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Thirty Attend Javascript Survival Guide Workshop

March 20th, 2013 | Posted by ToddLewis in IT-oLogy Defined | Promote IT - (0 Comments)

Javascript(2)Thirty technologists attended the Javascript Survival Guide workshop on February 26 at IT-oLogy. Hosted by the Open IT Lab, the event drew people of all backgrounds and experiences, from the computer science student at the university level to the seasoned web developer.

Javascript is an open source client side scripting language used to create enhanced user interfaces and dynamic websites – it’s a language every developer should know. The workshop’s purpose was to provide useful information designed to steer attendees away from javascript’s cliffs and canyons and lead them towards clear, concise and powerful code. Client side javascript can feel like a big open wilderness if you haven’t been immersed in the culture and best practices.

Brad Dunbar, a developer at Pathable Inc and a graduate of the University of South Carolina, served as workshop instructor and did a fantastic job. He will offer an additional workshop for the javascript beginner in upcoming months.

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Overflow crowd for Drupal 101 & 102 Workshops

February 26th, 2013 | Posted by ToddLewis in Grow IT | IT-oLogy Defined - (0 Comments)

Nearly 20 people attended the Drupal 101 & 102 workshop on Saturday, February 23 at IT-oLogy. Even with the terrible weather outside, attendees of all ages and experience levels gathered in the Distance Learning classroom to learn more.

The purpose of the workshop was to introduce the open source Drupal content management system and framework, in use by about 2% of the world’s websites, and to provide an opportunity to extend upon that baseline knowledge. The course was a combination of the Drupal 101 and 102 classes offered previously at IT-Ology and gave attendees an opportunity to learn a lot in a single day of instruction.

Those in attendance learned to build their own website using Drupal Gardens, and to take advantage of Drupal features such as content types and views to develop custom applications. Tech-savvy people with no programming experience used the point and click interface to build sites and the API/framework allowed programmers to develop unique applications.

The nearly 20 people for this workshop, combined with the 30 attendees for the separate Drupal 101 and 102 workshops earlier in the month, meant more than 50 unique individuals learned more about Drupal in February at IT-oLogy.

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The Value of Version Control/Git Presented at IT-oLogy

February 6th, 2013 | Posted by ToddLewis in IT-oLogy Defined | Teach IT - (0 Comments)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Open IT Lab at IT-oLogy presented a “Version Control/Git/GitHub” workshop on Thursday, January 17. Many computer science students and local IT professionals attended.

Version control is a common tool used by software developers to keep track of changes in code or documents. By using version control and “checking in” changes made to a project into a repository responsible for managing a project, it’s possible to examine old versions, revert mistakes, determine who made changes, enable easier collaboration, and provide better organization for projects of all sizes.

Jarrell covered topics like creation of a repository, repository organization, common git workflows, working with remote repositories, how to use the staging area and manage commits, adding and removing files, creating branches, managing tags, viewing logs, reverting changes in a repository, viewing changes between commits, viewing the status of the working tree, and many others.

Attendees walked away with valuable knowledge that will help them manage projects and track code more effectively.

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23 Attend Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM)

December 10th, 2012 | Posted by ToddLewis in IT-oLogy Defined - (0 Comments)

23 people attended the Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM) workshop held Thursday, November 29 at IT-oLogy. KVM is a full virtualization solution for Linux and is open source.

Jim Salter, a nationally known open source expert, conducted the workshop and answered questions from attendees. His talk started with an introduction to KVM and quickly moved to mixed-use environments. Using KVM, one can run multiple virtual machines running unmodified Linux or Windows images.

Attendees, which included technologists of all ages, learned how to set up KVM and how to install and manage virtual machines (Windows, Linux, or other) under Ubuntu. Several put the newly obtained knowledge to use immediately and began using KVM.

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Open IT Lab Hosts 28 Students from Fairfield Central High School

December 10th, 2012 | Posted by ToddLewis in IT-oLogy Defined - (0 Comments)

The Open IT Lab hosted 28 students from Fairfield Central High School in Winnsboro County, SC. The trip took place Wednesday, November 28 and was part of a field trip designed to make students aware of career opportunities in the information technology field.

Todd Lewis led the students on a tour of IT-oLogy and explained why and how the organization was formed. He also showed the students the Open IT Lab, explained open source, and why knowledge of open source technology is extremely important.

Fairfield Central High School students traveled to IT-oLogy
to investigate careers in Information Technology

Jeremy Bicha conducted a 1.5 hour workshop just for the students on the fundamentals of electronic design. The Arduino, a micro controller manufactured by IT-oLogy member Sparkfun Electronics, was used to demonstrate the principles of electronics engineering and computing. Students worked in teams to build their own machine and make it perform various functions.

Stacey Feaster, Career Specialist at Fairfield Central High School, summed up the field trip. “[The students] gained practical application experience and real-world knowledge they will use in choosing a career path. We appreciate the incredible opportunity provided to our students.”

Senior Natrone Trapp thought the trip was beneficial to him as he looks toward his professional career. “I am more certain about my Computer Science Major and feel this field trip has provided me with the information I need to make the right choice about my future. I can’t wait to attend college and use and develop design software.”

 

Quotes from Career Central Newsletter

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AppAThon: Android Student App Challenge

November 1st, 2012 | Posted by Emily in Promote IT - (0 Comments)

Attention middle school, high school, and college students interested in application development!

IT-oLogy has partnered with the Open IT Lab and the University of South Carolina College of Engineering and Computing to host an Android App Development Contest for all high school, college, post graduate and PhD students. The winning team (consisting of two developers and one artist) will win $1,200, or if it is a group of two (two developers) the prize will be $800!

The contest starts November 3rd, 2012 and closes November 15th. Only students in South Carolina middle schools, high schools, and colleges will be permitted to enter. The development will be on Android platform and in a number of predetermined app categories.

After the contest has closed on Saturday, November 17th, judging, demos, and awards will be presented at an event at IT-oLogy! There will be pizza, snacks, and presentations of demos. Trophies, t-shirts, and prizes will be given away as well, and it is open to the public!

For more information and further contest details head over to the AppAThon website.

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Twenty Five Attend Version Control/Git Workshop

October 26th, 2012 | Posted by ToddLewis in IT-oLogy Defined - (0 Comments)

25 people attended the Version Control/Git/GitHub workshop held at IT-oLogy on Thursday, October 25. The Open IT Lab hosted the event and Jarrell Waggoner, the Lab’s Program Manager, served as the instructor.

The workshop focused on version control, which is a common tool used by software developers to keep track of changes in code or documents. Git is an immensely popular distributed version control system used to manage numerous open source projects, including the Linux kernel. GitHub is a commercial website and service that makes it easier to manager git repositories.

Attendees ranged in experience levels and included students, professors and local IT professionals. Each walked away with information they could put to immediate use, such as how to create a repository, how to use the staging area and manage commits, how to add and remove files, how to create branches, manage tags and view logs, and much more.

The Open IT Lab is planning to offer the workshop again in December. If interested please contact Todd Lewis at todd@palmettocomputerlabs.com for more information and to register. Seating will be limited.

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The Open IT Lab Celebrates Software Freedom Day 2012

September 20th, 2012 | Posted by ToddLewis in Education | Grow IT | Teach IT | World of IT - (1 Comments)

Cross-posted from the Open IT Lab News

The Open IT Lab joined nearly 300 other teams from over 60 countries around the world in celebrating this year’s Software Freedom Day last Saturday. Software Freedom Day is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software that takes place on the third Saturday in September.

The Open IT Lab offered our flagship “Open Source 101″ workshop. Jarrell Waggoner led our guests on an engaging overview of what it means for software, hardware, and content to be open. Attendees learned how open source has already changed our world and some everyday examples of this “innovation based on sharing” development strategy. We saw how open source software is becoming more and more important to how businesses operate. Finally, attendees were encouraged to participate by either contributing to open projects or starting their own.

After the lecture, we did a drawing and three lucky participants won commemorative t-shirts. The t-shirts, stickers, and balloons were generously supplied by sponsors of Software Freedom Day.

Attendees then were led on a tour of our state- of-the-art Open IT Lab, featuring open software, open content, and open hardware.

Come join us next year for Software Freedom Day! We plan to offer our Open Source 101 workshop again in January.

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More than 30 Attend Linux Administration 101

September 17th, 2012 | Posted by ToddLewis in IT-oLogy Defined - (0 Comments)

More than 30 people attended the Linux Administration 101 workshop held Thursday, September 13 at IT-oLogy. Attendees included high school and college students, as well as current IT professionals from local companies and government organizations.

The  workshop meant to familiarize participants with the basics of Linux systems administration with a heavy focus on Debian and Debian derivatives, such as Ubuntu. Ubuntu was the distribution used.

Attendees learned the basics of using the Bash command shell, about important configuration files that control system behavior, about package management, system backup and restoration, and they got an overview of the directory structure underneath the Ubuntu system. Jim Salter, a well known Linux expert, conducted the workshop and took questions from attendees.

For more information about the Open IT Lab and future open source workshops go to www.open-it-lab.com.

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Open IT Lab speaks to 40 at SC Municipal Technology Association

September 13th, 2012 | Posted by ToddLewis in IT-oLogy Defined - (0 Comments)

Open IT LabThe Open IT Lab spoke to more than 40 municipal technology managers at the SC Municipal Technology Association’s annual meeting on Thursday, September 6. The meeting took place in Charleston at the Francis Marion Hotel.

The topic of discussion was the definition of open source, the top 10 open source technologies available today, and the pros and cons associated with using open source. The topic was requested because more managers in the public sector are being asked to save budget dollars while maintaining existing levels of performance, security, etc.

Jarrell Waggoner and Jim Salter discussed the pros and cons and the top 10 technologies available and fielded questions from the audience. Todd Lewis talked about IT-oLogy, the Open IT Lab, and the various workshops made available by both.

More information about the Open IT Lab and upcoming workshops can be found online at www.open-it-lab.com or at www.it-ology.org.

Apache Class 2

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