SMWCon Spring 2015

The Spring 2015 SMWCon was held May 6-8 in St. Louis, Missouri.

SMWCon is a twice-yearly event for users and developers of Semantic MediaWiki.

Following the success of recent SMWCons, we had one tutorial day and two conference days.

Location
St. Louis is the "Gateway to the West" and one of the most vibrant communities in the Mid-Western United States. Among the 20 largest metropolitan areas in the US, St. Louis is home to several major corporations such as Anheuser-Busch, Express Scripts, and Peabody Energy. St. Louis is also home to numerous attractions and parks. The City Museum, Forest Park, the Gateway Arch, and the St. Louis Zoo - just to name a few. With projects like Arch Grants, LaunchCode, and LockerDome, St. Louis is growing as a tech hub for new startups and entrepreneurs.

Read more about our venue.

Program
The first day was a focus on tutorials around SMW and related technologies (basics, extensions, integrations, and more). The second day was a more traditional track of 30-45 minute presentations on various topics. The last day continued presentations and community discussions.

Proposed Topics for community discussions
''The discussion is one of the most important part of the conference. Please add issues you want to discuss.''


 * Some discussions are captured under the SMWCon Spring 2015/Discussions page.

Sponsors

 * Mercy, a Catholic, non-profit, healthcare system serving across the mid-west is one of our sponsors.
 * SNPedia, a wiki-based bioinformatics web site that serves as a database of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

Informal attendee list
''This is a very preliminary list. If you are planning to attend, please add your name below.''
 * 1) Chris Koerner (Reason for attending: "I want to know more about husbandry of cats")
 * 2) Paul Boal
 * 3) Mark A. Hershberger
 * 4) Yaron Koren
 * 5) Mike Cariaso re: SNPedia
 * 6) Isaac Farley
 * 7) Peter J. Woudsma
 * 8) John McClure
 * 9) Andrew Geary
 * 10) Cindy Cicalese
 * 11) Wolfgang Fahl
 * 12) James Montalvo
 * 13) Daren Welsh
 * 14) Jason Reeder
 * 15) G. Brett Miller
 * 16) Clark Verbrugge
 * 17) Stephanie Johnston
 * 18) Steve Slatter
 * 19) Jeremi Plazas
 * 20) Megan Cutrofello

Venue Information
SMWCon was hosted at T-REX, a co-working space and tech incubator. T-REX is located in the heart of downtown St. Louis. It's within walking distance of the majority of hotels and public transportation.

Lambert St. Louis International Airport
St. Louis is home to the Lambert St. Louis International Airport. Airlines include Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, United, and US Airways.

From the airport you can take either a taxi, of which there are many servicing the terminals or use public transportation. Uber also operates it’s “Uber Black” services within the city.

Metrolink
St. Louis has a light-rail system that terminates at the Lambert Airport. From the airport you can buy a one-way ticket, round-trip, or multi-day pass which will take you into downtown St. Louis.

The two closest stations to the conference venue are the Convention Center Metrolink Station, and the Union Station Metrolink Station. Both are a short (<1mile) walk to the conference location.

MetroBus
We also have a robust GPS-tracked bus system within the city and surrounding county. More details at: http://www.metrostlouis.org/

Hotels
There are many options for lodging during the event. Many of these hotels are located a mere block or two from the nearest light rail station. All are less than a mile from either suggested venues.

Here’s just a few options.


 * Omni Majestic
 * Embassy Suites
 * Renaissance
 * The Magnolia
 * Westin (a little further, but near Busch Stadium!)

Dining
If attendees arrive early, or stay later, there are a ton of great local restaurants to try.


 * Caruso’s Deli - a great local deli that’s been around for years. Best sandwiches in St. Louis.
 * Bailey’s Range - a contemporary venue with fresh takes on traditional recipes.
 * Schlafly Tap Room - a local brewery with more types of beer than you could imagine.
 * Mango - an upscale Peruvian restaurant with a splendid bar and wine election. If the weather is agreeable their outside patio is a joy.

Other Things to Do

 * The Gateway Arch is about 1.3 miles from the conference venue
 * St. Louis Cardinals home game (Two games at 7:15pm. Tue, 5/5 and Wed, 5/6 against the Chicago Cubs)
 * Union Station
 * St. Louis Public Library
 * City Museum - a unique playground for adults and children alike.

Weather
The weather in early May will still be a little on the chilly side. Highs are in the upper 70° F, with lows down to 40° F at night.

You can follow the local weather at forecast.io

Social Media
Feel free to join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #SMWCon.

Semantic MediaWiki itself is at @SemanticMW

Local Organizers are @ckoerner and @paulboal

Streaming & Live Feedback
Google Hangout for Stakeholders Meeting

During SMWCon we will have a stream setup at https://mymercy.webex.com/meet/SMWCon. SMWCon Spring 2015 takes place in St. Louis, MO USA which is in the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) -5 hours or Central European Summer time (CEST) - 7 hours.

The WebEx stream will include audio and video of the presenters along with their slides/desktop. You can access the WebEx stream from Windows and Mac PCs along with other popular mobile devices.

During the event we'll be using the Semantic MediaWiki IRC channel (#semantic-mediawiki, on FreeNode) for feedback and discussion.

You can get there through FreeNode's regular, Javascript-based and Java-based clients.

Code of Conduct
Code of Conduct

Announcements

 * 1st Announcement
 * 2nd Announcement
 * 3rd Announcement
 * 4th Announcement