1. I have a question which is not answered in this FAQ, what do I do?
2. What is Open Source/Open Science?
3. Why is it being held at Brookhaven National Laboratory as opposed to some big conference center in New York City or elsewhere?
4. Why is the conference being held only for one day as opposed to 2 or 3 days which is more of the norm?
5. No fair, I live in Australia and there is no way I can make it to Long Island to attend the conference. What can I do?
6. I live in the New York metro area and would like to attend. What's the best way to get there?
7. I'm a supporter of Open Source in science. How can I help?
8. I work for a company who could benefit from some exposure at this conference. What do I do?
9. Why are you charging $25 to get in? It's an Open Source conference and should be Open to the public.
10. I don't want to spend $25 bucks and I don't want to spend all day at the conference. But I would like to check out the tours and see the vendors in the auditorium lobby. Can I still come?
11. I'm a member of a LUG or computer club who uses Open Source or Free Software who would like to participate. What do I do?
12. Why is the Abstract submission process so weird?

1. I have a question which is not answered in this FAQ, what do I do?

Send e-mail with your question to osos@openscience.bnl.gov. Also, sign up to the osos-list conference e-mail list and post your question there.

Open Source/Open Science is a conference being held at Brookhaven National Laboratory, on Saturday, October 2nd, 1999. The conference will present a series of talks intended to introduce the concept of Open Source and its current application in scientific endeavors.

3. Why is it being held at Brookhaven National Laboratory as opposed to some big conference center in New York City or elsewhere?

Brookhaven National Laboratory is home to several hundred research scientists, programmers, and engineers; its experimental facilities provide resources for scientific collaborations involving thousands of scientists worldwide -- thousands of visiting researchers each year. Because of its rich back drop of scientific exploration, some of it Nobel prize-winning, and because much of this research depends on Open Source software, BNL is an ideal site to host this conference. In particular, attendees will be able to take tours of some of the facilities to see firsthand how much of an impact Open Source software is having on the research front.

Prominent among BNL's unique experimental facilities is the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, an "atom smasher" which will begin operating at the end of this year. BNL also is home of the National Synchrotron Light Source, a facility which uses high intensity X-Ray and UV photon beams for crystallography, material science, and biological research. There is a first class medical imaging program where high field Magnetic Resonance Imaging cameras and Positron Emission Tomographs are used to engage in brain research. The research has lead to understanding some of the mechanisms behind drug addiction among other things. The BNL Biology department has a genomics group which is involved in a number of DNA sequencing projects, and is working on the proteomics initiative, which aims at developing rapid throughput determination of the structures of the huge numbers of proteins whose existences are now being revealed by DNA sequencing efforts. BNL also has a Chemistry department and several departments and divisions specializing in advance technology and instrumentation research.

This conference is the first of its kind, and its scope has grown rapidly since the idea's inception. A series of talks by local researchers and developers was originally planned, but as enthusiasm snowballed we've added a software poster/demo session, invited vendors, planned facility tours, and are flying in several speakers. Even though the organizing committee has grown (now we are 11), our resources and time are limited and we've decided to restrict the event to a single day for this year.

If this conference is successful this year, we expect to hold another, expanded version in the future and that will probably be multi-day.

Not to worry, we are planning to broadcast the conference over the Internet so that everyone can participate. For those who cannot travel to Long Island, we have provided several mailing lists. These will allow pre- and post-conference participation and will have announcements and information about how to download the software needed to view the multicast of the conference. During the day of the conference, we will be encouraging the virtual attendants to send questions by email, to be asked of the speakers and panelists. We look forward to seeing email from far away places which only the Internet can reach.

Brookhaven Lab is relatively close to the Long Island Rail Road station at Ronkonkoma, which has hourly service to Penn Station, NY. We will provide a free bus connection between the Ronkonkoma station and BNL, so if you get to Ronkonkoma, we'll get you here.

Another option is to search the ride-share email list we've set up to see if anybody near you is headed this way.

Spread the word about this event to anybody or any group you can think of. Be sure to pass out the conference URL, http://openscience.bnl.gov, and also encourage people to sign up on the osos-list e-mail list. This list provides a general discussion forum for those who are interested in the conference and the topic it is covering. Any questions, comments and suggestions about the conference should be posted to this list. And by all means register and attend if you can.

Participate in our vendor and sponsorship program. Please call Ed McFadden at (516)-344-4188 or e-mail him at emc@bnl.gov for more information.

We discussed the issue of the entrance fee over and over again during our organizational meetings and it was a contentious issue. We wanted to keep the conference free so as to encourage as many people as possible to come to the Lab to attend the conference. The problem was that it was going to cost money to do all this. We were able to get generous backing from several of the Lab departments, but that funding was only enough to cover the cost of getting the speakers to the Lab as well as other, non-attendee related costs. Lunch (necessary! the conference lasts all day) will be the single biggest per attendant cost.

Perhaps more important, the auditorium is limited to 400 people, so we were afraid that people would register and not show up. In the event that the conference sells out, this would affect those who do want to come, but could not due to conference selling out. The last thing we needed was to have empty seats in the auditorium when the conference supposedly sold out.

So, after a lot of heated discussions, we set the conference attendance price at $25. We figured that would be low enough not to discourage students and postdocs to attend, but would discourage those who would tend to sign up and not show up and it would cover the cost of lunch for each attendee.

Sorry, but we need people to register in order to attend the conference. The real problem is not in the registration fee, but in keeping track of who shows up to the conference. Because Brookhaven National Laboratory is a DOE research facility, there are some security regulations in place which require that we inform the guards at the gate of who is attending the conference. A list of the attendees will be given to them and if your name is not on it, then you will not be allowed on site.

We are reserving a room, specifically for you folks, to promote yourselves. We will provide table space, power and a connection to the Internet via DHCP so that you can set up a PC or Laptop to show off your group's web site and the Open Source or Free Software you work with.

Its important to show that Open Source is not just something used by scientists for their research, but that its available to any and all who would like to venture into using it. So, we need your help in promoting your group at the conference and help us show the attendants what can be done with Open Source software on a PC.

For further information, please contact Tim Sailer at 516-344-3001 or e-mail him at sailer@bnl.gov. Also send e-mail to osos@openscience.bnl.gov.

With the conference being organized in so little time, it was considered necessary by the organizing committee to try and devise a way to maximize the number of abstracts submitted to be presented as poster/demos at the conference. Therefore, the abstract submission process was broken up into two periods. Abstracts submitted on or before September 7th, would be collected and reviewed together with an approval date of September 8th. This would give sufficient time for those who need to plan their travel arrangements to book lower air fairs.

After September 8th, a quick review period of 2 working days will be in effect. Abstracts will be reviewed on a first come first served basis. This review period will last up until September 20th. Since the organizers need to plan on the hardware needed to set up the poster/demo room, the deadline could not be extended any further.

If you have any questions regarding the abstract submission process, please send e-mail to osos@openscience.bnl.gov.