I’ve been fortunate enough to speak at the annual Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) Symposium in both 2009 and 2010, and I’m certainly hoping to be able to attend once again this year. The HFOSS Symposium brings together members of the developer, government, crisis response and academic communities to explore the many ways in which open source software provides benefits to society. If you have an interest in this space and the opportunity to attend, I’d highly recommend it.

The symposium will be held on March 9th in Dallas, TX, once again taking place as pre-conference activity of the annual Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) conference. The theme for this year’s symposium is “Think FOSS, Act Locally: HFOSS in the Local Community,” and panel discussions will include explorations of the role of HFOSS in local government,  K-12 education, and the non-profit sector. My colleague, Deborah Bryant, Public Sector Communities Manager for the Open Source Lab, will be chairing the panel on HFOSS in local government. The speakers include a fine mix of subject matter experts from government, industry, and the non-profit sector.

You’ll find registration open on the HFOSS Symposium 2011 site. Hope to see you there!