Speaker and session details for Open Source Junction 4, 14-15 March 2013

by Mark Johnson on 25 February 2013

Introduction

Below you will find more information about the speakers and sessions for the Open Source Junction 4 workshop

Sessions

Setting the scene - Scott Wilson

Scott will talk about the background to the event, and in particular why the combination of Open Source Hardware AND Open Source Software has particular potential.

He’ll also provide an introduction to Open Source Junction, how it works, and how to get the best from the event.

Open Source Hardware meets Open Source Software - Paul Tanner

Paul will talk about the evolution of open source from DIY activity to industrial scale use via businesses based on open source.

He’ll cover the common characteristics and what makes OSS and OSH different. Most importantly, what are the key success factors in each case?

He’ll also talk about the impact of Open Source, Open APIs, Open Data and the realisation of the Internet of Things, mentioning some of the unsolved problems that Open Source can address.

Self-Pitches

In this session, we’ll get to know each other, what each of us can offer, and what we’d like to get out of Open Source Junction.

Open Renewables - Javier Ruiz Diaz

Open source hardware is generally associated with electronics, small batch production of custom products and diy personal hobbies such as 3D printing. But this approach can also be beneficial to other sectors. Javier will explain how open source hardware could help the deployment of renewable energy technologies in developing and emergent countries, and the challenges it presents. He will look specifically at the lifecycle of medium sized wind turbines.

Open (Source) Hardware Licensing - Andrew Katz

It’s been a busy time in open source hardware licensing - CERN’s Open Hardware Licence has been undergoing a lot of work behind the scenes, and a new version is about to be released. There are rumours of a new version of the TAPR Open Hardware licence, and the debate between copyleft and academic licences rages on. Andrew Katz has been involved of all of these activities, and will provide an update on the current state of licensing, and some pointers on the best licence to adopt. He will also investigate whether a GPL-style copyleft licence can ever be made to work for hardware, and look at open hardware certification.

ColorHug - Richard Hughes

The ColorHug was announced in November 2011 as a 100% open source colorimeter device. The first 50 prototypes were lovingly hand soldered by myself and assembled by my wife in our spare bedroom. Since then, we’ve shifted from small hand-made batches to automated machines and started making production quantities. The community has welcomed the open hardware, with a vibrant community fixing bugs and adding new features and the project has blossomed into a healthy ecosystem.

This is my first foray into producing open source hardware, and in this talk I’ll explain the first-hand experienced intracacies of setting up an open hardware company, and what direction I see the project going in. We’ll cover topics like automated firmware upgrades and complicated things like CCMX files, but without getting too bogged down with calculations. I’ll show pictures of all stages of development, from breadboard to automated pick and place machines, along with all the new software UIs and try to keep the talk lighthearted and fun.

Project Presenations

We’d like to see and hear about your hardware projects. Whether they’re strictly open hardware or an innovative use of commodity hardware and open source software, if you’d like to give a short demo or presentation of your project, please give details on your registration form.

Speakers

Scott Wilson

Scott Wilson has worked in both the software industry and public sector, particularly in the areas of interoperability and open standards. Scott has a great deal of practical experience of open development; he is a committer on several projects at the Apache Software Foundation, and is chair of the Apache Wookie project. He is also co-chair of several W3C groups. Scott has also been involved with numerous European-funded collaborative ICT projects, leading work packages and developing proposals.

Paul Tanner

Paul Tanner is a consultant, developer and maker in wood, metal, plastic, electronics and software.

Paul graduated in electronics and was responsible for hardware and software product development and customer services in several product and service start-ups, switching to consulting in 2000.

His day job since the dotcom fiasco has been IT-based business improvement for SMEs. By night he turned energy nut, creating tools to optimise energy use. This led to a new specialism in the “Internet of Things”. Using a lot of open hardware and software, Paul is now working on product development for SMEs in the assisted living and energy sectors.

Javier Ruiz Diaz

Javier Ruiz is a digital activist and social entrepreneur. Javier works as for the Open Rights Group on open data, privacy and transparency. He is also a co-founder of Onawi, a non-profit dedicated to promoting open hardware for sustainable development.

Andrew Katz

Andrew is a solicitor practising in the Thames Valley where he is head of technology at boutique law firm Moorcrofts LLP. He has advised on open source software since the mid 1990s. He represents a wide variety of open source software companies, and has more recently become involved in a number of open hardware projects, in the automotive, maritime, aerospace and electronics industries. Andrew is founder editor of the International Free and Open Source Software Law Review. Alongside his usual client work, Andrew is currently legal counsel to the MariaDB foundation which exists to develop the open source relational database system MariaDB, used by organisations such as Wikipedia.

Richard Hughes

Richard has over 10 years of experience developing open source software.

He is the maintainer of PackageKit, gnome-packagekit, gnome-power-manager, gnome-color-manager, colord, and UPower and also contributes to many other projects and opensource standards. Richard has three main areas of interest on the free desktop, color management, package management, and power management.

Richard graduated a few years ago from the University of Surrey with a Masters in Electronics Engineering. He now works for Red Hat in the desktop group, and also manages a company selling open source calibration equipment. Richard’s outside interests include taking photos and eating good food.