Do you make stuff with your hands and like to hangout with those that do too? Come out to Hackforge on Thursdays at 7PM to meet with other makers, work on your project, or get inspired.
What is a maker? A maker is a person who likes to build and craft things with their hands and minds. It could be with electronics, 3d printers, art or just simply crafting with beads.
?Board Game Night: Pen/Paper RPGs
Friday, July 13 @ 7PM Facebook | Meetup
Curious about pen and paper roleplaying games? Familiar but want to try something new? Sign up for a one-session collaborative storytelling game. Registration is necessary to ensure yourself a seat, but is open to anyone.
? Maker Workshop: CAD in Fusion 360
Saturday, July 14 @ 12PM Facebook | Meetup
Please join us for a Maker Workshop covering Fusion 360. We’ll cover some basic techniques on sketching and some modifications to solids. To participate just bring your laptop with Fusion 360 installed and updated. You can download a free 30-day trial of Fusion 360 here.
☁ AWS Users Group: Summer Fun – Planning our Fall Project!
Monday, July 16 @ 7PM Facebook | Meetup
Coming this fall, we are going to be starting a fun project, involving many different areas of AWS! On July 16th, we’ll reveal the project, and show off some of the pieces we’ll be putting together. Everyone will be involved in building a part of the solution, so come on out and find out what’s in store!
? ? Museum Technology Users Group: Telling Stories with Maps
Tuesday, July 24 @ 7PM Facebook | Meetup
The Museum Technology User Group (MTUG), co-organized with the South Western Ontario Heritage Council (SWOHC) is a meet-up for arts, culture and heritage sector workers who would like to learn more about technology and its applications in galleries, libraries, archives, museums, and heritage organizations. The group will meet to discuss tools and how to use them, what resources are available and even explore hands-on activities.
This month, we’ll be exploring learning how to tell stories with maps! We’ll go over web mapping tools such as Google Fusion Tables and CARTO and have a hands-on activity using History Pin.
?Software Guild: Town Hall
Wednesday, July 25 @ 7PM Facebook | Meetup
Software Guild needs a new direction and a new focus. If you want to get involved in deciding the direction our community of programmers takes – the tech we focus on, the types of events we have – join us.
TechBoost Workshops in July
TechBoost: Cyber Security for Small Business
Thursday, July 12 @ 5:30pm Register | Facebook
Essex County Library – LaSalle Branch, 5950 Malden Rd, Windsor, Ontario
Do you worry that your business is not as secure as it could be? Do you need to hire a security consultant and want to know what to ask for? Do you want to be prepared in the event of a security breach? By the end of this workshop, you’ll understand what parts of your business you need to protect, what are the risks and and threats, and how to identify and monitor tools to address these threats. You’ll come away with some steps you can take to make your business more secure.
TechBoost: Office Automation with Google Apps
Monday, July 16, 2018 @ 5:30pm Register | Facebook
Libro Community Centre and Library, 1925 South Middle Road, South Woodslee, Ontario
Do you need a more efficient and affordable way to manage your business’s files, calendar, and customers? Do you need flexible tools to collaborate with your team in real-time? Do you want to be able to access your company’s tools and data anywhere, anytime and on any device? This workshop, part of the TechBoost Program, is for owners or employees of small business who want to know what G-Suite is, what tools and products are available and ways you can utilize the best ones to automate and enhance your business processes.
TechBoost: Up and Running with Shopify
Wednesday, July 18, 2018 @ 5:30pm Register | Facebook
Essex County Library – LaSalle Branch, 5950 Malden Rd, Windsor, Ontario
Does the idea of setting up your online store seem way too time-consuming? Are you worried you might not set up your online store correctly? Do you want a rundown of how to get your store up and running and how to maximize the features available on Shopify? By the end of this workshop, you’ll have your Shopify account set up and know how to choose a theme, customize your theme, add products and manage shipping.
Building Effective Websites with WordPress
Thursday, July 19, 2018 @ 5:30pm Register | Facebook
Essex County Library – LaSalle Branch, 5950 Malden Rd, Windsor, Ontario
Do you need to create a website for your business, but not sure what platform or service to use? Have you heard about WordPress, or even tried it and feel overwhelmed by what’s involved? Do you have an out-of-date website and want to update it with a fresh and elegant design? This workshop will help you to determine what you want a website to do for your business. It will also explore the options to build it yourself or to engage professionals.
Facebook Marketing 101 for Business
Wednesday, July 25 @ 5:30pm Register | Facebook
Essex County Library – LaSalle Branch, 5950 Malden Rd, Windsor, Ontario
Not sure what to be posting on Facebook? Or further… How to create that content? Looking for an easy way to find clients online? By the end of this workshop, participants will have a series of content ideas for their own social media marketing, the tools to create this content and a clear plan on how to utilize Facebook to grow their business and clientele. TechBoost: The Cloud: Working Smarter, Not Harder
Thursday, July 26, 2018 @ 5:30pm Register | Facebook
Essex County Library – LaSalle Branch, 5950 Malden Rd, Windsor, Ontario
What’s available for small business and how do I choose?
Straight Outta the Cloud! Update your numbers, log your inventory, track your staff hours, pay your bills and so much more. Cloud systems are rapidly expanding and giving small business owners back their time to work ON their business and NOT IN their business. By the end of this workshop, participants will understand what the tech world has to offer not only their accounting but apps and integrations that are game changers for small business owners.
Hackforge is excited to partner with Life Gears Academy this summer to offer three summer camps in July.
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Girl STEMpowerment (Grade 5 to 8) July 16 to 20
Life Skills: Mindfulness, Conflict Management, and Confidence
This camp works to empower young women to realize their potential and to discuss their presence in STEM fields. This is designed for anyone who identifies as a girl and who wants to come together with other girls to discuss ways that they can make a difference. Topics include but are not limited to careers in STEM, medicine, environment, chemistry, engineering, and animals.
??? Innovative Designers(Grades 4 to 6) July 23 to 27
Life Skills: Problem Solving, Creative thinking, and Giving and Receiving Feedback.
Campers will learn about innovative ideas and discoveries made in STEM fields while learning what it takes to make inventions of their own. This camp will get kids thinking about what problems exist in the world and how they could use discoveries in STEM to make improvements. Topics include but are not limited to Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, building and design, and technology.
??⌨ STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Team (Grade 4 to 6) July 30 to August 3
Life Skills: Critical Thinking, Problem solving, and Teamwork.
This camp will offer hands-on activities in various STEM topics from Biology/ Living things to Programming as well as engineering design challenges and adding/ subtracting. Topics include but are not limited to various types of engineering, habitats and species, math and riddles, chemistry, and building and design.
Hey Everyone! This is a reminder that at 7:00pm on Tuesday, March 13, 2018, Windsor Hackforge will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at 255 Ouellette Avenue, Windsor, Ontario.
At this meeting, all members deemed to be in good standing (up to date with member dues) as of March 1st, 2018 are eligible to vote in the election of Directors and Volunteer Representatives.
Agenda:
1. Call to Order
2. Adoption of Agenda
3. Report of Officers:
a) President’s Report to the Members
b) Treasurer’s Report
4. Staff and Committee Reports:
c) TechBoost Coordinator Report
5. Election of Officers
6. Adjournment
At 7:00 pm on March 13, 2018, Windsor Hackforge will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at 255 Ouellette Avenue, Windsor, Ontario.
At this meeting, all members deemed to be in good standing (up to date with member dues) as of March 1st, 2018 are eligible to vote in the election of Directors and Volunteer Representatives.
Intents to stand as a Director or Volunteer Representative must be submitted to the Returning Officer for this election: President of the Board of Directors, Katie Facecchia. Intents must be filed via electronic mail to the Board of Directors email address: directors@hackf.org. Intents should include a covering letter to the Nomination Committee. Please include a preferred contact method, in case the Committee needs further information.
The Nomination Committee will carefully consider all intents filed and prepare a ballot for voting by members at the AGM.
There are two open Director positions up for election.
If insufficient intents are filed by the deadline, or if the Nomination Committee’s choices do not fill the ballot, nominations will be taken from the floor at the AGM.
The meeting agenda, and any other required materials, will be distributed to members at least 48 hours prior to the AGM.
A Multi-Cloud Solution using Azure & AWS Windsor-Essex .Net Developers
Tuesday, June 6: 7:00 PM
While some cloud users are evaluating AWS vs. Azure, many enterprises are planning to use both cloud providers to avoid vendor lock-in and latency while creating redundancy. The session will cover:
1) AWS vs. Azure differences for compute, networking, storage and pricing.
2) Recent and coming enhancements for AWS Lambda and Azure Functions.
3) Multi-cloud environments can be complex so let’s discuss the best practices for cloud deployments when using both AWS and Azure. Facebook / Meetup
Smart Garden Workshop: Soil Sensors & the Internet of Things Saturday, June 10: 1:00 – 3:00 PM
Take your indoor garden to the next step with this all-levels workshop. Learn to create a device that will tell you when your plants are thirsty by turning on a light, sending a text, or tweeting! At the end, you will have a full, functional Particle Photon kit to take home. Register Now!
Summer Jam: The Great Canadian Game Jam Sunday, June 11: 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Less than 30 days left to submit your project to The Great Canadian Game Jam! In the 150 days leading up to Canada Day on July 1, game developers across the country have been busy making games to show off their Canadian pride!
Join us for our final local meetup before the deadline, share a free pizza supper to keep up our energy, discuss how to add final touch-ups and take a peek at projects our developers have in store! All while E3, the biggest game conference of the year, occurs live online! Facebook / Meetup
Industrial Automation Group: PLC Design Patterns Monday, June 12: 7:00 PM
Programmable logic controllers are far from open source, and programming them can seem like an arcane art, but there are certain algorithms and patterns we use over and over. This month at Hackforge’s Industrial Automation Club, we’ll share and learn tricks of the trade. Everyone from beginner to expert is welcome. Facebook / Meetup
Open Coding Night Wednesday, June 14: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Have a project you’re working on? Need to bounce ideas off other programmers? Want to try out a tutorial for new programming language? From beginners to pros, Open Coding Night is designated time for you to hone your craft.
Bring your laptop and get coding! Facebook / Meetup
Artist Talk: Neighbourhood FREE SPACE Residency Thursday, June 15: 7:00 PM
Hackforge is pleased to partner with Arts Council Windsor & Region (ACWR) for their latest neighbourhood FREE SPACE – Self Directed Residency. Alex Beriault (Toronto), Béla Varga (Windsor), and Laura Horne Gaul (Kingsville) will be giving a talk at Hackforge about their work. Hackforge is hosting Beriault and Varga for the June FREE SPACE – Self Directed Residency. Facebook / Meetup
Board Game Night Friday, June 16: 7:00 – 10:00 PM
Join us for a night of board games and card games from 7-10PM. This event is free and open to everyone. If you’re new to board games, we encourage you to come by as we will have trusty Hackforgers there to help get you started. Facebook / Meetup
Border City Data: Crash Test Data Dummies Monday, June 19: 7:00 PM
You wouldn’t test a car’s safety features using a real person – they might get hurt. So, why don’t we do the same thing for software test environments?
Is protecting your test environments as if they were production environments a pain? Do you want more flexibility in who gets access to your test environments? Does developer access to sensitive data keep you and your auditors up at night? This talk is for you! Come an learn the fundamentals of changing test data so that it’s no longer sensitive but still useful for tests. Facebook / Meetup
Repair The World: Field Trip to Green Sun Rising Solar
RESCHEDULED Tuesday, July 4: 7:00 PM at Green Sun Rising Solar
This month, we will venturing out into the world for a field trip!
We’re going to visit Green Sun Rising Solar for a tour of their space. “Green Sun Rising Inc. is a Windsor Ontario based company focusing on developing and supplying solar systems, both solar PV for clean electricity, and solar thermal for clean heat energy. ”
Repair the World is a monthly meet-up of those who want to learn more about the technologies and policies we can employ in Windsor-Essex to lead us towards a carbon-neutral future and to help our community cope with the effects of global warming. Facebook / Meetup
Project Management Group: Project Scope and Requirements Docs Wednesday, June 21: 7:00 PM
In a real work environment, each requirements definition is written slightly differently. As a group are we able to define what works well in each of them to come up with a list of best practices for writing good requirements definitions (e.g. how to write a good requirement, what to avoid, sections to include in the document, etc.). We are looking for examples of well-written scope documents and requirements definition documents, so bring your own and talk about your experiences. Come and share your experience, provide new ideas and learn from others! Facebook / Meetup
3D Print Club: 3D Sculpting Saturday, June 24: 1:00 PM
Join the 3D Printing Club for this afternoon event all about 3D sculpting! Facebook / Meetup
Fireworks Night Drop-In Monday, June 26: 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Before heading down to the fireworks, drop by Hackforge for tech demos and kids activities! This interactive event is great for all ages. More details to come. Facebook / Meetup
Book Club: Infomocracy by Malka Ann Older Tuesday, June 27: 7:00 PM
Join us this month for a casual discussion on Malka Ann Older’s 2016 sci-fi thriller, Infomacracy. The Verge says, “It’s an intense and intriguing thriller about how technology and the flow of information can help sway public opinion and policy across the planet.” More Info Here Facebook / Meetup
Software Guild Apache & Nginx at Scale: A Comparison Wednesday, June 28: 7:00 PM
Apache, which accounts for 1/3 of all web servers on the internet, is robust and popular web server software that’s been the defacto standard for almost 20 years. Unfortunately, it often can’t stand up to the kinds of punishment modern web traffic throws at it. Find out how Apache fails at scale, and how Nginx fills the gap. Facebook / Meetup
