The 5th Boston Python Workshop ran last weekend at MIT. It was our largest event yet, at 60 attendees and 15 instructors, and had people traveling from as far away as New York to attend. Thank you to all the phenomenal volunteers who helped make this workshop happen.

This workshop was special for a couple of reasons:

1. It was the first workshop to utilize our grant from the Python Software Foundation’s Outreach and Education Committee. Thank you to the PSF for supporting us as we continue here in Boston and grow to other cities.
2. PyCon donated 2 free registrations to the workshop, which we raffled off to attendees. Our winners were a Harvard librarian excited to start utilizing programming in her job, and a teacher excited to write and explore the pedagogy behind educational computer games. Thank you PyCon for supporting this workshop and crafting a conference that is truly beginner-friendly.
3. We found out shortly after this workshop that the talk Asheesh Laroia and I submitted on the Boston Python Workshop and diversity in the Boston Python community was accepted for PyCon 2012! I hope interested readers of this blog who are attending will join us for this discussion on practical programming outreach. If you need help getting to PyCon, the conference has a great financial aid program.

For more details on the 5th Boston Python Workshop, check out:

• photos from this and other workshops
• the workshop wiki
• the event description and reviews
• a great workshop write-up by attendee Trish Fontanilla

This group was really into social media; we had a ton of tweeting, picture posting, and even FourSquare checkins!

I was really impressed to see people from the PSF and PyCon engaging with our attendees on Twitter. During the workshop we talk about “why Python?” and the language’s commitment to community and diversity; the PyCon registration donations and social media engagement were proof of that commitment and an awesome welcome to the community:

Our follow-up project night is January 10th. We run the Boston Python Workshop every 2 months, so see you in February for #6!

Want to see an event like this in your city? Get in touch! Our material is all online and Creative Commons licensed.

-Jessica, for the