A Gentle First Intro to SQL

Presenter: Paul Nielsen
If you’ve copied select statements from Stack Overflow and you wondered why it worked or didn’t work. Then come to this session and learn the fundamentals of SQL.


Along for the Ride: An Industry Programmer’s Foray into Missions (Lessons I Hope I’m Learning)

Presenter: Tom Francis
The part in parentheses is what’s important here.  Since shortly after the 2014 ICCM in the US, I’ve been helping one of the organizations that usually sends people complete a project that was mentioned there, and very exciting to me.  The point of this topic would be to cover what an “industry” person like me expected, what happened (and is happening), why there’s a difference, how the differences can be good, and the lessons I thought I knew and thought were easy, but that I now know I hadn’t really learned.


Application Development Lifecycle Discussion

Presenter: Paul Nielsen
If you develop software then you know there is a plethora of methods, techniques, and software tools to help you organize the development effort. In this session we’ll open the discussion to what works and what has been frustrating.


Authentication and Data Security Basics: Definitions and Anti-patterns

Presenter: Tom Francis
Most problems in authentication and data security systems stem from a misunderstanding (and therefore misapplication) of security components and a few common patterns that break security. This discussion will define the most common components, illustrate how to put them together correctly, and show several common mistakes seen in production code that significantly weaken encryption.


Coding with Integrity

Presenter: Greg Beeley
Every day, missions organizations and their volunteers create new software and web pages to meet specific missions needs.  Much of that software is public-facing, and it can provide attack vectors by which hackers can compromise the missions organizations’ data.  Come learn the basics of creating attack-resistant applications and web systems in order to help mitigate these threats.


The Culture of Technology

Presenter: Roy Campbell
Over time, Technology in it’s various form has influenced Culture. This session will be a bird’s eye view at this topic. The goal is for attendees to be equipped to implement new technologies in ways that will grow the culture in their organizations in a healthy manner


Designing User Experiences

Presenter: Paul Nielsen
If you’re involved with creating software at nearly any level of job role, understanding the basics of user experience (UX) design is significant. In this workshop we’ll look at the principles and psychology behind a good UX.


Hackathon Proposals

Presenter: Greg Beeley
Hackathons, including LightSys’ Spring Break Code-a-Thon for Missions, are becoming more and more common in the Christian ministry community.  These events provide crucial opportunities for missions to connect with people who may never have thought of using their programming, design, and engineering skills in missions.  Come learn how to effectively put together a project (“challenge”) proposal for a hackathon, so you can effectively engage with unmobilized groups of techies.  We will also talk briefly about what is involved in coordinating or hosting a hackathon event.


Hard Drive Recovery

Presenter: Tim Young


Is your Software Team Awesome?

Presenter: Steve Pavarno
Responsible for one or more developers? How can you know if they are doing a great job? We will explore the “evidence of awesome-ness” as seen in the software process; tools; code quality; user’s experience of the end product; people (attitude and ability); and risks. A mix of theory and practical advice, with plenty of time for discussion. Programmers also welcome to offer their thoughts and experience.


IT Leadership in Missions

 


LAMP Stack Security

Presenter: Greg Beeley
The LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, and PHP) is an incredibly common and successful web platform.  Come learn how to secure and fine-tune your LAMP installations for improved resistance to hacking activity, even regarding as-of-yet-unknown vulnerabilities.


Linux High Availability Strategies and Technologies

Presenter: Ben Woods


MP3 Gospel materials on phone and other small devices

Presenter: John Edmiston


No (Tech)Soup for You!

Presenter: Kevin Weaver
How do we navigate in a world where Christians are discriminated against for discriminating? Can we adjust to work with the rules of the culture around us without compromising? Can we find ways to solve our ministry’s IT problems if taking a stand means loosing access (whether affordable or absolute) to popular technologies?


PHP Ecosystem and Tools (Roundtable)

Led by: Steve Pavarno
Changes to the core language, the rise of composer and the PHP-FIG (framework interoperability group) have ignited a revolution in the way we do PHP over the last few years. Asynchronous / event driven and functional packages hint at interesting new directions. Bring your experience to an open but structured discussion on what we are all using, what works and doesn’t.


Secure Communications using Office 365

 


Security Configuration using Puppet

Presenter: Brad Roberts


Storage Concepts, Technologies and Protocols

Presenter: Ben Woods


Synology NAS Devices

Presenter: David White


Time Management

Presenter: John Edmiston


Zarafa WebMeetings

Presenter: Craig Thompson
Zarafa WebMeetings is built on the WebRTC platform which provides encrypted end-to-end secure communications via chat, voice, video, screen sharing and file uploads.  Participants will be able to use demo accounts to try out the technology in a group conference as well as between one another.  Demos of the technology have been done in very remote locations including East Asia, South America, Europe, and southern Africa with very positive results.