XML Prague

XML Prague 2012 is history

Petr Cimprich — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:43:51 +0000

The seventh edition of XML Prague is over. I dare to say that the risk of changing the venue has paid off. The conference got a new energy, with new people coming in addition to our permanent visitors. Some complained about a few things but the overall mood was positive. Which is the main reward for the small group of organizers who did their best to arrange an event for 230 people. We know, of course, where is the room for further improvements.

Those who want to know what XML Prague 2012 was about can read detailed descriptions by Eric van der Vlist and Geert Josten. XML Prague has always tried to be open to opinions from the outside of XML community, and has given space to ideas about how to bridge the gap between XML and other worlds (web, databases). This year, maybe every second presentation has mentioned JSON (even though offten from XML point of view). The relation of XML to HTML, JSON or RDF was in the air all the time.

The basic parameters (date, place) of XML Prague are not going to change for the next year. We will try to maintain the quality of program, and to improve the quality of coffee. To slightly increase the number of visitors while shortening (or accelerating) the queues. And the trend of looking beyond the borders of XML technologies will continues, perhaps making a larger step.

Many thanks to all who found their way to chilly Prague this year – we are already looking forward to the next edition.

The time runs… the last ’12 afternoon

jezovec — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:46:26 +0000

Following the exciting programme of the conference, we forgot to blog…

Yesterday (and early today’s) social dinner with the traditional (and traditionally sucessfull) MarkLogic Jam went smoothly in the warmth of Strahov Monastry restaurant. And outside? Word goes that even Russian taxi-drivers complain it is cold in Prague now!

Here is a trove of links related to the latest developments:

Thomas White’s photo streams.

A video archive of the sessions.

The first day is about to end…

jezovec — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:58:50 +0000

Only oXygen logo and enthusiasts in the adjanced room still shine in the spooky emptiness of UoE corridors…

The lecture room is getting ready

Petr Cimprich — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:23:23 +0000

While geeks acclimatize for XML Prague in pre-conference sessions, Vencovskeho aula – the new main lecture hall for the main conference – is getting ready. The video is working, projectors, boards for posters, tables for catering, …

Pre-conference sessions have started

Petr Cimprich — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:17:06 +0000

The pre-conference day has started this year’s XML Prague. Roughly estimating, about 100 people take part in three parallel tracks. See the program for details.

eXist-db meeting

Mike Kay talking about Saxon CE.

230 folks heading to icy Prague

Petr Cimprich — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:47:10 +0000

The registration through XML Prague website is over; 230 participants have registered for this year’s event. Though this is 100 more than the last year XML Prague remains a relatively small meeting; and we hope it will keep its informal and friendly atmosphere. The scenery is changing but people remain. BTW, the people are coming from nearly all European countries, the USA, Canada and even Australia.

We can guarantee that XML Prague will be a pretty cool conference this year. More than cool – ice cold, frozen, arctic. Like most of Europe, Prague is very cold these days. According to a local forecast, temperatures during the day can be as low as -15 C (5 F). All facilities are of course heated but don’t forget your winter cap and scarf if you want to survive in good health outside.

Friday is getting form

Petr Cimprich — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:53:52 +0000

The plan to make Friday before the XML Prague weekend available for sessions organized by participants had a good response. Quite a few folks announced their intention to arrange a session, and most of them even got an interest of participants. Thanks to their efforts we have been able to publish the program for Friday the last week.

There will be six sessions in three parallel tracks. All tracks will be hosted in the 3rd floor of Rajská budova (RB, Paradise Building). The RB 213 room will host the eXist-db mini-conference all day. The first part will be about new features and road map. The second part will be given over to members of eXist-db community to present their projects. This event has been arranged by Adam Retter. Two events will take place in the RB 212 room: Saxon CE workshop by Michael Kay and a meeting of oXygen (XML editor) users organized by George Bina. The last room, RB 211, will gradually see three shorter evens: BaseX meeting by Christian Grün, XQuery in the Cloud by William Candillion, and a meeting about XSL-FO by Tony Graham.

The Friday sessions are open to all registered XML Prague participants; there is no additional entrance fee. Some organizers would appreciate if you register your seat in advance (see the Friday page for details) but the capacity of rooms should be sufficient (each about 100). There will be no refreshment arranged for Friday; but the campus of Economical University offers a café and a restaurant to feed starving XML fans. There is a chill-out area with vending machines at the same floor, few meters from the lecture rooms. A cafeteria is one floor below. The restaurant “Akademický klub” is in the same building and can be achieved within 5 minutes by walking.

The last info: The XML Prague registration desk will be open all Friday so that anyone can check-in comfortably, avoiding the Saturday morning crowd. If you can start XML Prague 2012 on Friday, February 10.

On conference video and its archives

jezovec — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:07:04 +0000

As any seasoned visitor to the conference knows, XMLPrague was streamed to the Internet in couple of its latest annual incarnations.

XMLPrague video streaming started as a kind of experiment with a generous offer by River Valley’s Kaveh Bazargan in 2009, and it continues with MediaWork, our current media partner, till today.

Over the years, we enhanced our video stream with the twitterwall feedback, than has become quite popular by both oversea participants and lurkers, and people in the auditorium (hopefully by the presenters exposed to a barrage of witty text-bits as well).

While on-line video stream is a great feature for the conference, we felt that the records, the information they bear, should be available even after the sessions flow beyond the event horizon. Video providers offer their own video archives, but it seemed to us that we should expose the records more visibly, in a way more convenient for a watcher seeking XML-related enlightenment or entertainment.

Thus we deliberate to go mainstream, and opened a XMLPrague Youtube channel. It contains couple of key videos from the last two years now, and we will add more over the time, including videos from the upcoming 2012 conference.

Pre-conference day

Petr Cimprich — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 07:54:35 +0000

The XML Prague conference will include two full days of sessions in 2012 again. These will take place on Saturday and Sunday (February 11-12, 2012) – the weekend format works well and there is no reason to change it. However, we are adding Friday (February 10) as what we call a “pre-conference day”.

What does it mean? We have booked several lecture rooms and we make them available to XML Prague participants to organize their own events – workshops, user group meetings, whatever. The rooms are available free of charge. The only condition is that those attending Friday events should register for XML Prague. The list of pre-conference events, their programs and contacts to organizers will be presented at the XML Prague website. There is already the first action committed – the traditional meeting of eXist developers, organized by Adam Retter.

Do you have an idea about a session for Friday? Please let us know so that we can count with you. Send us a note to friday AT xmlprague.cz. The available space and time are limited.

XML Prague 2012 – the venue

Petr Cimprich — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:22:16 +0000

The seventh edition of XML Prague will be different in a couple of respects. The most visible change is perhaps the new venue. Our little conference has always been connected to the Lesser Town campus of Charles University. The beautiful building just a few steps from primary Prague’s tourist attractions has been the conference home since 2005. And it was a perfect home – until we have reached its limits. The maximum capacity of 140 people was no problem for the early editions (2005 – 2009), but it became a weakness in the recent years. In 2010, the conference was sold out two months before it started. And in 2011, the last available seats were taken before we announced the speakers and sessions.

While the growing interest was nice it was pretty frustrating to reply to a number of disappointed people that they really could not register. Unless we wanted to turn XML Prague into a closed meeting for the same group of people it was the time to increase the capacity.

Unfortunately, the Lesser Town campus has no larger lecture hall than S5 we have been using. Reluctantly, we have had to look for a new venue. The help has come from Economical University in Prague which has got modern facilities with several large lecture halls. The largest one – Vencovského aula – can accommodate 425 people. This is where XML Prague will take place in 2012.

The new venue is still in the down town of Prague, in a walking distance from the Wenceslas Square and the Central Train Station. The surrounding area – Žižkov – is rich in authentic pubs and restaurants. We hope that the change of our traditional venue will be understood as a necessary step forward, and that the regular and new participants will find their way to the new place.

XML Prague – a conference on XML
February 10-12, 2012
University of Economics, nam. W. Churchilla, Prague

[originally posted on pcimprich.blog.root.cz]