Welcome to Nexus, St.Joseph's College of Engineering and Technology

Students Program FOSS Clubs
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Welcome to The Nexus Project, a vibrant ecosystem of free and open-source software enthusiasts. As a collective of FOSS-related clubs, we unite under one initiative: to foster a thriving open source community!

Nexus SJCET was first formed by open source contributor and prolific developer, Abraham Reji. We hope to revive Nexus into a thriving open source community in his memory and for the continued growth of FOSS culture in our campus.

Hackathons are the lifeblood of any thriving tech community, and Nexus is no exception. We aim to develop a skilled base of contributors and various new opensource projects through hackathons(in addition to workshops, of course). We will go into greater detail on how we hope to achieve this in the following posts under this thread.

We are not just a coding collective; we are a movement. For us, open-source is more than a development model—it’s a philosophy that permeates every aspect of our lives.

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Our Core Team

We are starting out with a small core team of

myself
1 colead
1 technologist
1 marketeer
1 designer
& 2 others

This is due to both the timing in which our club was formed, and our goal of keeping the core team small and efficient, with a main focus on recruiting skilled individuals from our campus. This team will no doubt grow with time as we conduct hackathons and events.

We believe each person has a unique perspective to offer in the team, and as such help the operations of the team in any way they can.

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Our First Event - FOSSDAY

We’re hosting FOSSDAY, the debut event of The Nexus Project at St. Joseph’s College of Engineering and Technology. The day is split into two parts: talks and activities in the forenoon, and parallel workshops in the afternoon.

Forenoon:

  • Intro to FOSS, a talk on why FOSS is important and how to contribute.
  • Tribute to Abraham Raji, an open-source advocate from our college
  • Software Launch showcasing student-developed projects
  • Networking opportunities with peers and professionals

Afternoon:

  • Intro to Git & GitHub workshop
  • Intro to Docker & DevOps workshop
  • Debian Installation Party

We’re conducting the event on the 9th of November this year due to the timing of exams being conducted within our campus.

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FOSSDay 2024: Event Summary

Overview

FOSSDay 2024 was a landmark event at St. Joseph’s College of Engineering and Technology, marking the official launch of Nexus, a new FOSS club inspired by the late Abraham Raji. Raji, a passionate advocate of Free Software, left a legacy that champions openness, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. FOSSDay 2024 embraced these values, bringing together students, educators, and tech enthusiasts for a day dedicated to open-source culture, community building, and skill development.

Inauguration Highlights

The event began with a powerful speech from Prof. Sarju S, who recounted the journey of Nexus and the lasting impact of Abraham Raji on the college’s open-source community. He emphasized how Raji’s vision of curiosity-driven learning and mentorship became foundational pillars of Nexus. The college manager, Rev. Fr. Mathew Korampuzha, followed with reflections on the ethos of “free” in free software, highlighting the dedication of contributors who make this software possible. Fr. Mathew underscored the importance of gratitude and responsibility within the open-source community, encouraging attendees to build software with care and respect.

Abid Aboobaker from Tinkerhub gave an inspiring talk on the significance of FOSS communities and the unique learning opportunities they offer, from real-world problem-solving to skill-building. Abid and Subin Siby (Kochi FOSS) led a symbolic inauguration of Nexus through a live GitHub pull request, transforming the traditional ceremony into a real-time display of collaborative coding. This unique kickoff underscored the open-source values of community and shared development.

Featured Talks

The event included a series of insightful talks:

  1. Subin Siby (Kochi FOSS) - Presented “Swathantra Software,” discussing the philosophical and practical values of free software. Subin highlighted the importance of digital rights and user empowerment, drawing connections to real-world impacts of software freedom and how young developers can contribute to this movement.
  2. Panel on Prav App - Founders Ambady Anand S and Badri Sunderarajan shared the journey of developing Prav, a privacy-centered application rooted in FOSS principles. The discussion covered user privacy, ethical development, and how to balance functionality with security.
  3. Govind on “Entropix” - Explored cutting-edge AI optimization, showcasing how minor adjustments can lead to significant performance gains. Govind’s talk highlighted the power of open-source collaboration in accelerating innovation across the AI community.

Project Showcases

FOSSDay 2024 also featured standout projects by students that demonstrated the potential of open-source innovation:

  • Milan Suman & Goutham Sreeram SB: Showcased a custom web browser built from the ground up with a focus on developer-friendly tools and privacy. This browser integrates AI capabilities that run locally, ensuring data privacy while offering powerful assistive features for developers and general users.
  • Aibel Bin Zacaria: Presented his research on brain-computer interfacing, highlighting how brain signals can be converted into computer commands. His live demonstration captivated the audience, illustrating both the current capabilities and the exciting potential applications in assistive technology.

Workshops

A set of afternoon workshops provided hands-on learning experiences for participants of all skill levels:

  • DevOps & CI/CD with GitHub Actions (Alwin John, Frontend Engineer and GitHub Campus Expert): Alwin guided attendees through GitHub Actions setup and usage, emphasizing its automation power for modern CI/CD workflows. Participants learned practical skills to implement CI/CD in their projects, earning positive feedback for the session’s clarity and applicability.
  • 3D Web Development with Three.js (Sanu K. Joseph): Sanu introduced participants to 3D elements in web design, covering key concepts of Three.js like scenes, cameras, lighting, and interactivity. His accessible approach equipped attendees to explore 3D development in web projects.
  • Intro to Git (Reenphy George): Designed for beginners, this workshop led attendees through Git basics, including creating repositories, forking, and essential commands like commit and push. This hands-on introduction demystified version control, preparing participants for future open-source contributions.
  • Docker & DevOps Basics (Advaith Narayanan): Advaith covered Docker’s fundamentals, from installation to container management, and introduced participants to CI/CD in DevOps. The session included a demonstration on creating a personal home server, inspiring attendees to experiment with Docker in their own environments.

Conclusion

FOSSDay 2024 was more than an event; it was a celebration of open-source values and the power of community. Honoring the memory of Abraham Raji, Nexus successfully created an inclusive space for learning and collaboration, uniting students and tech enthusiasts under a common mission of fostering open-source culture. With overwhelmingly positive feedback, FOSSDay 2024 laid a solid foundation for Nexus to continue Raji’s legacy and inspire future generations at St. Joseph’s College of Engineering and Technology.

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Season of Commits 2025

Starting on the 6th of January, 2025, we are conducting a month-long event called Season of Commits, inspired by Hacktoberfest. This initiative is being organized in collaboration with FOSS MITS, FOSS MEC, FOSS TKMCE, and FOSS GEC Palakkad.

Season of Commits at SJCET will feature a curated list of Nexus projects as well as any new projects proposed by the students of SJCET. Participants include both project maintainers and contributors. The top contributor, judged based on the number and quality of their commits, will receive a cash prize of â‚ą2000 INR.

Through this event, we aim to:

  • Attract new talent to the various clubs of SJCET.
  • Enhance our presence in the open-source community.

Projects

1. The Nexus Website

The official website for The Nexus Project, serving as a hub for all activities and collaborations within the initiative.

2. Nexus Spaces

An AI-driven social media platform to discover skilled individuals within the campus, inspired by Sage from Buildspace.

We are intentionally starting with a small number of projects to ensure meaningful progress throughout the month. Additional projects will be added as they are proposed and approved.

We look forward to seeing impactful contributions from participants and growing our open-source community. Let’s make this a successful and collaborative event!

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