Forwarding:-

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Please forward this release to any educational lists you're on that have a computer focus, and any computer lists you're on that have an educational focus. And anyone who wants a learning holiday in sunny Perth, Western Australia during the Northern Hemisphere's winter. (-:

THE CONFERENCE

educationaLinux 2003, the Education mini-conference attached to the Australian Linux Conference 2003, is now seeking papers and presenters for two days of intense learning and networking in the leadup to the LCA2003 proper.

LCA2003 promises to be a doorbuster conference, a hard act to follow (which is why we're running before it) and we've obtained permission to piggyback an Education mini-conference on it - in parallel with a Debian mini-conference - in the two days leading up to it.

Rolling through into the main conference gives educators involved with Linux that little bit of extra time with an educational focus, an extra reason for attending LCA2003. An educational prefix to the main conference turns up fresh material to hammer out in the workshops.

THE PAPERS

Even before this CFP went out, we've had some interesting papers waved at us. The presentations will include reports from Australian implementors fresh from a new rollout in the field.

We're looking to cover two main areas: Linux as seen from an educational perspective (Monday 27 January), and education as seen from a Linux perspective (Tuesday 28 January), with some overlap.

The former means presentations on opportunities, problems and experiences with Linux from the educator's seat, be it school IT staff, teachers or consultants. We're looking for educational applications for Linux and what needs to be done to make them better, features to build on and misfeatures to repair, both theory and testimony.

The latter means presentations on setting up and altering Linux to meet the special needs of academia, such as the ability to migrate user contexts between grades, ways of tuning for or dissipating load spikes from start-of-lesson stampedes, plans and experience with various network arrangements, adaptations for special-needs input devices, unobtrusive security hardening; go wild with your special project or experience!

THE LOCATION

The LCA2003 conference is being competently kitted out for an optimised, immersive networking experience; just the right balance between the convenience of everything-laid-on and the interest and satisfaction of roll-your-own. By penguinistas, for penguinistas.

The University of Western Australia is about the closest thing Oz has to real historical buildings; these ancient, hallowed halls are equipped with wireless LAN, wired sound and other modern facilities to make your visit a highly productive one. Accomodation is close to hand, the city centre only a few kilometers further away and `geek' attractions like the UCC, home of one of the first Coke machines on the Internet and many other digital treasures, are right on campus.

Perth itself has a wonderfully mild climate, is big enough to offer practically any facility, and small enough to still be friendly. Western Australia is packed with interesting things to see (from unique natural grandeur through impressive industry to world-class fishing and world-famous wineries) so an extended holiday stay is a definite option.

The main Conference ends on Australia Day. On the Sunday night you'll get to see some of the biggest, most impressive fireworks ever to be launched in Australia.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO NOW

1. Register for LCA2003, even if you have no paper to present.

2. Notify educationaLinux that you're planning to attend.

3. If you have a paper, submit a precis and a brief bio to educationaLinux.

4. Arrange your schedule and finances so you can roll up on the day.

THE LINKS

http://plug.linux.org.au/~leonb/lca2003/papers.html Presenters' instructions

http://plug.linux.org.au/~leonb/lca2003/ educationaLinux home

http://linux.conf.au/ LCA2003 entry

http://conf.linux.org.au/register.html Conference registrations

http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/mmmgroup/e-gall.html The Spanish Linkquisition