Delta

Delta - Grades 11-12 (Co-ed) [this is your grade in 2007]
Sun. 6th January to Fri. 11th January 2008
$360 (GST free)
Griffith University
Director: James Cameron
Applications to: Delta, Stephen Thorne
1/82 Clarence Road,
Indooroopilly, QLD 4068
Enquiries: Stephen Thorne 0407 641 263, James Cameron 0428 48 1176
Email: james.cameron@hp.com stephen@thorne.id.au

19th December 2007

We have cancelled the camp, due to too few applications. -- James Cameron, Director.

Want to be an engineer? Get a leg up with this camp, working together on real-life software engineering projects. We'll have huge chunks of time for coding, publishing, blogging, and networking with others, with experts to help you. Camp is being held at a university, but numbers are strictly limited. A laptop is required, if you need one we can help you hire one.

Spend five days with engineering fanatics, and develop your skills at lightning pace. Get mentored, trained, and inspired.

At Delta we will work together on real-life projects, with leaders who want to share their knowledge of computers, and their journey with Jesus. We'll also work with other people over the internet, and teach you how to do it safely.

We will also spend some time on God stuff, 'cause that's who we are.

We want this to be lots of fun, hanging out with like-minded people, in a safe place to learn, so you can stretch and make friends.

Where?

Delta will be held on a university campus in the Brisbane metropolitan area. We will be sleeping in college accommodation, one camper per room with shared bathroom facilities, and eating in the college dining room.

Most of our time will be spent in one large room, with laptop computers all over the place, in small groups that will shift and change as our interests do. Sometimes we'll have someone talking out the front, but most of the time we'll be working on something or other.

Delta is designed to be a small community. Places are strictly limited. So, if this is for you, apply early to avoid disappointment.

What will we work on?

Something cool.

It is hard to say exactly what we will work on, because the virtual universe where we work can change radically over several weeks ... we could easily stake out some plans and find someone else will build what we want to build. But we have several ideas we're thinking about:

activities for One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)
firefox plugins
church sound system computer integration
platformer game

(we are quite likely to be able to play on and experiment with several of the OLPC prototype laptops during the week ... imagine your work helping kids in developing countries).

Checklist

You need to be in Year 11 or Year 12 at high school in 2007,
You must bring your own laptop (A borrowed or hired laptop is okay, but we have to have one laptop per camper. We can help you hire one for the week, by telling you who to call.)
Your laptop must meet minimum specifications (an antique hand-me-down won't help you, you'll need wired ethernet or wireless access, at least 500MHz processor, at least 128Mb RAM, and use operating systems like Ubuntu Linux, MAC OS X, or Microsoft Windows XP ... talk to us if you are not sure)
You must have the software we will be using on Delta installed. See the tutorial page. (When your application is accepted, we will provide software via the internet, with instructions. You will also be able to ask the leaders for technical assistance over the internet, or telephone, so that you will have everything up and running ready for Delta ... you can even get ahead if you like, that's the whole idea)

Who are the leaders?

Stephen Thorne (nickname Jerub) is a software engineer who has participated in Scripture Union Computer Camps since 1997. He contributes to open source projects such as Twisted, and OLPC.

Elspeth Thorne is a software engineer, and works with python and ruby.

James Cameron (nickname Quozl) is a software engineer, who works for a computer company fixing Linux systems, and contributes to open source projects such as Netrek, PPTP and OLPC.

Andrae Muys (nickname Shammah).

Petria Cameron is a business graduate, currently specialising in IT training in the outback, teaches RE and runs a technology centre in Tooraweenah.

Josh Bartlett.

Samuel North is a university student studying in Sydney.