Moving to Open Source Initiative

Today, I shut down the hosting service I was using for PRPIG.  So for a little bit until I get the connections all worked out, I had to revert back to the Blogspot address.  Don't worry, prpig.org will be back online soon, but it will not be with Blogger.

So until I can get the new web content up on the new web hosting, please bear with these changes as I sort out all the bugs....

Energy Commission is requesting comments on the newly proposed regulations for micro-grids

On the 4th of January, the Puerto Rico Energy Commission issued a proposal for the regulation of micro-grid power alternatives for the government of Puerto Rico, its' businesses, and citizens.

I bring this to your attention now, because they would like to hear from us! We have 30 days to submit our comments.  To catch up in English here's the latest, en Español aqui.

I can't begin to describe how important this is to the Puerto Rico FLOSS technology community, but don't waste time here. Go download the documents and start reading....

Ed: updated the title. It's the Energy Commission of Puerto Rico, not PREPA

October 2014 PRPIG Meeting

On October 16, the Puerto Rico Python Interest Group (PRPIG) will celebrate it's recent acceptance as an affiliate of the Open Source Initiative, with a new series of user group meeting cohosted within the University of Puerto Rico. PRPIG will be collaborating with respective campus student associations for computer science (AECC, initials in Spanish), to produce user group meetings for students. 

The user group meetings will feature introductory Python sessions by students and user group members. The October PRPIG meeting will be held at Universidad de Puerto Rico en Bayamón, #170 Carretera 174 Parque Industrial Minillas, in the Reception Hall at 7:00pm.

On November 20^th, PRPIG will collaborate with the UPR Rio Piedras chapter of the AECC to produce the “Puerto Rico Intellectual Property Summit.” The user group meeting will feature sessions from the UPR Law Clinic, Startups of Puerto Rico, and Ferraiuoli LLC. Sessions anticipated include the Puerto Rico implementation of Creative Commons 3.0, intellectual property protection for startups, and a side-by-side comparison of software licenses.

These student collaborations Provide teens with the opportunity to build skill proficiency in open technologies not typically covered locally in the standard proprietary software driven, technology-based degree programs. For participants, they gain valuable skills that will help prepare them for future education and career success.

PRPIG Gains Affiliate Membership in Open Source Initiative

August 24th, the Puerto Rico Python Interest Group (PRPIG) was formally accepted as an affiliate member of the Open Source Initiative (OSI).  With this honor, PRPIG joins a litany of IT (FLOSS) giants, such as Mozilla, the Python Software Foundation, The Linux Foundation, Debian, and the Drupal Association.  #humbling

"We are pleased to have prPIG join our community,” 

said Patrick Masson, general manager of the OSI.

“prPIG captures the very essence of the Open Source movement, where communities of practice self-organize around common goals to share and co-create. prPIG is helping set the standard for peer-driven development across Puerto Rico while also contributing to the larger Python community."

prPIG offers free workshops and seminars to educate about and advocate for the benefits of Open Source. To grow our community and increase our reach we will continue to build bridges among different constituencies, focusing especially on high school and university students.

Sample Chapter - Head First Python

PRPIG Offering free access to O'Reilly Python Book Samples

As part of the O'Reilly User Group program, we have access to a library of O'Reilly book samples.  I'll be

sharing some of them that I think might be helpful for our community.

The first is Head First Python.  If you've been struggling with getting started, perhaps the Head First series might be able to help.  Designed and written using a completely new approach to teaching complex topics, the Head First books offer a fresh perspective on learning Python.

Head First Python - Sample

Less than 3 weeks!

#PuertoRico #Python #userGroup hosting an evening of #LightningTalks on February 20th: http://mstrb.us/1n75Kk4

Next python user group meeting is 2/20/14

Map to the Puerto Rico Science and Technology Trust

View Larger Map

February prPIG Meeting

Puerto Rico Python User Group Celebrates First Anniversary

One year ago the Puerto Rico Python Interest Group (prPIG) was founded on one purpose; to create a sustainable user community based on software development in Puerto Rico. On February 20, 2014 we will celebrate our first anniversary with an open format meeting with lightning talks from the community.

prPIG is looking for volunteers from the community that are willing to give a short introduction to their favorite Python library, some popular modules we'd like to see include: math, decimal, datetime, time, dateutil, re, sqlite, json, urllib2, pyquery, and sh. Suggestions are also welcome.

During their first year, the Puerto Rico Python user group hosted 18 events, and established an active community online. According to founder Kevin Shockey, “prPIG has successfully established an online network that is helping to sustain our software development user group in Puerto Rico. We've gained many new partners and collaborators in our first year. They have really helped us and we look forward to more collaborative opportunities.”

The February meeting of prPIG will be held at 7:00pm in 2nd Floor Conference Room, Puerto Rico Science, Research, & Technology Trust, Rd. 21, Río Piedras.

Note: prPIG is kindly sponsored by the Internet Society, through their Community Grant program. We are deeply grateful for all of the support we have received so far, it has been well beyond our wildest expectations.

More on the Python Software Foundation Code of Conduct.

I found this in the Python Software Foundation's explanation of the new Code of Conduct. I'm particularly interested in their(our) effort to grow a more diverse Python community. This section resonates with me:

"we can advance towards a more diverse representation, one that we see throughout the rest of the community being increasingly populated by women, students, and with the popularity of pocket-sized computers, children will soon be in the ranks." 

 I hope that prPIG can embrace that future...

Python Software Foundation Code of Conduct

prPIG adopts PSF Code of Conduct

In accordance with the Python Software Foundation, when you're working with members of the community, we encourage you to follow the guidelines identified in the Code of Conduct. These guidelines, will hopefully steer our interactions and keep Python a positive, successful, and growing community.

January 2014 Meeting CFP

On January 16, 2014 the Puerto Rico Python user group will kick-off the new year with our first

meeting.  We are looking for speakers who can share what they know about Python or related FLOSS topics.

The theme of the meeting will be tools.  We would especially like to see lightning talks that give new users an overview of the typical tools a user needs to get the most out of Python and free software.  

Sample tools include: IDLE, Eclipse, Python Tools for Visual Studio, GIT, IRC, Xen or other virtualization software, the GNU toolchain (GNU Make, GCC, Binutils, or GNU Autotools).

prPIG Partnering With EFF To Help Civilize Electronic Frontier

Effort brings new attention to critical Internet freedoms, including privacy and security.

As the Puerto Rico Python Internet Group (prPIG) completes its’ first year of meetings and activities, the software development user community is partnering with the Electronic Frontier Foundation to help spread the word about the EFF, their mission, and work.

In addition to becoming an affiliate member of the EFF, prPIG will actively conduct meetings to share EFF prepared materials to the Puerto Rico software development community.  The EFF provides a timely “Take Action” center on their web page where citizens can actively engage citizens to help inform netizens about hot issues.  

prPIG is dedicated to ensure that the local software development community is exposed to the EFF, their work, and the valuable information they publish.  This material covers a wide range of issues likely applicable to technology professionals, such as blogger’s legal rights, coder’s rights, and ripped from the headlines, the EFF’s fight against NSA's Warrantless Surveillance.

About Puerto Rico Python Interest Group

The Puerto Rico Python Interest Group (prPIG) is the leading software development user community in Puerto Rico. Our mission is to create a sustainable user community for software development in Puerto Rico.  With more than 170 members, the prPIG has successfully organized 18 activities and meetings during 2013.

Python Parranda - InstallFest

On May 11th, the Puerto Rico Python Interest Group (prPIG) is proud to announce our first ever

Python Parranda.  The Parranda is part Python InstallFest and part Meetup/Sprint. It will be Saturday morning from 9am till 12pm at the Telegrafo building on Ponce de Leon, San Juan, Puerto Rico.  

The group decided that getting the Python community ready for the upcoming Puerto Rico Tech Summit. what was most important need.  The Tech Summit, 06/06/13, is sponsored by the Puerto Rican Government, and it’s CIO Giancarlos González.  The first of it’s kind, the Tech Summit is a direct outreach to the Puerto Rico software development community to participate in access to governmental data; especially the Government Hackathon being held simultaneously with the summit.  

The data being made available for the hackathon is a direct result of the MOU Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla signed on 2/28/13.  Following President Barack Obama’s lead, Governor Garcia requested every government agency to make an API within 90 days.

Note: prPIG is kindly sponsored by the Internet Society, through their Community Grant program.  We are deeply grateful for all of the support we have received so far, it has been well beyond our wildest expectations.

Making Bacon

Come all ye Phythonistas!

The feedback from the meetup last night, is that Puerto Rico is ready for a software development community. With pleasure, prPIG is here to serve.

I'd like to announce that we will hold the 1st Puerto Rico Python Interest Group meeting before the end of the month (2/28).

Tentatively, the meetup will be at the UMET Cupey campus, unless someone would like to volunteer a location in the SJ Metro area? With WIFI por favor? :-)

Thanks for the leadership of Axel Rivera!  It was great networking with other Pythonistas!

Don't forget to like the prPIG Facebook Page!