02:56:31 <mchua> #startmeeting
02:56:31 <zodbot> Meeting started Tue Nov  3 02:56:31 2009 UTC.  The chair is mchua. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot.
02:56:31 <zodbot> Useful Commands: #action #agreed #halp #info #idea #link #topic.
02:56:35 * mchua begins logs ;)
02:56:39 <harish_> aho, sitting in unisim and doing this chat via the web is the only way because these people are network nazis!
02:57:25 <aho_> haha...ok
02:57:47 <harish_> so, for the record, i am using webchat.freenode.net via the browser
02:57:52 <aho_> I have some updates with regards to the attendees and I need a final confirmation on what is needed in terms of terminal
02:58:14 <harish_> i have a request from malaysia - actually two.  can we accomodate them?
02:58:24 <harish_> aho - see my forwarded email on one person.
02:59:30 <mchua> I have no objections, though I'd like the info on students asap
02:59:42 <mchua> (the survey info)
02:59:45 <aho_> can they share room?
03:00:01 <aho_> China has not gotten back on me for the full list
03:00:09 <aho_> can we do the survey on the first day?
03:00:32 <aho_> I having the feeling that it will all comes down to do pre-work on the first day
03:01:16 <aho_> as for the Malaysia side...
03:01:32 <aho_> are they from the same school?
03:01:45 <aho_> My budget is almost up for the accommodation
03:02:07 <aho_> is there anywhere I can get the budget topup?
03:02:49 <harish_> aho no, they are from different schools and different sexes as well :-).
03:06:16 <harish_> are we on?
03:06:21 <aho_> ya...
03:06:34 <aho_> do you have budget?
03:06:45 <harish_> i don't.
03:06:46 <aho_> I just need SGD 1000
03:06:51 <harish_> comm-arch doesn't as well.
03:06:54 <harish_> hmm.
03:07:06 <harish_> about 750usd
03:07:12 <aho_> yup
03:07:14 <harish_> let me ping max
03:07:41 <aho_> the issue is I have overspent...and I trying to get it within...
03:07:50 <aho_> China might have a few more lecturers
03:08:10 <mchua> Can late registrants pay their own way?
03:09:45 <harish_> just sent a note to max
03:09:49 <harish_> you both are cc'ed
03:09:52 <mchua> he's on irc as well now
03:09:56 <mchua> spevack
03:10:08 <aho_> let's ask him now and make the decision
03:11:06 <harish_> mchua: get max here if he can
03:11:39 * mchua pings max
03:14:49 * mchua waiting....
03:15:03 <mchua> in the meantime, what other details do we need to square away?
03:15:20 <spevack> hey all
03:15:29 <harish_> who is teaching which topic
03:15:33 <mchua> hey, spevack! Thanks for dropping by.
03:15:34 <harish_> spevack: hey!
03:15:40 <mchua> harish_: Yep.
03:15:40 <spevack> hi harish, hi everyone!
03:15:53 * mchua waits for aho_ and harish_ to ask spevack what they need to ask, queues up other topics
03:16:31 <aho_> sorry
03:16:42 <harish_> spevack: sent you an email about funding of about S$1000 (about US$750) for posse.  marketing short by that amout.  right aho?
03:16:51 <aho_> yeah
03:16:53 <spevack> that's no problem at all
03:17:04 <spevack> harish_: you can just bundle it in with the other APAC costs to 709?
03:17:10 <aho_> we seems to have too many lecturers coming
03:17:27 <harish_> ok that sounds doable
03:17:35 <spevack> and I'd like to thank both of you -- aho_ and harish_ -- for all of the work you guys are doing to organize.  I hope that you and mchua have a great POSSE next week!
03:17:41 <harish_> potentially we have oversold posse
03:17:41 <spevack> is there any more press coverage being planned?
03:17:50 <spevack> harish_: that's not necessarily a bad problem :)
03:18:03 <harish_> alolita is supposed to be doing something
03:18:11 <harish_> spevack: yes, a happy problem
03:19:23 <harish_> aho, so we have the additional S$1k.
03:19:46 <aho_> great...how do I get it?
03:19:56 <spevack> please give my best to alolita if she is there!
03:20:11 <harish_> will do
03:20:21 <harish_> i think she will be online rather than in person
03:21:24 <aho_> just reading this
03:21:34 <spevack> aho_: you guys can just charge that S$1k to my cost center -- Harish is making another payment to a Fedora Ambassador and has some expenses in Malaysia that will also go to my cost center, so we can include it in those transactions, i think
03:21:44 <spevack> harish_: tuan is emailing me every day -- I'm trying to get him to be patient :)
03:22:28 <harish_> spevack: yes, i know.  i have pinged finance on how best to do this as the receipts are not in my name.  let me ping them again.
03:22:29 <harish_> should not be a problem per se.
03:22:33 <aho_> ok...then we will confirm the 2 malaysian
03:22:45 <aho_> Harish, your email only have one address..
03:22:49 <harish_> aho_: great.
03:22:50 <aho_> do u have the other one
03:22:53 <aho_> ?
03:23:04 <spevack> harish_: do you want me to write an email explaining it that you can use?
03:23:17 <spevack> actually, i guess you could use the ones i've already sent
03:23:32 <harish_> aho_: yes, i don't have it with me right now.  she is with Monash in Malaysia.  I sent you an SMS some time ago.
03:23:59 <harish_> i don't have her business card with me right now.
03:24:05 <aho_> I need the email for approval to get the SGD 1k
03:24:17 <aho_> Harish: the facilities
03:24:22 <harish_> spevack: a note will help
03:24:31 <aho_> if they come in without any laptop, they can use the lab
03:24:39 <spevack> aho_: i will write up a note for the S$1k and another for harish_ for our other Fedora stuff
03:24:44 <harish_> aho_: ok
03:24:55 <harish_> spevack: ok
03:25:04 <aho_> but the issue is you might have to get them to install what u need on the first day
03:25:57 <harish_> aho_: we will ask them to back up stuff if they need their windoze
03:26:45 <aho_> most of the attendees are from non-english speaking country
03:27:00 <aho_> will need you and Mel to speak slowly ;)
03:27:18 <harish_> aho_: not an issue
03:27:24 * mchua will try to remember that
03:27:37 <harish_> i    w i l l   s p e a k    s l o w l y
03:27:42 <aho_> haha...
03:27:52 <aho_> so, the count we are looking at is
03:27:55 <aho_> 20 from China
03:28:00 <aho_> 2 from Korea
03:28:05 <aho_> 2 from Malaysia
03:28:11 <aho_> 5 from SIngapore
03:28:25 <aho_> about 60% are confirmed
03:28:32 <spevack> wow!
03:28:39 <harish_> none from india, indonesia?
03:29:17 <aho_> India we tried....they said we told them too late
03:29:27 <aho_> Indonesia, nope
03:29:30 <harish_> aho_: ok
03:30:14 <harish_> so almot 30 people with 60% confirmed. still outstanding numbers.
03:30:22 <harish_> pressure mounts to make this a success
03:30:47 <aho_> I having a nightmare on accommodation...
03:30:56 <aho_> but I think it is a good problem
03:31:36 <harish_> :-)
03:32:14 <mchua> aho_: how many of the confirmed people do we have survey data and a POSSE pledge from?
03:32:36 <aho_> none...
03:32:43 <mchua> aho_: when will we get them? ;)
03:32:54 <aho_> haha...pulling my hair out
03:32:59 <mchua> :)
03:33:06 <mchua> If we get them on the posse-apac mailing list, I can help nag...
03:33:25 <aho_> the problem is the chinese...we will not be able to reach them directly now
03:33:29 <mchua> aho_: that's actually something we should do asap - get them all onto the same discussion mailing list, and posse-apac works...
03:33:32 <mchua> aho_: how's that?
03:33:40 <mchua> aho_: they can't subscribe to mailing lists?
03:33:47 <aho_> Chinese will have communication problem
03:33:50 <harish_> aho_: that should not be a problem per se.
03:34:09 <mchua> aho_: language barrier wise, or something else?
03:35:00 <aho_> language
03:36:24 <aho_> We have Red Hat China coordinating this
03:36:36 <mchua> aho_: What can we do to make things go smoothly for the Chinese lecturers?
03:36:48 <aho_> face-to-face
03:37:06 <aho_> It is pretty tough to communicate with the Chinese on email
03:37:20 <aho_> The Korea are fine writing, but speaking it might be an issue
03:38:41 <mchua> harish_: we may need to be highly improvisational with the curriculum :)
03:38:55 <harish_> gotta disconnect.
03:38:57 <mchua> aho_: Is there one way you think we can reach everyone at once, or will we always have to do a double channel - voice and text?
03:38:57 <harish_> moving rooms
03:39:02 <harish_> will reconnect
03:39:12 * mchua wants to figure out three things tonight, for the record
03:39:16 <mchua> 1) with harish: who's teaching what
03:39:30 <mchua> 2) with aho: how to get in touch / get info from lecturers before the start date
03:39:38 <mchua> 3) if we're missing any other big moving pieces before next week
03:40:01 <mchua> (In particular, I suspect #3 will include "are all the lecturers set up with computers?" and "where can we get VMs?")
03:40:28 <aho_> do bear in mind that it is not easy for the Chinese to travel out of the country, especially for government employees
03:40:28 <mchua> aho_: while harish_ is moving rooms, what are your thoughts on the "communicate with lecturers" front?
03:40:32 * mchua nods
03:40:49 <aho_> so...the reason for coming to POSSE might not be as clear as what we thought
03:41:01 <aho_> and with that we do need to handle it by ear
03:41:24 <aho_> The services manager from China will join on the first day
03:41:50 <aho_> with regards to communication, he said english is fine
03:42:02 <aho_> but you have to speak s  l  o  w  l  y
03:43:10 <mchua> aho_: Will speak slowly, no worries.
03:43:37 <mchua> aho_: I'm from the Philippines, and the 3 generations of my family there have 3 different preferred languages, so I'm in some ways kind of used to this.
03:45:36 <aho_> sure :)
03:46:04 <aho_> I have prepared refreshment for the morning break
03:46:19 <mchua> Yay, food!
03:46:26 <aho_> The school visits will be on Tuesday at Nangyang Polytechnic
03:46:45 <aho_> as for the thursday....I'm not sure where to go
03:47:06 <aho_> Can't go to an university, but we can go over to another polytechnic
03:47:16 <mchua> aho_: As a backup, if we can't visit a physical school, we can always visit Fedora Classroom on IRC - I can probably get someone to run a class there on short notice.
03:47:43 <mchua> So they can get an idea of how we teach each other even if we can't meet face to face all the time.
03:49:18 <mchua> aho_: Aside from the Chinese lecturers, do you think everyone else will probably be ok on the mailing list?
03:49:34 <aho_> Ya...I think the malaysian will be ok
03:49:43 <aho_> The korean, we only get a confirmation tomorrow
03:50:22 <mchua> aho_: Can we get them on the posse-apac list so we can start giving them information about what's going on?
03:51:40 <aho_> ok...can you point me to how they can subscrible?
03:51:48 <mchua> sure, I'll find the link now
03:51:55 <aho_> btw, if they don't attend, can people subscribe?
03:52:07 <mchua> aho_: http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/posse-apac
03:52:11 <mchua> aho_: They certainly can.
03:52:13 <mchua> aho_: the mailing list is open
03:53:05 * mchua updates http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE_APAC#Follow_POSSE_APAC with the same
03:53:08 <mchua> #link http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE_APAC#Follow_POSSE_APAC
03:53:11 <mchua> (for meetbot)
03:53:41 <aho_> Just got an update from China...it seems like it is 10 now...this is too exciting
03:53:45 <mchua> wow!
03:54:08 <mchua> aho_: if we have the information from http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE_Pre-event_Survey for each lecturer, I can also add them all to the mailing list so they don't have to take the trouble to subscribe themselves.
03:54:44 <mchua> aho_: the information on that survey, and agreement to http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE_Pledge, and the availability of a computer to work on, are the three things I'm looking for from each lecturer before the weekend
03:55:19 <aho_> ok...
03:59:26 <aho_> will you be able to tell who when they subscribe?
04:00:25 <mchua> aho_: Yep.
04:00:39 <aho_> ok...I will send the email out now
04:00:43 <aho_> is there anything else
04:00:51 <aho_> I need to confirm the list asap...
04:01:01 <mchua> aho_: The mailing list will let us reach all the lecturers except for the Chinese ones - how can we reach the Chinese ones?
04:01:09 <aho_> I will send to all
04:01:14 <mchua> aho_: would the mailing list work if I could get the messages translated into simplified chinese?
04:02:13 <aho_> I think we can stay with that now
04:02:55 <mchua> aho_: Ok, just the mailing list, and English? Or should we be looking for a translator?
04:03:09 <aho_> English for now
04:03:17 <mchua> Ok.
04:03:31 <mchua> aho_: also, when do you think we'll have the final list of lecturers in, and the http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/POSSE_Pre-event_Survey info from them?
04:03:47 <mchua> Harish and I can improvise a lot, but the more we know about our students the better we can prepare.
04:04:46 <aho_> understand...
04:04:52 <aho_> This is the first time
04:05:05 <aho_> I think we will need to also identify what works and what not
04:06:59 <mchua> aho_: Yep.
04:07:08 <mchua> aho_: Do we have time on Friday afternoon for us to sit down and do a debrief?
04:07:13 <mchua> (will everyone still be conscious? ;)
04:07:49 <aho_> yes yes
04:07:50 <aho_> we can
04:07:52 <mchua> aho_: My plane leaves Saturday, so that's the only chance we'll have to sit down in person - though I'll be in the Philippines immediately afterwards and we can finish some things up remotely too.
04:08:08 <mchua> Ok - we'll be nice to ourselves and have a good dinner and such too. :)
04:08:11 <aho_> When will yo arrive in SGP?
04:08:31 <aho_> u have my contact?..from my email
04:08:53 * mchua checks
04:09:35 <aho_> Oh...I got your flight details
04:10:23 <aho_> give me a call on Sunday morning if you are not suffering from Jetlag
04:10:35 <aho_> we meet up for dinner
04:11:17 <mchua> aho_: I'm usually pretty chipper, so will do.
04:11:37 <aho_> haha...yeah
04:11:43 <mchua> aho_: do you think I should get a sim card or somesuch so I can have cell phone access for the week? would that be helpful?
04:11:58 <aho_> ya...that will really be helpful
04:12:06 <aho_> I will be in an out of the class...
04:12:26 <aho_> You might need to contact me during the week if I happen not to be there
04:12:32 <mchua> aho_: Ok. Can you get those at the airport, or... should we make plans to meet for a (late) breakfast and then that's the first thing I can get?
04:12:58 <mchua> aho_: I'll also be on IRC whenever I have wifi access (which means whenever we're in the classroom, I'll be in this channel) if that helps
04:13:26 <mchua> aho_: ...actually, yeah, I might have to get the SIM card sunday morning, unless there's a place to buy them saturday at midnight :)
04:13:32 <aho_> yes...you can get it at the airport
04:14:11 <aho_> you can get it at the counter...
04:14:17 <mchua> at midnight?
04:14:41 <mchua> aho_: we can also set a time/place to meet on Sunday to make sure we get to touch base regardless of whether I can get a SIM card or not :)
04:14:54 <mchua> though the first thing I plan on doing at the hotel is getting internet access in my room, too.
04:15:11 <aho_> Will meet at your hotel lobby at 6.30
04:15:16 <aho_> pm
04:15:24 <aho_> that is a happening area
04:15:33 <aho_> you will enjoy the nightlife
04:16:20 <mchua> aho_: I should be un-jetlagged by then :) Sounds good, thanks!
04:16:41 * mchua probably won't have any time to enjoy the nightlife - and generally just walks quietly through the streets of new cities late at night - but that sounds good, more people to watch :)
04:17:01 * mchua puts that on calendar
04:17:22 <aho_> it is by the river...
04:18:14 <aho_> ok..
04:18:36 <aho_> I need to go now
04:18:42 <aho_> there is a SGP office meeting
04:19:02 <mchua> aho_: gotcha. I think with the lecturers on the list, and I can ask them about the survey questions on the list, we'll be ok
04:19:40 <mchua> aho_: I'll continuously be in this channel and on the mailing list between now and Friday when I fly out, so we can work things out there and if we need to meet again, we'll figure something out
04:19:48 <mchua> aho_: if you see harish, ask him when he'll be back online :)
04:19:50 <mchua> aho_: thanks!
05:50:08 <mchua> #endmeeting