Currently running at about half yesterdays temperature here in Christchurch... The quality of the weather might be fluctuating but the quality of the presentations is as high as ever!

A beautiful day in Christchurch... one attendee claims the temperature has hit 39^o Not so sure about that but yes, it is pretty warm... warm enough to cause stress and stress does funny things to people with Type 1 diabetes so what better way to start the day with a keynote speech from Dana Lewis from The Open Artificial Pancreas System Project.

I spent most of today in the Security Miniconf stream LCA2019... I don't know if I should be happy or sad about the fact that nearly 40 years after I started my IT career we are still struggling with security as a concept... On the happy side my skills and experience are still valid but on the sad side, really? 40 years on and we are still can't get it right??

Actually it's day two of LCA2019 here in sunny Christchurch... I broke my password on day one :-(

For those of you unaware of what this is all about the details are at https://linux.conf.au/ . I have enjoyed catching up with some familiar faces along with meeting some not so familiar ones. 

... in the UK in this case, but the advice could be just as relevant here. The Register has some advice for the new British Cabinet Secretary on what should be done based mainly on input to a Digital Government inquiry run by the Science and Technology Committee.

After a bit of work* we now have an operational website again... So step one of the journey has been completed.

Drupal has matured over the years, which is great to see, but with maturity comes complexity... it's happened before and it will happen again. In this particular case it's a bit more complex than we need it to be so we are looking at getting something lighter and nimbler... and perhaps not as mature... as in having to hand roll themes and so forth.

Anyway, we have a bit of breathing room now so on we go!

Welcome to Spring!

The year’s flown by. As part of a number of conversations the Council has been having recently about being more transparent and communicative, we’ve decided to start openly publishing the decisions and actions that come out of each Council meeting.

Our reasons are multiple, and mirror some of the primary principles behind open government:

We are pleased to announce our new NZOSS Council - there are seven of us, with one new, and one returning, councillor!

Our new councillor is aimee whitcroft, based in Wellington, who has a strong background in Open Gov't, Open Data, and generally working in and around software. She brings the valuable skills of hyper-literacy, technical savvy, great organisational skills, and bountiful constructive energy.

You are only as free as the tools you use. This notion articulates a key challenge of our times. We are surrounded by tech, it permeates our work, play and homes.

Today, 18 national technology sector communities are launching our 2017 Tech Manifesto.

The goal of this collectively composed manifesto is to guide party policy in the technical area going into the 2017 national election. It represents the united front of our many NZ-wide technology-focused communities and is, we trust, an informative and compelling read for any prospective leaders of NZ.