Why should you participate in the Sahana workout?

Nov 5th

Posted by Ajay Kumar in Events

1 comment

  • Because you know PHP and can code in PHP!
  • Because you get a chance to let your code make a difference to a large cause. Globally!
  • Because you understand availability of information at the right time is important!
  • Because you *want* to do some life changing work! One that can change lives.

Imagine, a missing person has been displaced and lost touch with his family after floods. The relatives fires up an SMS to the system to search him in the database. And finds the person!!! So you can say, that was MY CODE which helped the family unite back after a disaster.***

  • Sahana is a PHP/mySQL based web application that can run over a standalone PC or a client/server & networked environment. So you need to have the knowledge of PHP to contribute to the code of Sahana.
  • Disaster strikes without notice. Sahana has been deployed at various such incidents and used by the government for relief operations. Right from pre-disaster management planning in the New York City USA, to post-disaster management operations in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, China, Philippines, India, Myanmar. So you know where your code goes! Globally and goes for a social/noble cause.
  • In such an emergency situation you need information, which is important, right when it is available. Or at least easily accessible when you want it. Getting information using your cellphone and SMS could be really easy and effective.
  • Sahana system has helped track families and unite missing victims. Certainly these are life changing experiences including saving lives. Getting the right supply of relief materials on the right time are among the few aspects the Sahana system is used in.

The example I have used is based on the scenario where Sahana is deployed with the SMS being setup which interacts with the Sahana server. People send SMS to the Sahana number and it retrieves information from the database. Missing persons information is collected at relief camps and entered into the Sahana central system. So, a person could be misplaced and land up at a relief camp in a distant area and get assistance. But his family could be searching for him/her someplace else.

More information can be found here:

http://wiki.sahana.lk/doku.php?id=dev:foss_in_2008_ideas

I am coming to FOSS.in/2008. Are you?

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Sahana coming to FOSS.in/2008 :)

Oct 31st

Posted by Ajay Kumar in Events

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Sahana is going to be present at FOSS.in/2008 in Bangalore, India in the last week of November.  I will be representing the Sahana project and interacting with the FOSS contributors present at the event from India & abroad and the community.

A coding session, termed as a “workout”, is planned to make feature additions to the Sahana Messaging module at the event, which would involve interested participants writing code for Sahana at the event.  The detailed plan of the proposed workout is present here at the Sahana Wiki. Interested people can participate in the discussion on the Sahana Developer Mailing list and help out in planning the module features and make any suggestions they might have.

Workout: SMS Public Information Feature addition to Sahana Messaging

Event: FOSS.IN

Place: Bangalore, India.

Date: 25-29 November, 2008.

PS: Exact schedule of the workout during any of these days will be out soon on the foss.in site.

Here’s the original announcement about the event at the FOSS.IN/2008 site and the first list of accepted talks and workouts here. You can read about what FOSS.in is here. Besides the session, I will be looking forward to meeting the localization teams from India, the community leaders and active contributors and of course attending their sessions as well.

In case you plan to be around in the town somewhere in that period, do drop in and help spread the message about Sahana!!

I code for SAHANA. Do you?

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