BarCampKerala 7 – Report

21st December 2009, Kottayam: Yesterday was the day of yet another BarCamp in Kerala. Kerala has grabbed the title for conducting the most number of barcamps in India in a year in the last 2 years. The event which sees the community of entrepreneurs, IT professionals, students and business mentors come together in a platform and share their views on their favorite topics was conducted yesterday at the auditorium of Kristu Jyothi College in Chengnasherry, Kottyam.

The remote location of the BarCamp did not deter the 100 odd attendees who came in through interesting ways like carpooling from Trivandrum, Cochin and Calicut and hitchhiking from nearby places. “I cannot believe that this is a event which is organized online totally and even the organizers meet only on the day of the event.” said the first time barcamper Jobi John who is a student in USA currently on his vacation in Kerala.

The sessions of the morning were:

1. BARCAMP KERALA : Kevin Babu – An introduction to BarCamps and its history in Kerala.
2. 2. 3D GRAPHICS PROGRAMMING : Praseed Pai – Introduction to graphics programming and the mathematic equations involved.

3. Building Complex Website the Drupal Way : Fredrik Jonsson – An enlightening session by this Swedish programmer who explained the usage of Drupal for building websites easily and customizing them.
4. Media and Freedom-Kenney Jacob – A debate and argument filled session on how the Old Media is threatened by the New Media and how dangerous is the media corporates with a hidden agenda.

This was followed by a lunch break and a Christmas cake sponsored by the digital marketing firm ayruz web holdings was distributed. This added a special touch to the event in this festive seasion.

Noon sessions

5. Recycling Old Computers using LTSP- By VU2SWX – A thought provoking session which helped attendees to find out new ways of using their old powerless computers as nodes and utilizing it effectively.

6. Innovation-”The UST Global Way”-Harikrishnan Nair -  A session on the importance of events like barcamps and how UST Global encourages innovation in their work culture.

7. Multi Monitor Machines by Binny V A – The advantages of using more than one monitor with your desktop and its disadvantages was shown by Binny VA who uses 3 monitors at his home in Linux.

8. Device management in modern Linux system by Unnikrishnan

The day was winded up with a wonderful discussion led by Mr. Kenney Jacob on the existing conditions for a new startup to bloom in Kerala. This discussion saw entrepreneurs share their troubles, their reason for “starting-up” and about funding and investment.

The Principal  of the MACFAST college  Fr. Abraham Mulamoottil gave a mindblowing talk on startups and his personal appreciation to all entrepreneurs and his open invitation to mentor new business ideas.

In all, the event was an experience all student startups appreciated, an experience for them to learn from those who have been successful and those who have failed.

The next Barcamp got scheduled at MACFAST.The session winded up at 6.15 pm.