[kwlug-announce] Meeting Monday: GNU Social (Dec 2015)

[Paul Nijjar]

Bob Jonkman is a sociable fellow. Unlike certain announcement writers
we could mention, you won't find Bob parked at his computer, spending
endless hours playing spider solitaire in a desperate attempt to stave
off his lonely existence.  Instead you will find Bob parked at his
computer socializing, building connections, solving problems and
sharing comics about conspiracy-minded cats.

Doing social media is one thing. Handing over control of your networks
and data to corporations whose names might rhyme with Bitter and
Macehook are quite another. Being ever-vigilant, Bob maintains his
freedom by running his own GNU Social (nee Statusnet) instance, and is
a proud member of the Fediverse: a set of servers and users that
communicate with each other over the Internet. 

In this month's meeting, Bob will share his GNU Social secrets, and
he invites us all to participate. If you bring a computer or mobile
device capable of surfing the Internet (and if the KWLUG wireless
router can handle the load...) you will be able to participate in
Bob's live demonstration, and perhaps become a member of the Fediverse
yourself. This presentation will begin at around 7pm, once we have
finished meeting announcements. 

In breaking news, Colin Mills has resurrected the Conestoga Linux
Fest. It is now scheduled for Saturday, January 30 2016 at the Doon
campus of Conestoga College. Colin is looking for a few more speakers
for the event, so if you are interested you can contact him (if you
are on kwlug-disc) or contact me and I will relay your message. 

A few of us are getting into the spirit of the season by -- once
again! -- meeting on a Saturday and rescuing some donated laptops by
preparing them with Xubuntu. This month we are rescuing laptops from
4-8pm or so at Computer Recycling (66 Queen Street South), on December
12. If you would like to participate, contact me. More information is
available from: http://kwlug.org/node/1011 

Computer Recycling is not the only organization refurbishing laptops
in the near future. The Waterloo Region Year of Code is also trying to
source (relatively recent) hardware to be used for computer education.
See http://www.yocwr.ca/e-cember-tech-drive/ for more information.

This month's meeting will be held at the usual place: 

St John's Kitchen
97 Victoria Street North
(Weber and Victoria)
Kitchener

There are maps and pictures at http://kwlug.org/sjk . Setup starts
around 6:30pm, and setup helpers are always welcome. 

- Paul 
-- 
http://pnijjar.freeshell.org