Imported User:
Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, is to declare open the 5th African Conference on FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) and the Digital Commons – (IDLELO 5) will hold at the Umaru Musa Yar'Adua Centre in Abuja from March 19-23, 2012.
With theme, ‘Open Source Solutions for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), IDLELO 5 follows successful series of conferences already held in Cape Town, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Dakar, Senegal and Accra, Ghana.
A statement from the organizers said the conference would consist of keynotes by internationally-acclaimed ICT and Open Source authorities, sessions on all the MDGs and demonstrations and exhibitions of cutting edge technology in hardware, software and recent applications.
A high-level session on the state of Open Data in Africa will see the participation of India, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Brazil and many others.
Certified training sessions for eLearning in Moodle for universities, Network Monitoring and Management for Network Engineers, Content Management Systems for Webmasters, Internet Governance Capacity for Policy Makers, and FOSS Business Models for SMEs have been secured for all participants.
In collaboration with the Linux Professional Institute of Nigeria, a bootcamp will be organised and on-the-site examinations and certification will be ensured for all aspiring and senior Linux Professionals. IDLELO 5 has also acquired collaboration with world-class Ethical Hackers to hold an extra-ordinary ethical hacking training during the event.
Jon “maddog” Hall, of the Linux Institute of the United States of America and one of the earliest founders of open source, has confirmed a very important keynote. The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Professor Cleopas Angaye, will also be giving key indicators of the information technology development initiatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It is expected that Yar'Adua Center will be hosting at least 1,000 participants during the week.
A limited number of exhibition booths have been reserved for top technologies players in the country.
IDLELO 5 will be one event for FOSS practitioners, developers and advocates, as well as governments, education and businesses, to showcase results, share experiences and challenges, review progress on the continent in diverse domains and chart a way forward for an African future grounded in true ownership of technology that will help achieve the MDGs. IDLELO 5 offers a real opportunity to discuss new issues, tackle complex problems and find advanced enabling solutions able to shape new trends in FOSS and related technologies on the African continent.
IDLELO is a Southern African word meaning "common grazing ground" and is the premier African continent's open technology gathering. Every two years, the continent dedicates a one-week period to appraise its open source and free software initiatives, expertise, community, challenges and experiences. This March's event is the continent's rallying point for critical issues in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as they are directly related to the development of its peoples, governments and business enterprises.
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