Kuzu Zangpo La
Hope you are doing well? We are quite excited about our first meeting on Saturday, 30th of November.
As mentioned in the previous mail, here is an update on the event details:
*Date:* 30th November, 2024 *Time:* 10:30 onwards(schedule 11am-12pm) *Venue:* Innovate Bhutan, YDF, Thimphu (*Open Map* https://osm.org/go/zr_Loe0aZ?layers=P&m=)
*SPEAKER SCHEDULE*
*Time*
*Speaker*
*Topic/Description*
11:00 AM
Phub Dorji (Nyingnor Data)
Welcome Speech
11:15 AM
Karma (CEO, Athang Pvt. Ltd)
Open-Source Journey in Bhutan
11:35 AM
Dragon Coders Pvt. Ltd.
10 Bugs We Encountered
11:50 AM
Mathew
Intro to FOSS everyday tool
12:00 PM
Networking session and chitchats.
For the event to go smoothly we request that everyone get seated by 10:45 am and the event would start at 11 am sharp.
*A Quick Recap on FOSS* (for new subscribers)
Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) is about creating and using technology that is open, adaptable, and accessible to everyone. The goal is to encourage Bhutanese communities to not only use software but also learn, contribute, and innovate. This meet-up will serve as the first step in building a FOSS community in Bhutan and provide us the space to learn about it more from one another.
We are quite happy to have our website live www.fossbhutan.bow.st, designed by Drawah Tech Space https://drawah.com/. We would slowly be updating it with all the exciting things.
If you want your friends to join the mailing list please forward them this link: https://mailman.fossbhutan.bow.st/postorius/lists/thimphu.fossbhutan.bow.st/
We would like to thank Dragon Coder Pvt. Ltd. for sponsoring the event.
Yay, let's meet tomorrow!
Best
Karan Urao FOSS Bhutan | Drawah Tech Space Thimphu, Bhutan
On Fri, 29 Nov 2024 16:31:39 +0600, Karan Bir Urao bt.karanurao@gmail.com said:
Kuzu Zangpo La Hope you are doing well? We are quite excited about our first meeting on Saturday, 30th of November.
As mentioned in the previous mail, here is an update on the event details:
Date: 30th November, 2024 Time: 10:30 onwards(schedule 11am-12pm) Venue: Innovate Bhutan, YDF, Thimphu (Open Map)
SPEAKER SCHEDULE
Time Speaker Topic/Description 11:00 AM Phub Dorji (Nyingnor Data) Welcome Speech 11:15 AM Karma (CEO, Athang Pvt. Ltd) Open-Source Journey in Bhutan 11:35 AM Dragon Coders Pvt. Ltd. 10 Bugs We Encountered 11:50 AM Mathew Intro to FOSS everyday tool 12:00 PM Networking session and chitchats.
KZ Karan, everyone,
It was such a privilege to be part of this. Here's a quick summary of my experience:
- We (barely) managed to keep time. I'd suggest we be excellent at this, as it's the fundamental breath of professional life. The speakers especially were very mindful of time, and this showed their respect and care for the organisers, and the people in the room. - The speakers spoke with care and wit. - Phub Dorji: (CEO, Nyingnor Data - https://nyingnor.com/ ) Gave us the national level picture - how our humble FOSS beginnings fits into a 7 generation national plan that is the GMC! It blew my mind. - Karma Dhendup: (CEO, Athang - https://athang.com) Gave us the story of FOSS in Bhutan in the early days of ICT infrastructure development. How FOSS avoided vendor lockin at exorbitant prices. This gave a picture of the commercial "value" of FOSS. Personally, I also noticed how Karma la has built an entire business around the FOSS ecosystem - Athang Private Ltd. https://athang.com/public/w/viewsubpage/20 Is a Red Hat certified training acadamy, among other things - it seems to me an excellent example of how FOSS can be used in a business model. - Dorji Lethro: (Ruby on Rails developer, Dragon Coders - https://dcpl.bt/) The only tech talk of the event, this was informative, as well as entertaining! I heard laughter and murmer in the room, which shows how the geek side of us all was tickled. We need more talks like this! Loved how it became more lively, once the language switched to Dzonkha. <3 - Mathew: (myself - Lead Software Architect at Gai - https://gai.co.in) Gave an overview of the infrastructure we use to self host for FOSS Bhutan community. I will send out a separate call to volunteer, but meanwhile, please join the conversation via XMPP chat on a suitable xmpp client.
xmpp:thimphu@muc.fossbhutan.bow.st?join
If you're on the fediverse, we're on @fossbhutan@fossbhutan.bow.st
After the scheduled meeting, we had a nice networking/informal session over tea and pakoras, where we had impromptu introductions. It was really nice to hear from Jeremie from the Ethereum Foundation - a firmware guy (https://github.com/sineer) now in the blockchain space running some hard core tech consulting (https://sineer.com/) - looking at connecting remote parts of Bhutan via directional commodity wireless - it's a type of project that I was marginally involved in in Dharamsala - and my current employer (https://gai.co.in) ran a Class C ISP in Dharamsala called "Vayudoot" (https://vayudoot.in/) inspired by the pioneers of this tech in Dharamsala, Airjaldi: https://web.archive.org/web/20130518033151/http://main.airjaldi.org/ https://news.microsoft.com/source/asia/features/fast-and-reliable-internet-c...
He alerted us about fantastic career opportunties in FOSS/Web3:
https://blog.ethereum.org/2024/11/16/announcing-ef-internship-program
https://web3.career/web3-companies/ethereum-foundation
Also had the privilege of meeting a home grown entrepreneur - Karma Tenzing of Pine labs (https://www.pine.bt/) - was excited to see the possibilities of a fintech business in the local market.
Thinley Dhendup from saidpiece (a boutique travel agency) was also on-stage later, introducing himself: https://www.saidpiece.com/blank-7 he seems to be the pointman for Jeremie's recce for WISP setup in rural Bhutan - a project I sincerely hope will take off. Reminds me of my friend Anish Mangal's efforts in Zanskar: https://medium.com/eka-foundation/en-meshed-in-la-la-land-part-1-34e0ce29ea1... https://medium.com/eka-foundation/things-i-learned-building-skynet-3033a4ce8...
I hope this was as interesting a meetup for you all, as it was for me.
Would not have happened without the (financial) support of Tech Godmother Leki Choden of Dragon Coders (https://dcpl.bt/) and the astute organisational and IT skills of Karan Urao (https://karanurao.com/about/) of Drawah Tech Space (https://www.drawah.com/)
And of course, everyone who came and participated. I hope to see more of this!
Gratefully,
On Sun, 01 Dec 2024 10:42:10 +0000, "Mathew Cherry G." cherry@backyardinnovations.co.uk said:
[...]
After the scheduled meeting, we had a nice networking/informal session over tea and pakoras, where we had impromptu introductions. It was really nice to hear from Jeremie from the Ethereum Foundation
Correction - I was made aware yesterday that Jeremie is not officially with the Ethereum Foundation. Apologies for the misattribution.
However, the opportunities mentioned are very useful, and I thought I should mention them!
Many Thanks,
-
Karan Bir Urao -
Mathew Cherry G. -
Mathew, Cherry G.