CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

First Python Community Conference (PYCON DC 2003)

The Python Software Foundation (http://www.python.org/psf/), with the assistance of Yet Another Society (http://www.yetanother.org/), is holding a community Conference from 26-28 March, 2003, at George Washington University's Cafritz Conference Center in Washington DC. Further information will be posted at http://www.python.org/pycon/ .

PyCon emphasizes an accessible, low-cost forum where a broad group of Python users and developers can meet to exchange ideas of common interest and discuss developments in the language and its uses.

The theme for this first conference is "Popularizing Python". Appropriate submissions will address commercial, educational and/or scientific uses of Python, with an emphasis on why Python was the implementation language of choice and its advantages over other technologies.

A development sprint will be held on the two days prior to the conference. A sprint is a programming session organized using ideas from Extreme Programming (XP) like pair programming. The sprint will not necessarily be held at the same venue as the conference. Sprinters will be encouraged to report on their results to the main conference, and there may be an opportunity to continue the sprint during the weekend following the conference. Contact the sprint chair (see below) with questions and ideas for sprint topics.

Initial enquiries and proposals for presentations and sprint topics may be directed to the pycon-interest list mentioned below, or to PyConDC-2003 at python dot org. Those interested in volunteering to organize various aspects of PyCon DC 2003 should contact the conference committee chair.

Suitable topics for PyCon presentations include, but are not limited to:

• Web-based Systems
• Databases
• Network Programming
• Games Programming
• Programming Tools
• Python Documentation
• Packaging Issues
• Python in Business
• Project Best Practices
• The Python Core
• Open Source Python Projects
• Python Integration
• Python in Education

Submissions for presentation at PyCon can be traditional technical papers, poster sessions for display during the conference, or longer sessions of a tutorial nature. It is hoped that PyCon will be a suitable venue for early presentation of materials which may later be presented to commercial audiences.

In addition to conventional conference activities, some sessions will be less formal, emphasizing the fun aspects of programming in Python and being a member of the Open Source community. Sponsorship by organizations with commercial and/or technical interests is actively solicited for such activities, as well as for the more traditional aspects of the conference.

The conference web site will include references to various local facilities to assist with selections, but are not to be construed as an endorsement. Please visit http://www.python.org/pycon/ for more information.

Mailing lists have been established for those who are interested in attending or otherwise contributing to PyCon DC 2003. You can join these lists at the following URLs:

http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pycon-announce
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pycon-interest

The conference committee is: