I am sitting on the train, returning from the first
FrOSCon, a conference
close to Cologne, organised by a bunch of volunteers, mostly
students of
Department of Computer Science of the renowned
Rhein-Main-Siegen
Fachhochschule (which seemed to fully support the endeavour), as well as
members of the
Linux / Unix User Group Sankt Augustin. I gave
a
presentation on my doctoral research (
slides available) and otherwise
spent much time talking to people about topics ranging from issues in
cooperation to strategical questions on Debian, and of course my
well-known
involvement with the
Transnational Republic. It really does seem as if
my
little experiment in Mexico rippled a long way and made people more conscious
of the meaning of key signings.
At first, I did not want to go to the conference and had even called in a week
before to cancel my slot. I had signed up as a speaker in February, just as
I was starting to get on top of
my incapacitated wrists (and the severe
muscular problems in my shoulders, which are at the root of it all) after
several months of "downtime". However, I had my hopes up too high and found
myself still unable to work for reasonable lengths of time following my
trip
to Souteast Asia, as well as before, during, and after the
Debian
conference in Mexico I attended. Consequently, the "first results" I had
promised in the abstract didn't exist, and my only option was to give a talk
along the same lines as the one
I had given at FOSDEM earlier this year --
and after three years of exposure to an academic field were people seemed to
do nothing else than deliver the same talks over and over again, I wasn't too
keen on boring my audience.
But the organisers convinced me, so I went out to buy a train ticket, and sat
my butt down to make as much as I could out of what I had. In the end, I was
very satisfied with the talk (for one, I did not experience a total loss of
slides 10 minutes into it), which was delivered to an audience of primarily
non-Debian people, and I got some valuable feedback from some of them,
especially during a longer conversation with a guy from the
OpenOffice.org
quality assurance team. Have a look at the
slides if you're interested.
I enjoyed myself at night at the social event, where my favourite wheat beer
"Unertl" was served, and once again met up to my reputation of being among the
last to go to sleep ()nd among the first to be up, as you shall see shortly)
and found my place to sleep sometime between 3 and 4 in the morning, following
very interesting discussion on some of the fundamental questions revolving
around Debian, Ubuntu, as well as several other software projects.
"My place to sleep", by the way, was on my camping mattress outside the campus
on a big meadow, which I preferred over a stuffy gym hall shared with several
dozens of others. I greatly enjoyed my time under the stars until 7 in the
morning, when the sun was already radiating unbearable heat (I was in a black
sleeping bag), some beast had stung my finger and had caused it to swell up so
much that I couldn't bend it anymore, when I remembered that I am suffering
from hay fever, and two stray dogs decided that they liked me.
I made my way back to the campus, got lost on the way to the shower and hence
could not get one for the gym hall had been closed by the time I arrived,
didn't find any wheat beer for breakfast (remember, I
am from Munich), and
finally could not fall back asleep in the chill-out area, which was located on
the top floor with windows in the ceiling and the sun right there on the other
side causing happy sparks of enthalpy and a general sense of discomfort.
Discovering "Mate Ice Tea" (which is just what it sounds like), I quickly got
high on caffeine and spent the rest of the day wired, running about because
I couldn't stay put. At least I got to see plenty of people that way.
This was the first FrOSCon and I must say that I am very impressed by the
organisation team. It was not difficult to conclude that they had spent a lot
of time thinking and planing and researching and learning from other events.
As participant, I had the impression that everything was working according to
plan at all times, I never saw any of the crew members stressed out, and the
service and little details really made one feel good, as participant and
probably even more as speaker. We (the speakers) had our own catering room, as
well as a work room attached to it, so we could always hide away from the
masses and treat ourselves to a good selection of foods and drinks, and the
work room was actually among the cooler (as in temperature) places to hang
out, so that came in as a welcoming refreshment. Network coverage and uptime
was flawless, the connection conveniently fast, and the atmosphere generally
very pleasing.
I definitely hope there'll be another FrOSCon next year, and that I'll be able
to attend.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this conference possible.
The Latin American Free Software Install Party (FLISOL) will take place in 12 countries of the continent, including Cuba, and featuring Argentina and Colombia. In Venezuela, it’s happening in ten cities in several regions of the Country, including Los Andes, Los Llanos, the Central Region and the Paraguan Peninsula. I’m organizing the event in Caracas, which already has a 
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