competition. The winners will get a grabbag of schwag. There’s lots of schwag on offer the whole weekend, though, with giveaways ranging from software licenses, geek gadgets, MSDN subscriptions, t-shirts, laptop bags, books, etc.

Tickets are $60 for students/unwaged and $100 for everyone else. Morning/afternoon tea and lunch is included. Accommodation can be organised by dropping an email to kiwipycon@nzpug.org.

What are you waiting for, register today!

Plains FM Interview regarding Kiwi PyCon 2010

Edit: the podcast for the radio interview is available here

Interviewee: Tim Knapp, Organising Committee Member
Interviewer: Edward Swift, Plains FM

What is Kiwi PyCon?

To promote the use of the programming language Python in New Zealand the NZ Python User Group (NZPUG) is holding the second Kiwi PyCon conference at the Copthorne Hotel & Resort in Waitangi, Bay of Islands on November 20th and 21st.

What is Python?

Its an open source programming language that is very simple and flexible to use. In New Zealand, Weta Digital use it to produce the special effects and animation in movies such as the Lord of the Rings. In fact, Matt Provost from Weta Digital will present at the event regarding how they use Python in their datacentre.

What’s going to be on the conference programme?

The event will include talks highlighting how Python has been used in the scientific, web, mobile, gaming, and animation fields.

The main keynote speaker at Kiwi PyCon is Jacob Kaplan-Moss, the creator of Django, a successful and widely used web application framework. Interestingly, Django is the software that drives the Plains FM website.

On the Friday evening prior to the event there will also be a CodeWars event, where 8 teams of 2-4 people will compete in a programming competition consisting of 3 rounds.

The conference has also attracted a lot of interest from many universities throughout the country and staff and students from Auckland, Massey, Canterbury, and Otago universities will be attending as the event will not only be educational but is an excellent opportunity to meet-and-greet with potential employers.

How can people find out more about the event?

Head over to nz.pycon.org. We’re expecting 150+ delegates from across New Zealand and Australia. We’ve had 58 registrations thus far and the event is in 3 weeks so get in quick so you don’t miss out.

We’ve also organised a $20 bus to/from the event departing from Auckland so getting to the event is really easy.

The event has also only been possible due to the generous support of our sponsors: Catalyst IT and Microsoft. As well as Atlassian, Enthought, the Plone Foundation, the Python Software Foundation, and Tait Electronics.

Again, the website to find out more about Kiwi PyCon is nz.pycon.org.

Keep up with technology @ Kiwi PyCon 2010

New Zealand Python User Group Incorporated

Media Statement

For immediate release

19 October 2010

IT folks will certainly be interested in Kiwi PyCon 2010: An exciting and interesting weekend is going to show how the programming language Python is used in science, education, and high-profile companies here and around the world. It is held at the Copthorne Hotel & Resort in Waitangi, Bay of Islands Saturday 20-Sunday 21 November.

Participants will learn first-hand how Weta Digital uses Python in their datacentre, or how they can leverage cloud computing like Amazon web services and Google App Engine. The conference is also an excellent networking opportunity to meet people who have actually delivered, from industry to education to government sectors to Hollywood.

The registration fee ($100 regular, $60 student/unwaged) includes morning and afternoon tea, as well as lunch on both days, the Kiwi PyCon 2010 t-shirt, and there are also tons of giveaways this year, ranging from books, laptop bags and geek gadgets to software licenses for Python IDE’s and Amazon server credits.

An impressive sponsorship lineup includes Catalyst IT and Microsoft as Gold Sponsors; Atlassian, Enthought, the Plone Foundation, the Python Software Foundation, and Tait Radio Communications as Silver Sponsors; and Schwag Sponsors: Amazon Web Services, Wingware, Mozilla, ActiveState, Apress, Packt Publishing, O’Reilly, ThinkGeek, ANZTB, and Bitbucket.

To make your booking visit http://nz.pycon.org

For assistance with travel and accommodation, email kiwipycon@nzpug.org or phone Danny Adair on (09) 9555 101.

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For media or conference enquiries please contact:

Danny Adair, NZPUG President

Phone: (09) 9555 101

Email: kiwipycon@nzpug.org

Website: http://nz.pycon.org

Major IT players support Python Conference 2010

New Zealand Python User Group Incorporated

Media Statement

For immediate release

24 September 2010

Over 150 computer programming enthusiasts are set to meet at the Kiwi PyCon 2010 conference on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 November at the Copthorne Hotel & Resort Bay of Islands in Waitangi.

Python, a programming language used throughout the world, has a massive following and Python conferences are held around the globe. Kiwi PyCon is New Zealand’s Python community coming together and will cover the use of Python in the scientific, web, mobile, gaming, and animation fields.

The event has garnered notable support, with Catalyst IT and Microsoft as major sponsors and many other well known companies and organisations including the Python Software Foundation, Plone Foundation, Atlassian, Enthought, Tait Radio Communications, Apress, Packt Publishing, O’Reilly, ThinkGeek, Amazon Web Services, Wingware, ANZTB, Mozilla and ActiveState all backing the conference.

Organised by the New Zealand Python User Group Inc.(NZPUG), it promises to bring together developers, designers and business people who will listen to industry speakers. US-based Jacob Kaplan-Moss, creator of “Django”, a successful and widely used web application framework along with Anthony Baxter, long-time release manager of Python from Melbourne are keynote speakers for the event.

Kiwi PyCon 2010 topics will include:

• “How Python is influencing neuroscience research”
• Microsoft (Australia) showing how they support Python on their “Azure” platform
• Amazon web service
• Gmail gadgets
• “Going Global : Using Best Effort Translation To Create Multilingual Web Apps”
• Python and Java
• Python in Astronomy

Another guest speaker for the conference is Matt Provost, Systems Manager at Weta Digital, five-time Academy award winning visual effects facility located in Wellington. Matt will speak about “Python in the Datacentre”, as he manages all Weta Digital servers, storage and networking which occupies five positions on the Top 500 Supercomputer list.

Danny Adair, NZPUG’s founding president said “Python is used everywhere, and for anyone interested in or using the language, our annual conference is the place to be.” Kiwi PyCon 2010 registrations are now open. To make your booking for the conference or for more information visit http://nz.pycon.org

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For media or conference enquiries please contact:

Danny Adair, NZPUG President

Phone: (09) 9555 101

Email: kiwipycon@nzpug.org

Website: http://nz.pycon.org

Kiwi PyCon 2010 Talk Submissions Due August 2nd

If you haven’t heard, Kiwi PyCon 2010 is to be held in the beautiful Bay of Islands, just outside the Waitangi Treaty grounds at the Copthorne Hotel on the weekend of November 20-21.
So far we’ve had 6 financial sponsors commit to the event and 6 schwag sponsors, which puts us in line for an excellent event with a substantial grab bag of goodies the likes of which any IT professional would drool over.

On the talk content side of things, Jacob Kaplan-Moss, co-founder of the Django project, will give Saturday’s keynote, Amazon Web Services will be presenting and Weta Digital have also got a couple of their team coming along, just to name a few. If you’d like to have your name alongside this impressive lineup, the due date for talk submissions is this coming Monday, August 2nd so head on over to http://nz.pycon.org/submit-talk today and get submitting and help contribute to the success of Kiwi PyCon 2010!
Alternatively if you’d like to come along and soak up the python goodness - further pricing information can be found here and the registration form is available here. Early bird registrations close September 1 so don’t delay!

Dominion Post article (12/04/2010): Treasury shares website know-how

I was interviewed by Claire McEntee for an article for The Dominion Post last week and just realised it made it into last Monday’s InfoTech Weekly section. Reproduced here for your viewing pleasure. Please ensure you come along on April 28th at the Treasury’s offices! More info here: http://plone.org/events/wpd/2010/wellington-new-zealand.

THE Treasury will host a demonstration of open source content management system Plone for government departments this month.

Tim Knapp, from the Python User Group – which is running the April 28 event – says Plone, which lets users manage their websites, has already been adopted by the Treasury, the Office of the Auditor- General, the Electricity Commission and the Women’s Affairs Ministry.

Plone differs from other content management systems in that it lets organisations manage security granularly, he says, specifying the powers various users have to make changes and run different versions of websites at the same time, so users can easily edit websites and publish updates.

Sigurd Magnusson, chief marketing officer at open source firm SilverStripe – which has developed its own content management system, says he supports government agencies working together and sharing their experiences.

However, he said it would be inappropriate if the demonstration turned into a sales pitch for Plone.

‘‘If it has some type of involvement with government then best practice would be to have a neutral position and say, ‘These are the things that have gone well and these are the things that haven’t gone well’.’’

Pushing for consistency in ICT across government

NEW ZEALAND PYTHON USER GROUP

Media Statement

April 6, 2010

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Currently a number of different content management systems are being used across government with most departments working independent of each other.

Therefore all government departments are invited to a seminar to showcase how the enterprise content management system, Plone, is being used in a number of government departments locally as well as in Australia.

“A coordinated approach to ICT web services seems to be missing in New Zealand” says event director, Tim Knapp. “Many of the government departments I’ve spoken to are in dire need of an organisation that can provide independent advice on open source web technologies, particularly as there’s so many to choose from. Australia are far ahead of us on this front, where they’ve setup the Open Source Business Cluster to fill this need”.

Mr Knapp goes on to say “Plone is particularly suited to government as it is an enterprise-level content management system, exceeds the E-government standards for government websites, and therefore was officially sanctioned by the State Services Commission back in 2005”.

The New Zealand Python User Group, is organising this free event - World Plone Day, on April 28th from 12:00pm at The Treasury department’s offices in Wellington. All those interested in attending are encouraged to register on the event’s website.

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For media or conference enquiries please contact:

Tim Knapp, Event Director

Phone: 021 156 6405

Email: info@emergetec.com

Website: http://plone.org/events/wpd/2010/wellington-new-zealand

Kiwi PyCon 2010 - November 20-21, Copthorne Hotel & Resort Bay of Islands

Expect the same great lineup of talks regarding how Python is being used in the fields of science, maths, games, animation, web development and much much more.

Again we’ll have a couple of world class keynote speakers and an ‘unconference’ aspect to the event where you, the delegate, can get involved.

Add to all this the fact that it’ll be in the beautiful Bay of Islands at an excellent venue and we’re set for an even better event than last year.

Keep an eye on the conference website for updates as planning for the event unfolds.

Christchurch NZPUG Meetup This Friday

Just to let you all know that we’ve got the following event this Friday. Again we ask that you send an email to meeting-christchurch AT nzpug dot org so we have an idea of those who are coming along.

Again we’ll order some pizzas so please bring along some money to contribute to this (usually works out at about $7-8 each).

Details are as follows:

Date: 5 March 2010
Time: 5:30-7:30pm
URL: http://nzpug.org/MeetingsChristchurch/Mar2010
Talks:

• Darryl Cousins: “Demo: Building a web application using repoze.bfg”