My name is Tooshar Bhardwaj and I’m a member of The FOSS Club DTC.
The event was called The Commit Theory and was conducted as a Knowledge Session.
- Event Description
The event was aimed at introducing students to FOSS culture and The FOSS Club and giving them an overview of the open-source ecosystem. The session began with the anchors introducing the attendees to The FOSS Club, followed by a diya lighting ceremony. The speakers then discussed Open Source Software, mentioning popular projects such as VLC and Codeberg, along with major Indian open-source contributions such as PyTorch and Calibre. The session then moved towards Git and GitHub, including how students can make their first open-source contribution. Apart from code based contributions, the speakers discussed about open data and how one can contribute to it. After the event, stickers were distributed to the attendees.
A short quiz was conducted after the Git and GitHub section, with the top five participants receiving goodies. OpenStreetMap (OSM) was also discussed, including its importance and its use in applications such as Swiggy. The session also covered Open Data and why making data accessible to everyone is important, particularly for people interested in Machine Learning. Towards the end, the speakers discussed Linux and its advantages, including security, flexibility and being lightweight. Many attendees approached the team afterwards to stay connected with the club.
- Speaker Details
The event was anchored by Aanya and Reeya, who introduced the audience to The FOSS Club and gave them a preview of what to expect from the event. The speakers were Sejal and Prakhar, who spoke about FOSS, Git, GitHub, OpenStreetMap (OSM), Open Data and Linux. All four participants were students and members of The FOSS Club DTC.
The speaker was not provided by FOSS United. The event was conducted in person, so there was no livestream or recording link.
Ente Link: Ente Photos
- Attendance
The event had an attendance of 200+ people. - What went well?
The crowd turnout was much higher than expected, with more than 200 attendees. Despite the unexpectedly large number of participants, the team was able to manage the crowd and execute the event smoothly. The attendees were interactive throughout the session and overall had a positive experience. - What could be improved?
There was some mismanagement due to college management, as a few attendees had classes or tests during the event and therefore joined late. In future events, the team would communicate the event schedule more clearly with the college management to avoid such conflicts. - Open source tools used
The team used ClassQuiz to conduct the quiz after the Git and GitHub section. They also used change-the-slide-for-me, developed by Prakhar. There were no major challenges in using either tool as both were relatively easy to set up and use. The quiz was particularly popular with the crowd, while many attendees also found the change-the-slide-for-me tool interesting and cool. - Potential future mentors/speakers
All four Aanya, Reeya, Sejal and Prakhar performed well during the event. The team would be interested in having all of them participate in future events as speakers or contributors. - Expenses
The event expenses were made for printing stickers, stationery, related materials and travel.
The event received a strong response, especially considering the unexpectedly high attendance. The interaction with attendees after the session also showed interest in staying connected with The FOSS Club DTC, making the event a useful opportunity for introducing new students to FOSS and the club.