I am pleased to announce the 2008 OpenGuides hackfest, to be held in Oxford, UK.

When?

• Saturday 18th October 11am-8pm
• Sunday 19th October 11am-5pm

Where?

• Oxford University Computing Services, Banbury Road <​http://oxford.openguides.org/wiki/?Oxford_University_Computing_Services>
• Travel info: <​http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/about/travel.xml>
• Note: the front door is locked at the weekend; either make a prior arrangement with us by email to arrive at a specified time, or be prepared to use a mobile phone when you arrive to be let in (the number will be posted at the door).

What?

Here are some ideas for what we could do:

• make a CSS design suitable for shipping with the default OpenGuides distribution
• implement a global OpenGuides portal
• improve the mobile device support of OpenGuides
• improve the user interface of OpenGuides
• fix/triage a hundred and one little bugs <​http://dev.openguides.org/report/1>
• meet like-minded people, hack, socialise, maybe even do some Oxford data collection if you want to get out in the open
• work on integration with Open Street Map
• anything else OpenGuides-related that you can think of

Beer

The Oxford Beer Festival <​http://oxfordcamra.org.uk/festival2008.php> is running from Thursday 16th October to Saturday 18th October. Possibilities include a lunchtime excursion on Saturday, or a meetup on Friday evening. Bear in mind that it is recommended to arrive by 6pm on the Friday in order to avoid long queues.

Connectivity

• Wired and wireless access
• Bring a laptop if you have one!

Food and drink

• Tea and coffee will be available during the day
• There are plenty of sandwich shops in the vicinity for lunch
• There may well be an evening meal on the Saturday evening

Accommodation

There are several possibilities for hostels, B&Bs and hotels in Oxford if you are coming from outside Oxford and looking to stay on Friday or Saturday night. Additionally if you are on a budget and would like to crash in someone's spare room/floor, let us know (see below for contact info) and we'll try and hook you up with someone.

Sign up

Please let us if you will be attending (so we know who to expect, and total numbers), and whether you would be interested in a visit to the beer festival on Friday, or a meal on Saturday (including dietary preferences/requirements), by emailing us:

oxford-hackfest-2008 at openguides dot org

Note that emailing us doesn't compel you to come, so even if you're not sure, we would appreciate an email.

You can also sign up at ​http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1022567/, although this is not compulsory

Questions

Email us: oxford-hackfest-2008 at openguides dot org

Thanks

Special thanks to OUCS management for allowing us to use the meeting rooms for this event.