Re: Turkiye KDE Akademy and Gnome Guadec 2011 Application Proposal

[Işıl Poyraz <isil pardus org tr>]

Hi Stormy,

you can find our answers to your specific questions. I hope these answers
are detailed enough for now.


* Why do you want to host the Desktop Summit?

Pardus is a distribution which use KDE, but we also support most of the
GNOME packages. Because of this active use of these desktop environment we
want to support each kind of work to develop all studies. We can list the
main reason of Turkey's intention to host the event in Turkey as the
following way;

1. to increase the awareness of the free software in Turkey
2. to reveal the free software usage and development potential in Turkey
and create the needed ecosystem (developers, communities…)
3. to ensure the information transfer which will contribute to developing
KDE and GNOME based on the user and developer experience of Pardus project
on desktop environments
4. to create opportunities for international interoperability on desktop
environments
5.  to ensure awareness of Turkish opensource community and Pardus project
in international free software studies.


* Can you give us more detail on the local volunteer team? The success of
the conference is dependent on the team. We would like to know who the
volunteers are, how are they connected to GNOME or KDE, and what they
expect to do.

Pardus project has a great user and developer community who are always
being in contact over developer portal developer.pardus.org.tr and
community portal www.ozgurlukicin.com. During Pardus development and
dissemination life cycle, the community support takes an important role.
Whole members of these communities also represent both Pardus project and
KDE, at national and international events. Because of this, Pardus
communities have important experience in organizing the events from
beginning to the end.

Also national universities’ computer science engineering departments
and students partners at universities will be important stakeholders and
beneficiaries of whole events.

During the events these volunteers will be assigned to organize the
events. From the welcome the visitors to work shops they will be
responsible to ensure restoring the order.

* How close are the hotels to the venue?

Istanbul has many different kind of hotel opportunities for our guests.
Taksim, is the center of the city, is the most favorable place to stay
because of the live night life, especially weekend. And the hotels which
we will offer to our guests are around the city center and these hotels
are 15-30 minutes far from the venue depends on the traffic.

* Do you have plans to host or arrange a local tour? Or can it be arranged?

Absolutely yes, The municipality of Istanbul will be the most important
supporter of local transportation during the events, at the same time the
local transportation company will be the sponsor of this events. And we
will arrange cultural tour including historical sites and Bosphorus.


* Do you have rooms available for meetings. For example, we usually have
board meetings, BOFs, etc. Each type of meeting has its own requirements.

The convention centers which we mentioned in the proposal, has many
different kind of opportunities for meetings. As we mentioned at proposal,
Lutfi Kirdar Convention Center has 50- person board meeting room and
Golden Horn Congress & Cultural Center has 110- person board meeting room.
According to the number of attendees, one of these venue alternatives will
be chosen for events. Also technical equipments that necessary for these
meetings will be provided during events.

* What low cost lodging facilities are available?

Istanbul is a very touristic city, that’s why there are lots of
hotels and  because of the various price range, cost of lodging facilities
is quite appropriate for visitors. At the same time organization community
will
contract with some hotels for some discount. The approximate cost is 30-70
Euro for comfortable accommodation.


* Is there internet service at the venue?

During the events 7/24 internet service will be provided. The visitors
will benefit from continuous and unlimited use of internet facilities
during the events as wireless, wifi, 3G and cabled.

 * What's the biggest group you've ever set up wifi for? Wifi usually ends
up being an issue at large conferences like these.

Wifi technology is commonly used to access the internet for that kinds of
organizations. In Istanbul, especially in shopping center, cafes and
city center, you can see samples of common use of the wifi. This means that
hundreds of people can use the internet simultaneously without any
interruption.

And the same technology also can use during this event. All needed
equipments and infrastructure for internet accessibility will be provided
by the biggest internet access company in Turkey being as sponsor.


* How will the venue be financed?

Sponsorship is the best way of this. In Turkey, we can easily find the
sponsorship for transportation needs, technological devices and
infrastructures. TÜBITAK UEKAE and national foundations will contribute to
financing the venue expenses.

* How will you pick one of the two venues?

The location and compliance with the requirements of events will be the
main issue when choosing the venue. Both of these venues have the best
location and comfort to perform whole events.

TUBITAK UKEAE is a public institution and these kinds of events are planed
among the best and different choices due to procurement law. After
establishing all the conditions, the most appropriate alternative is
chosen according to the events requirements.


* Can you share a budget with us? In addition to the venue there are other
costs like banners, food, badges, etc.

These kind of activities and needs can also be met by sponsorship
agreement. Especially printing services, dining services, beverage services
and transportations shall be covered by sponsorships.


* Did you attend GUADEC 2008? Did you help? Will the same group of
volunteers be helping?

We have participated individually, not by whole team. But
the volunteers who took office at this event, are also Pardus community
members now and they have the organization abilities and knowledge thanks
to Pardus national and international events such as CEBIT, Linux
Foundations and Free Software Days...


* Are you working with the local GNOME and KDE communities?

Although Pardus has never take place at GNOME Foundations events yet,
Pardus project always supports the events and studies about KDE. Pardus
developers have been attending the KDE events for 3 years. And Pardus
project and community members are only active supporter of KDE in Turkey.


* Who is involved in the Pardus Project? Do they have a relationship with
GNOME, KDE, or free software?  Who are the local volunteers?

There are two main branches involved in the Pardus Project; Core developer
team of Pardus and external contributors. Gökmen Göksel, Gökçen Eraslan,
Ozan Çağlayan, H. İbrahim Güngör which are members of the core developer
team, are also KDE contributors. At the same time whole core and external
developers are supporter of the free software studies and KDE.


* Your bid says "2010 Akademy & GUADEC proposal"? That should be 2011. :)

Yes absolutely true :) 2011  Akademy & GUADEC proposal


I hope KDE EV Board and Gnome Foundations give us the chance to perform
this organization in Turkey - Istanbul.

Best regards,


-----------------------
Işıl Poyraz
TUBITAK UEKAE
Pardus Project Development