Iloilo IT Week 2008: Postponed

Iloilo City, Philippines. I have been informed by the Iloilo Federation for Information Technology (IFIT) that due to the calamity which hit the whole of Iloilo province and city the IFIT board has decided to postpone the I.T. Week scheduled on June 24 - 27, 2008 at Gaisano City Mall, Lapaz, Iloilo City.

They will inform us regarding the next schedule as soon as it is available.

In case you haven't heard about the typhoon "Frank" (International code name "FENGSHEN") hitting my city, take a look at this video:


For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

Joomla! Day Philippines

Joomla! Day Philippines is on its way!

Mark June 14, 2008 on your calendar. It's the 1st ever Joomla! Day in the Philippines.

The Philippines is set to witness the next biggest event for the month of June besides Independence Day. On June 14, 2008, Filipino webmasters and amateurs alike will converge at the Engineering Library and Computer Science Building, Velaquez Street, UP Campus, Diliman, Quezon City to liberate not just Filipinos but every single individual in cyberspace. The event is dubbed as Joomla! Day Philippines.

Since knowledge in computer technology assures individual a competitive edge in the 21st century, Joomla! Day Philippines is indeed as remarkable event for Filipinos as Independence Day (June 12). Joomla! is an award-winning free open source content management system (CMS) enabling professionals and amateurs to build and administer feature-rich, powerful web sites without having to have an extensive knowledge of web programming languages. It is designed to power simple personal homepages as well as complex corporate web applications.

Come June 14, 2008, Filipinos online will once again express its commitment to the free software movement with the holding of the first-ever Joomla! Day Philippines – a great opportunity to learn and network with other Joomla! users and developers in the country. The conference will be attended by representatives from the Joomla! Core Team and Working Group, representatives from non-governmental organizations, local government units, and the business sector. Joomla! Day Philippines is another good reason to celebrate freedom after Philippine Independence Day. Don't remove the Philippine flags just yet until June 14.

Personally, I will not be able to go. There's just no budget and time for this right now. But if I was to go, I think this will really be a great opportunity.

For more information, visit http://www.joomla.org.ph/

Philippine Open Source Summit

The Philippine Open Source Summit will be held from June 23-24, 2008 in Cebu, Philippines, with the theme “Understanding the Business Value of Open Source”. Continuity with the past -- Cebu ICT 2005 to 2007; and, moving strategically towards the future, this annual gathering of ICT local and global stakeholders shall henceforth be guided by the Cebu Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Industry Development Blueprint laid down at the 2nd Cebu ICT Strategy Summit of 2006.

The 2nd Cebu ICT Strategy Summit held in May 2006 was an “internal strategic planning retreat” among the key stakeholders of Cebu’s ICT industry, with the primary objective of mapping out the roadmap of Cebu’s ICT Industry from 2006 to 2011. It took on the theme “Defining the Tasks Ahead for a UnITed Cebu” as a testament to the sincere hope in the unifying power of a shared vision for ICT. The strategy summit aimed to “take stock of things” in order for Cebu stakeholders --- from the industry, academe, government, and non-government sectors --- to even more cohesively “pull the cart” in the same direction.

The Philippine Open Source Summit also seeks to further enhance the rapidly growing support for Open Source systems and software in Asia, which links the event to the thrusts of Cebu ICT 2005 and 2007. The Lead Organizers, the Local Implementing Partners, and, the Corporate Partners of the Philippine Open Source Summit shall strategically collaborate with their counterparts among the proponents of the Asia Open Source Conference & Showcase which is also scheduled to take place in Cebu in October 2008.

Summit Learning Objectives

Among many other concerns, through both the plenary and breakout sessions, the participants will find answers to the following vital questions --

• How can mainstream organizations best manage the selection, adoption, and management of Open Source software within their ICT strategies?
• How can Open Source software be integrated into existing ICT strategies for maximum return on investment?
• What are the business factors that are driving Open Source adoption across many markets and industries?
• What inhibitors exist to potentially limit the value of Open Source in conventional ICT strategies? How can IT organizations navigate around these challenges?
• What are the key selection criteria in evaluating Open Source software projects and vendors to maximize ROI and minimize risk? What markets will be most heavily impacted by Open Source software and when?
• How will Open Source software change the way commercial software vendors develop and support products in the future?
• Which Open Source products have the most significant impact today across markets and what trends can we expect within the next several years?

Target Participants

• Top Executives - CEOs, COOs, CIOs, CFOs of ICT companies involved with Open Source decisions from all industries;
• IT leaders and stakeholders from Government, Industry, Academe, and NGOs
• Senior Executives - VPs, Marketing Directors, Customer Service Managers, R&D Heads, Product Sales Directors and Managers, HR Directors of ICT corporations;
• Heads of applications and software infrastructure, integration and development managers, software project managers, technical architects, web technologists, application developers, database and data managers;
• Trainers, instructors and IT practitioners; systems integrators and resellers; and team leaders of ICT and IT-Enabled services firms; and,
• Independent software vendors and IT consultants

For more information, visit http://oss.ph/index.html