AndroidAalto is the final name for an Android community being created at Aalto University (Helsinki), for people interested in Android development and the happenings around the mobile operating system by Google. The original idea belonged to Maksim, the main organizer of the events.
Everything started after a short discussion between Maksim and I (Claudio). I was having an informal hackathon with my friends, to start some simple app in Android and learn how to use the Eclipse plug-in. Afterwards, I shared my positive experience with Maksim and he explained me his plans for creating an Android community. And so we decided to go forward with the project and create a community for people interested in Android.
Maksim got some contacts in Aalto University and we are allowed to use the Aalto Venture Garage (aaltovg.com), where young entrepreneurs and startup meet and prepare events and discussions. The main point of creating such a community is to engage students and people all around the Helsinki area to meet other people with the same concerns, share experiences, learn from events, develop together, etcetera.
The AndroidAalto community has not officially taken off yet, but it will be on November 13th when we will hold the first official event. It will be a skim hackathon and a kick-off presentation at the Aalto Venture Garage, in Otaniemi. In the community, we plan to have two main types of events: hackathons and keynotes.
The hackathons will consist of a small starting presentation, a couple of hours of development and possibly presenting back on what it was done in each group during the evening. On the other hand, keynotes will bring guest speakers and have more serious presentations, probably talking both about Android development but also about the ecosystems around Android and the service industry related to Google’s mobile operating system.
Last, if you are interested in Android and you live (or stay) near by the Helsinki area, we strongly recommend you to visit us and check out the first events. Please note that there are no requirements at all, neither in development skills nor in any other aspect. Everybody is more than welcome (remember: this is an open community) and we will try to make the events interesting for everybody. The main point is, after all, to meet other people interested in the same topic and try to learn from each other.
Just to recap: the kick-off event will take place on November 13th 2010, beginning at 16:00, at Aalto Venture Garage (Otaniemi). Please find enclosed a link to the map where the place is located. Maksim and I will be tweeting about the event and providing more information on other websites, including the most common social networks. We have a group on Facebook where you may join as well.
Hope to see you all at Aalto Venture Garage on November 13th at 16:00!
Map of the Aalto Venture Garage: http://maps.google.fi/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=60.180645,24.832942&daddr=&hl=en&geocode=&mra=mift&mrsp=0&sz=16&sll=60.181232,24.829981&sspn=0.006338,0.01929&ie=UTF8&ll=60.181925,24.83026&spn=0.012676,0.038581&t=h&z=15
