Exploring Free and
Open Source Software

"I had a wonderful time at Penguin Day Seattle. It was one of the best IT related conferences I've been to. I'm definitely in a position to help my current and future non-profits with MUCH needed tools. I thank y'all on their behalf. Keep up the good work and positive energy."
-- Steve Garrison, SolarBoy.org

At local Penguin Days non-profit organizations explore the range of issues and options involved using Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS).

Penguin Day started in Philadelphia in March 2004 by a working group of nonprofit technology organizations: Aspiration, NOSI and the LINC Project.  Established with the intent to bring together open source developers and technology support staff for nonprofits, the event began an important conversation about the challenges and opportunities we face.

Upcoming Penguin Days

Sign up for the Penguin Day mailing list (to the left) to stay informed about upcoming Penguin Days!

Penguin Day Chicago

The second-ever Penguin Day Chicago is being planned for Summer 2008.

Penguin Day Chicago is co-organized by Aspiration, NOSI, and Chicago Technology Cooperative.

Recent Penguin Days

Penguin Day New Orleans

Penguin Day New Orleans took place on March 22nd 2008 right after NTC. The event was generously sponsored by

Penguin Day New Orleans was co-organized by Aspiration, NOSI, Joomla!, PICnet, and Chicago Technology Cooperative.

Penguin Day Lowell

Penguin Day Lowell went down on June 22, 2007 in Lowell, Massachusetts. Check out the Penguin Day Lowell Agenda. Penguin Day Lowell was co-organized by Organizers Collaborative, Aspiration, and NOSI.

Penguin Day Austin

Penguin Day Austin took place on April 28, 2007 in Austin, TX. Details of what went down are at austinpenguinday.org. Also see the wiki and agenda for the event, and there was a social networking site set up for participants at crowdvine.com.

Penguin Day Austin was co-organized by Aspiration, EFF-Austin, Polycot, and Gmeta.

Penguin Day DC

Penguin Day DC took place on Saturday, April 7th, 2007 in Washington, DC, immediately following the NTC. Check out the excellent Penguin Day DC Agenda!

Penguin Day DC was organized by Aspiration, PICnet and NOSI.

Sign up for the Penguin Day mailing list (to the left) to stay informed about upcoming Penguin Days!

Penguin Day Seattle

Penguin Day Seattle took place on Saturday, March 25th, 2006. It was the biggest and best Penguin Day yet, with almost 90 participants joining in the fun to discuss Free and Open Source Software for nonprofits.

Penguin Day Seattle featured a packed agenda of interactive workshops, round tables, speakers, speed geeking sessions and more, in the spirit of growing a community. Check out the Penguin Day Seattle Agenda to see everything that went down!

Penguin Day took place right after the NTEN Non-Profit Technology Conference in Seattle. Penguin Day Seattle was organized by:

Penguin Day Portland

The inaugural Penguin Day San Francisco Bay Area tok place on April 12th, bringing nonprofit staff, eRiders, and open source practitioners and developers together for fun, dialog and skill-sharing.

Penguin Day Chicago

Following on the heels of the 2005 Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC), Penguin Day Chicago went down on March 26th, and was a serious success and a fun time for all!

Penguin Day Toronto

Penguin Day Toronto featured spirited discussion about how to bridge language and cultural gaps between open source developers and nonprofits, hands-on sessions on content management systems for organizations, real-life stories of nonprofits using open source tools, and another speed-geek -- a hilarious, fast-paced presentations of different software applications for non-profits.

The day resulted in tangible projects such a coalition of 'Penguin Doers' investigating building an open source client management application for social service organizations for intake and outcome measurement. See the wiki and event proceedings for complete information about the event.

And check out what others said leading up to the event, as well as the article Programmers Changing the World One Line of Code at a Time on canada.com.

London

An inaugural event, that took place in London on 15 September 2004 was very well received, attracting around 50 attendees who came to listen to and experience a selection of the 20 speakers and demonstrations.

More details can be found on the wiki. The organisers would like to thank all who took part, whether a speaker, demonstrator or attendee. The day had a very much peer-led feel and proved (to us) how well OSS and the VCS are matched. It was very encouraging to see at least 75% of attendees still there at the end of the day!

As part of the closing forum discussion it was generally agreed that:

• more of these events (large and small) were needed
• a set of resources should be investigated and collated
• that this one-off day should become something larger, ( a mobilising force for OSS in the VCS! )

The event was held the day before the London Circuit Rider Conference.

Penguin Day Portland

The first Portland Penguin Day was a success!

The purpose of Penguin Day was to bring together the community and share knowledge and experience, to form new relationships, and to explore the emerging world of open source software in the nonprofit sector.

The event took place at Free Geek, which has been pushing the envelope of open source software usage for four years. The recent efforts of their Collaborative Technologies project were highlighted with an emphasis on coordinating their efforts with partner organizations.

This was the first of many Portland Penguin Days. If you missed this one, please join the e-mail list so you will know about future events in advance.

Penguin Day Philadelphia

Penguin Day Philadelphia 2004 was a great success! The first-ever Penguin Day brought together over 100 free and open source software (F/OSS) developers and non-profit technologists for a day of learning and conversation. Check out the recently posted session materials and a F/OSS Landscape Map that was created by participants at the event.

In addition, check out pictures of the event taken by Danielle Hickie!