The Mozilla Firefox Open Source Conference – “OPEN SOURCE HACKATHON – WIDENING USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY” – will be at the Sunway Hotel and will be two days, Friday and Saturday, September 16 and 17, 2011.

By Popular Demand, confirmed dates to accommodate more participants are: Friday and Saturday, September 16 and 17, 2011.

For more information, please click on the official website of the event here http://www.hackathoncambodia2011.net/

Purpose of the workshop
The event is a specialized, exclusive session for local Open Sourcers – bloggers, coders, and designers who share the Open Source ethic – to attend before Bar Camp. Bar Camp has an increasingly business-oriented approach, which is great, but this session is a unique opportunity to learn about the relationship between Open Source and civil society issues, such as: protecting the Open Web from Internet censorship, the benefits of continuing to develop “indigenous” (Khmer) Open Source tools, and using web-based Open Source security tactics to improve data collection both for human rights groups, and in the business community. Bar Camp, which is in late October, will not have access to the Mozilla Firefox experts. This event is a special, exclusive opportunity to spend two days with these American experts.

What are they going to gain?
Better positioning for jobs. Participants will receive a certification for participating in the workshop, highlighting their new knowledge in Open Source Development, and awarded by Mozilla. Their new knowledge of these tools, and the very latest developments is key to their position in a competitive job market – they will have an advantage over those attending Bar Camp.

International networking. Participants will be able to network with key players from Mozilla Firefox from Silicon Valley, as well as from the Technology and Social Change Group (TASCHA) in Seattle – the two most important places in the work for IT professionals. They will also be able to network with each other, and with representatives from the local NGO and business communities.

Knowledge. The Open Web, and the development of Open Source Tools, are changing every day. This will be a “graduate school” for Open Source experts. It is a rare opportunity to have a representative from Mozilla Firefox come to Cambodia to lead a “hackathon” for two days. And participants will learn new skills necessary to get jobs as IT professionals in social network as well as online newspapers, and of course at all the NGOs and the IT private sector. They will learn details of the next generations of Firefox and Thunderbird, as well as security tools for encryption from Tactical Tech, etc.

Develop civil society. Maybe most important, participants will contribute to their own community: protecting the Open Web from Internet censorship, developing experimental tools for human rights portals like Sithi.org, and breathing more life into the Open Source Community in Cambodia.

Next activities
Those who are selected to be Mozilla Assistants for the workshop will have special access to the organizers, and will be able to participate in post-workshop design sessions on the Open Source Tools brainstormed at the workshop. Those will involve follow-up meetings to work on web tools like the new Open Development Cambodia platform, and Sithi.org.

Other information
Mozilla Foundation: http://www.mozilla.org/
Other Mozilla Open Source apps and projects: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/
Other Mozilla contributor countries in Asia: http://www.mozilla.org/contribute/local/asia.html
TASCHA: http://tascha.uw.edu/

This workshop has limited, So be the first to confirm your interest to Mr. SAM Sophal, Information System Officer, EWMI via 012 789836 or ssophal@ewmi-praj.org, he will arrange the invitation to you.