Camp News

Camping Preparation 

Detailed Instructions for Tech Campers are now available.  Please ensure you read these carefully and check for updates in the lead up to the event.

Look at the Camp Speakers page, decide which workshops you might like to attend and check the workshop requirements.


Day Zero Workshop Program now open


VALA is delighted to announce a NEW Day 0 program for Tech Camp 2017, made possible by our PD Partner, EBSCO and supported by our Tech Partner, AARNet.

Day 0 (Wednesday 12 July 2017) will feature 2 NEW Workshop opportunities for Tech Campers; cost of attendance is INCLUDED IN YOUR TECH CAMP REGISTRATION FEES. (That’s right, there is no additional cost for Tech Campers to participate in a Day 0 Workshop.)

Here’s what on offer, from EBSCO and AARNet:-

Workshop #1

EBSCO – Developer Introduction to FOLIO


This half-day Workshop (1.00-5.00pm) provides a hands-on introduction to the FOLIO library services platform.

The FOLIO project is a community collaboration to develop an open source library services platform. The project has engaged a growing community of librarians, developers and commercial entities, and design and development of the platform has progressed at a steady rate. Most importantly, the platform fundamentals have been established through a network of participants who are focused on delivering an architecture for evolution and growth.

With development well underway, this Workshop will introduce developers to FOLIO. Get down and get dirty with the FOLIO team to:-

  • Work with your own Vagrant image through a series of exercises which will demonstrate how to install an app on the platform and use the data sources and design elements the platform provides.
  • Gain an understanding of the FOLIO platform, from the storage layer through the business logic to the user interface in the browser.
  • Learn how to build and deploy apps that interact with each one of these layers on the FOLIO platform.

Developers and testers need to efficiently discuss various topics such as issues, usage quirks, new features, and documentation improvements. Participants will also gain an understanding of the FOLIO communication spaces and how to use them, as the FOLIO project has four primary communication channels and several secondary communication channels.

Participants should have a genuine interest in creating an open future for libraries. In the workshop you will have a willingness to contribute via code, testing, and sharing functional knowledge in any area of library workflows.

Prerequisites:

  1. Familiarity with vagrant and virtualbox
  2. Able to execute commands in windows command prompt or linux terminal, e.g. curl, mvn, java
  3. Understanding of http protocol to execute JSON based RESTful requests
  4. IMPORTANT: Bring your own laptop and cables

You Must Register: attendance is free to Tech Camp delegates, but online registration is essential and numbers are strictly limited. First in, best dressed with only 25 spaces available.

What Else?

Drinks after! Yes, that’s right. The FOLIO Workshop Networking Hour, involving great company, good food and a drink or two – follows immediately after the Workshop, and is provided by the generous folk at EBSCO. Onsite at the bar, Level TBA, William Angliss Conference Centre – 5.00-6.00pm. Again, registration is essential - please indicate your attendance when you register for the workshop.


Workshop #2

AARNet - Data handling, network know-how & problem solving

AARNet is the VALA Tech Camp 2017 Tech Partner – which means nothing happens without them, including Day 0. We are chuffed that AARNet has also come on board to support our Workshop program, and will be offering some hands on for network speed testing and problem solving on data movement based on digitisation workflows.

Your Presenters: Ingrid Mason +1

Who Should Attend: those with some knowledge of or practice in digital collection management, digitisation, or research data management, and an interest in tools and techniques that support data and technology intensive workflows.

What You Must Do: before the Workshop, you’ll need to test the speed (download and upload) of the broadband connections at home, at work or on the go with a speed test tool provided locally e.g. iinet, Telstra, Optus and record the device used, e.g. laptop or desktop computer, phone or tablet. We’ll send more instructions about this nearer to the event.

You Must Register: attendance is free to Tech Camp delegates, but online registration is essential and numbers are strictly limited. First in, best dressed with only 25 spaces available.


Diversity Scholarship applications now open 

Applications are invited from across Australia for the first VALA Diversity Scholarship, generously sponsored by Linux Australia. The Scholarship will fund one individual’s attendance at VALA Tech Camp 2017, in Melbourne, between 12-14 July.

 CLICK HERE for more details about the Diversity Scholarship and to submit an application.


Registrations Are Open 

Sign up, sign up! Registrations are now open for VALA Tech Camp 2017.

VALA – Libraries, Technology and the Future, Inc, together with our Tech Partner, AARNet, invites you to the inaugural Australian gathering of technologists who work for and with libraries, galleries, archives and museums. Prepare for an intensive, active, hands-on learning and sharing experience run for and by the people who code, build, teach and maintain technology for libraries and collections.

 CLICK HERE to download the Program


TeCTOC – meet the people behind VALA Tech Camp 2017 

Meet your Camp Leaders

This awesome bunch of great people with serious tech cred are your Tech Camp Organising Committee (or TeCTOC for short). Be very nice to them when you meet them, they are very tired volunteers….

Team Captain, Hugh Rundle, is Library Systems and Resources Coordinator at Brimbank Libraries. He has worked in libraries since 2001 and been a VALA Committee member since 2014, serving as President in 2016. Hugh is excited about open access publishing and open source software, and believes that the library community should be doing more to protect user privacy and online security. In his spare time he makes stupid Twitter bots like @lib_papers and @recipe_trove, and useful ones like @AusGLAMblogs.

 

Co-Captain, Ebe Kartus, has worked in a number of library environments on both sides of the fence. She has been a cataloguer for over 25 years but has a secret desire to be a coder. She tries to play with geeky stuff whenever she can. Ebe is currently the Australian representative on the RDA Steering Committee. She believes we should be sharing data more and adding value to records for not only the Library community but also the cultural heritage community to utilize. Her next big resource description adventure (hopefully) will be with linked data.

 

Dr Ben Chadwick has worked as manager of the Schools Catalogue Information Service at Education Services Australia (ESA) in Melbourne since July 2014. His professional interests lie in educational metadata and linked data. Ben began at ESA in 2012 as a metadata analyst working on the linked-data Australian Education Vocabularies. His hobbies include recreational web programming and lawn-mowing.

 

Andrew Kelly is a library professional from Perth who has worked in both public and special libraries. He has spent the last few years earning a name for himself in the world of library makerspaces and 3D printing. You can find his alter-ego tweeting constantly under @edwardshaddow and blogging occasionally at https://shaddowland.net.

 

Jaye Weatherburn is a Digital Preservation Officer at the University of Melbourne. Jaye enjoys delving into the human and technical challenges associated with keeping digital materials, most recently within the realms of research data management and digital archives. She is passionate about open access publishing and web archiving, and yearns to one day be a masterful coding guru helping develop creative solutions to wicked problems.

 

AARNet - Technology sponsor for the inaugural VALA Tech Camp 

VALA is thrilled to welcome AARNet as the principal partner and Tech Sponsor of VALA Tech Camp 2017.

A mission AARNet shares with the VALA GLAM IT crowd is to enable the take up of new technologies in research, education and culture. AARNet (Australia’s Academic Research and Education Network) delivers a high speed network to universities, cultural institutions, schools and hospitals, that is linked into the world’s research and education networks. AARNet supports education across the life-long learning spectrum and research across diverse disciplines by providing tools and services that enable knowledge creation and innovation, and is delighted to be the technology sponsor for the inaugural VALA Tech Camp.


Sponsorship Prospectus 

The VALA Tech Camp sponsorship prospectus is now available. 

VALA is seeking tech-savvy partners and sponsors to aid in the delivery of Tech Camp 2017. This is your opportunity to position your brand alongside one of the most trusted professional library technology networks in Australia. With 40 years’ experience and 18 successful national conferences behind us, the VALA brand has both reputation and visibility with technologists in the GLAM sector.

 CLICK HERE to download the prospectus


Call for Ideas

Right now, we want input from VALA Members about the things you want to hear, learn and experience at VALA Tech Camp.

  • Is there someone whose projects you want to understand?
  • A technology you want to learn more about?
  • A workshop topic you'd love to attend?
  • A concept you want to explore or a tool you want to share?

Send us your ideas, and we'll do the rest.

Complete the Call for Ideas form by Monday 5th December and help shape VALA Tech Camp 2017. 


Welcome to VALA Tech Camp 2017

VALA Tech Camp 2017 will be the inaugural Australian gathering of technologists who work for and with libraries, galleries, archives and museums.

Comprising 60 minute workshops, 15 minute short talks and a 'make and hack' day, Tech Camp 2017 will be an intensive, active, hands-on learning and sharing experience for everyone who codes for libraries.

We’ve set affordable registration fees (VALA members $295, Non-members $395) and will be working closely with the VALA community to build a program that reflects your needs.

Mark your diaries and come Tech Camping in 2017.

Hugh Rundle and Ebe Kartus
Camp Leaders
VALA Tech Camp 2017



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