[IndiChix] Fw: Freed.in 2009: New format, and new deadlines

[Gora Mohanty]

Dear friends,

  I have some good news, and some bad news for you about Freed.in
2009. The good news is that the third Freed.in will be held as
scheduled on Feb. 20th, and 21st, at the Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU) in Delhi. Please see the revised call for papers at
http://wiki.linux-delhi.org/cgi-bin/twiki/view/Freed2009/CallforPapers
noting in particular that the new deadline for talk submissions
is next Sun., the 25th of Jan. If you have already submitted a
talk, you do not need to resubmit it, but all new submissions
should be sent to talks at freed.in. Registration for the event is
now open at the Freed.in website, http://freed.in. While attending
the event is still free for all participants, we do request that
you register online.

  The bad news is that due to various factors, including the economic
recession, and an insufficient number of committed organisers, we have
considerably scaled back the event. In particular, we do not plan to
approach sponsors for this event, and everything will be done on a
minimal budget. Unfortunately, this also means that we do not have a
budget for local hospitality, and we are therefore asking all speakers
to bear their own costs for travel and lodging. If you need a
supporting letter from us in order to arrange for funds from your host
institution, or other agency, we would be glad to oblige. We are also
trying to arrange for accommodation for out-of-station speakers at the
homes of local organisers. So, if you require accommodation in Delhi,
please let us know, but sadly we cannot guarantee that at the moment.

  We plan on having a total of about 15 talks over the two days, with
each talk being 45 min., plus 15 min. of interacting with the
audience. The call for papers lists potential interest areas, and we
will be asking people from FOSS user groups across India to send a
representative. Thank you for bearing with us through these difficult
times. We do have plans for revamping Freed.in, and taking it on the
road, so if you are interested, keep an eye on the event site at
http://freed.in

Regards,
Gora