A series of fortunate and not so fortunate events…
December 2, 2007
About Joanna Liza Mariazeta
My Name is Joanna Liza Mariazeta Taguinod 26 years old and a proud Filipino, I am formerly the Chief Technology Officer of a small medium enterprise. I was one of the participants in Asia Source 2 which was held in Sukabumi, Indonesia. I have long been using Free/Libre Open Source Technology way back 2002, and I believe in the power of FOSS, I also believe in its ideal of sharing and helping each other. Although I get dissappointed sometimes because of the Alpha Male and Alpha Female culture, which is very evident in mailing list and in forums sites. But that doesn’t stop me from helping those who need help. I have been involved in several FOSS oriented Project like “Piloting Free and Open Source Softwares (FOSS) using Open Standards in E-Governance Applications for Local Government Units” which was funded by European Commission. Since joining Asia Source 2, I am now more active in FOSS projects and information dissemination about FOSS. Im proud to say that I make a living by using and deploying FOSS and at the same time advocacy is part of what I am doing. I am also a volunteer advocate for International Open Source Network, I recently participated and had a talk in PHP Users Group Conference here in the Philippines where I imparted how it feels like to be part of Asia Source 2 Boot camp, how to contribute to FOSS projects and being fortunate to be chosen as an IOSN beneficiary two times this year.
Aside from FOSS advocacy, I also encourage and mentor females who wants to be in the Information Technology, It is very evident that there is a gender imbalance in IT, very few women choose the career path of being a Developer, Systems Administrator etc. Taking part in AstConference or being successful in what I do is a great example for those women out there to show them that there is an equal oppurtunity for women.
The Event
AsterConference will again take the ground of its own home town in Kuala Lumpur on the 19th November 2007
AsterConference is a conference dedicated to the wildly popular Asterisk, the open source telecommunication platform that has taken the world by storm. This conference will bring to each locality a panel of regional and local speakers to share their knowledge and expertise on the potential and benefits of what Asterisk can bring to a corporation of all sizes. Targeting both potential and existing user audiences, the conference will help the audience to have a wider understanding of what Asterisk is, its powerful and cost-saving applications, and hear testimonies of how companies have benefited greatly from it.
My Expectations about the Event
Thru AsterConference I expect to expand my knowledge about Asterisk, get to know the latest happenings in Asterisk community, the new technologies and functionalities that will be incorporated in the future development of Asterisk. I also want to get first hand information about the companies who utilizes the potential of Asterisk, get to see their working demostration of products built on top of Asterisks.
My Travel Experience
I was really excited when I received the email that I was accepted for the FOSS Exchange Grant. I was really fortunate to have been a beneficiary for the Exchange Grant program, I plan to take the Digium Certification and attend the Asterisk Conference. I plan to make the most out of this event and so I made preparations for the exam that I will take, I studied and read the whole O’reilly book which Digium recommended as guide for the exam. As the exam nears there was no confirmation regarding my flight details and where to get my allowance and it made me quite alarmed. I patiently waited for several days until I can no longer take it and sent an email back to UNDP, they replied that I should wait for the call coming from UNDP Philippines, it is only 2 days before the exam and I still did not receive any calls yet. Unfortunately for me the whole examination thing went down to drain. I was not able to take the exam, nobody called or emailed me. I was disappointed and distressed. I thought I should make the initiative to call UNDP Philippines because if I do not do that, then I would not be able to attend even the conference and so I did. I asked them if I could atleast route my flight to Singapore instead of going directly to Kuala Lumpur, a fellow participant in Singapore is planning to go to the conference also, we plan to go there by bus . I thought maybe this time I will be permitted to make up for the inconvenience. Again another unfortunate thing, they said I have to pay for the price difference of routing to Singapore. Oh well, I guess it could not be help, the difference is quite big and so I have to inform my friend from Singapore that I wont be able to stop by and just directly fly to Kuala Lumpur.
After several exchanged of email they have finally booked my flight. I was booked noon of November 17. I thought atleast I am 1 day early from the conference. I can still do some sight seeing and visit the famous Petronas Tower.
November 17
Malaysia Airline from Manila landed in Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
I was overwhelmed seeing the brimming Kuala Lumpur International Airport. I guess you can tell the progress of a country by seeing their airport and KLIA surely says a lot about malaysias advancement. As I was enjoying the varied surroundings around me an acquintance I met named Idris Ashraf at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, while I was waiting to board, called my attention. He asked if I am okay I seemed to look lost, he instructed me to take Taxi instead of riding the Express Train when going to the city, he said it is safer since its already dark outside. I thanked him and bid my farewell, I have a lot of exploring to do. I do not feel scared instead I feel excited. On my way out to the immigration officer I did what Idris told me to do, I got myself an airport taxi and we headed out to the great city.
After 45 minutes I was at the front of my chosen hotel which was not far from China Town. I got myself a room and unpacked my things. I roam around the hotel for a little while, then I decided to check out China town, just like any china town in other countries, its really the bargain hunters paradise. Vendors had spread out their wares on the street, the place is especially notoriuous for imitation goods on sale here – from designer stuffs to illegal VCDs/DVDs. You can also smell chinese delicacies on the streets. Even if shopping and dining is not the main purpose of going in china town, wandering around is still enjoyable experience with its spectacular sights and sounds.
November 18
I fetched a friend who came from Singapore in Puduraya Bus Terminal. We will be visiting the famous Petronas Tower. We rode the train going to KLCC, I notice that in Malaysia there is a varied mix of different cultures, however multi-racial this country is, you can see that all culture and religion blend well together. We first went to Suria KLCC, it is surrounded by hotels, office buildings, and a scenic park. Inside Petronas the intricate walls and floors are really nice. We first went to Petrosains where we spent almost 4 hours, reading and discovering the concept of science and technology of the petroleum industry. It was totally fun interacting with the exhibits on display. From time to time I had to ask one of the attendants how to play with a certain exhibits, I was amazed at how friendly the people are and how good they are in speaking english. Almost all the people that I talked to, was able to speak and understand me very well. Truly the people in Malaysia are nice and friendly, from Idris, the friend I met in Manila Airport, the vendors in China Town and the attendants in Suria, they all welcomed my questions with hospitality and friendliness. We then went to check out Aquaria. It was really a beautiful site to visit, located inside the mall. Inside Aquaria you will find land and sea animals. I was really amazed seeing the 90m acrylic tunnel showcasing brilliant sea creatures. I was really awed by the places I visited and the friendliness and hospitality of the malaysians, I know there are still more places I should visit in Malaysia and I plan to go back some time.
November 19 (The day of the conference)
I was way too early, I was the first participant to arrive. I asked the organizers how many participants they were expecting, she said around 150, I thought this must be a good conference to be able to attract such crowd, considering you have to pay almost $200. I was really excited. I got the provided toolkits and freebies and proceed to take my seat. As I made my way inside the conference hall, I checked out the booth of some of the sponsors which are Digium, Sangoma and JCMex.
The program started late, it was 9:08 AM and introduction is still not on the way. There was a mixed up with the schedule, some speakers did not came on time. We waited for another 30 minutes for the other participants to arrive, Until the organizers finally decided that the conference should start. I looked at my back and saw that there were only few who attended. I do not know if the participants are late or some just did not show up.
The program started with a phone patch to Mark Spencer, he wished the participants and speakers good luck and he told us how committed he is in keeping the Asterisk Community alive.
It was followed by discussing the Asterisk Global Perspective by Mr. Greg Vance representative of Digium and Director of Global Sales.
I noticed that A2Billing topic is too technical for other participants to understand, the speaker Mr. Areski Belaid, founder and author of A2Billing should have limited the subject to common demoninators where both technical person and corporate people can understand well. Other topics and speakers did not register well in my mind, honestly because they were not interesting enough to make their message and contents get across the audience. Almost all the speakers started their talk with answering the question like “What is Asterisk? ” or “What can Asterisk do for you?”. They have all made impeccable answers, but the problem is, none of them really showed or demonstrated a real life and functional prototype of Asterisk. I have met a lot of business men during that conference and I am pretty sure that they would be most interested if they see a working Asterisk demonstration rather than listing its features and reading it out loud to the participants. I was also disappointed that there were no speed geeking rounds or cafe sessions that would have encouraged participants involvement in the conference. Bottom line, it was a classic conference environment where speakers deliver lectures or talks to passive audiences. There is one topic that stood out and rose my interest, it was Mr. David Duffett’s Speech Technology and Asterisk. Based in Mr. Duffett’s talk, Speech Technology in relation to Asterisk looks very promising, I asked a couple of questions regarding localization in Japanese and Chinese, if there was an availability and how active is the Asterisk community in building this localized version. I was working for a japanese company back then.
Overall I am glad to have participated in the AsterConference much more in visiting Kuala Lumpur, although there were minor disappointment and unfortunate happenings, I met a lot of interesting people with whom I probably will stay in contact, thanks to common interests and malaysian friendliness.
Thru this conference I realized that many businesses are already interested in the power of Asterisk and customizing it to their own needs, however I also realized that due to this high demand, we still lack (especially here in the Philippines) Asterisk Developers and Experts. In the future I want to help out in a local Asterisk conference here in Manila, targeting potential Asterisk Developers as the main audience, aside from that if its possible to mainstream Asterisk boot camp and certification, this can only be achieve if Digium would lower the fees for the certification.
