1. There seems to be a maker space down in Goshen that might be close
enough to visit sometime and build some connections:
http://makerspaces.meetup.com/cities/us/mi/kalamazoo/.
Yep -- you might need to knock on a few doors before finding the right
"fit," btw. Groups vary wildly in terms of quality, size, atmosphere,
and so on, so don't assume the first bunch you contact is
representative. As a rough ballpark I'd say try getting in touch with at
least 5 groups/conferences to get a spread.
+1 to the Ohio Linux Fest recommendation. The organizers really go out
of their way to make it inclusive and welcoming to many different kinds
of people, including newcomers -- in fact, they encourage new people to
submit talk proposals as well, so if you or any of your students have
cool things to share or teach, you might try asking about speaking (a
great way to get started).
Perhaps I should send this question to the TOS mailing list, but I
am really just a lurker there, not a participant (so far).
Congratulations on becoming a participant. :)
On a related note, will there be anything
TOS-related at SIGCSE and/or FIE in 2013?
Adding to Matt's comment: yes, if someone organizes it -- and anybody
can (including totally new people). Just announce a BoF or dinner and
poke the list once folks have papers and things accepted to remind them
to show up.
Also, I have a memory of Heidi, Karl, and some others in the
Northeast talking about a regional event they were taking students
to last spring, but can't find the reference in my email archive.
Do you know what that was, or should I ask one of them? And,
maybe more importantly, do you know of anything similar in the
midwest? (Purdue and Kalamazoo College are not all that far from
each other!)
I don't know anything about open source stuff in the midwest (I'm fairly
new here myself), but a quick google search turned up:
* http://codeconnexx.com/ in Indianapolis -- this is the 2012 website
but you could get in touch with the organizers and see if they plan on
doing it again
* http://kalamazoolinux.org (which Matt also found), and
http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Xipherspace *might* be nearby but I
couldn't find anything more about it so it may have died (however,
http://kalamazoolinux.org/wp/?p=163 provides some leads towards contact
info that might be worth a try).
Good luck,
--Mel
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