DebConf feed

Report from our visit to Managua, Nicaragua

Sat, 12 May 2012 23:19:00 +0000

I’ve send a mail today with a summary of some of my experiences in Managua and tiny bits of Nicaragua late April / early May 2012. If you are considering going to DebConf12 (which you obviously should do as you are reading this!) go and read this mail, as it includes a thematically sorted list of impressions and advice written by Gunnar, Norman, Leo, Felix and myself, which should give you some better idea about DebConf12 in Managua!

While I spent 14 days in Nicaragua in total, for the last three days I was joined by Gunnar Wolf, to make sure my impressions about the local team, the status of the preparations and everything were correct. Our visit also seems to have been very motivating to local team members, whom I’ve seen really enthusiastic to welcome a huge Debian crowd for the first DebConf in Central America in just a few weeks!

At the last DebConf12 IRC meeting I summarized it like this: “in very short: my two weeks were great, I had a great vacation, met many members of the localteam, which is way bigger then it seems on irc, saw and liked UCA (Universidad Centroamericana, the DebConf12 venue), had zillions of reunions (meetings, see schedule wiki page) and met many nice people and a very hot & interesting country+capital with great countryside.”

The deadline for sponsored accomodation ends in three days - so if you haven’t registered yet, hurry up, DebCamp starts in 49 days! :-) (After that registration is still possible, but you will need to pay for your costs yourself.)

We’re looking forward to see you there and have a great DebConf together! Hopefully we sweat together while Wheezy is frozen :-D

Submit your greatest ideas as a DebConf12 talk (read: Call for Papers reminder)

Thu, 10 May 2012 00:49:00 +0000

DebConf12 is drawing closer and closer! Have you ever been to a DebConf? You will surely agree with us: It’s a life-changing event! It’s one of the greatest geek gatherings in the world! It’s something you can’t afford on missing out! It’s… wait..

Oh, sorry, I had my spam mode set to highest. But still, that does not make it any less true.

And one third of May has already passed. This means that the first deadlines are just around the corner: next Tuesday (15-may), sponsored registration will close, so make sure to register before it’s too late.

But wait… wasn’t this about the call for papers?

Right, that’s not the point of my post, I wandered off again. I’m sorry, I just visited Managua last weekend (Holger will soon tell you about our visit), and it’s impossible to keep the mind off the excitement. I wanted to ask you to share your greatest, latest ideas or projects.

DebConf is about many things — But one of its most important features is its rich set of talks, usually with very high and interesting contents in the technical, social, organizational levels — Or several of them at once.

As always, you will be able to submit talks until a day before you present it. However, it’s best for your intended audience to know bits about your proposed topic, possibly even to share some information beforehand, so that the exposition can be as smooth as possible and the interaction during the talk even more — And this is specially true for BoF sessions.

However, we do have one advertised deadline: Talks submitted up to June 1st will be considered to be pre-scheduled. This means, to be part of the officially announced program, and have guaranteed coverage of our (always great) video team.

DebConf Tracks

But maybe you don’t feel comfortable presenting a topic. Or you are, but you think it would be important to have several thematically related talks be grouped together.

And if you are interested in this group of talks, you will probably know who would be more interesting to invite to present the topics - And will be able to prod them to do so.

You can request to coordinate a track. That will ensure you get a contiguous block of timeslots for the talks you schedule, and do a great contribution to DebConf.

To add your track, please mail talks@debconf.org. Please, specially if you do so in the few days following May 9, send me a copy to gwolf@gwolf.org, as it seems the alias is not yet set up.

Tutorials and mentoring

This year, we will have a high number of very motivated attendees from the many countries in the Central American region who want to get started in helping Debian, but have not yet found how to do it. Usually we would see local communities as prime material for DebianDay – However, many of them are more interested in getting hands-on tutorials and be mentored into contributing to Debian.

So, if you are part of a team working on a given aspect of Debian, or want to get people involved into your project, register it in the Tutorials and mentoring track.

See you all soon, very soon, in tropical Managua for the hottest DebConf ever!

(oh — For those who remember days long past in Helsinki: There is even a sauna! ;-) And it’s GREAT)

Registration open for DebConf12

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:59:00 +0000

The Debian Project is pleased to announce that registration is now open for DebConf12, which will take place in Managua, Nicaragua, from Sunday 8 July to Saturday 14 July 2012. The conference will be preceded as usual by one week of DebCamp, from Sunday 1 July to Saturday 7 July.

As previous years, three different registration options will be available: Sponsored, Professional and Corporate. Through the Sponsored category, the Debian Project intend to help some people attend who would not be able to pay for their own travel to DebConf. The Corporate category, with a USD 1300 (EUR 1000) registration fee is intended for those attending DebConf as representatives of companies. The Professional category, with a USD 650 (EUR 500) registration fee, is intended for any individual or company who wants to help the conference by paying the direct costs of their attendence.

It will only be possible to apply for food and accommodation grants and/or travel grants until 15 May. For more detailed information about how to register, please see the separate announcement from the DebConf team.

Call for papers

Debian invites submissions of proposals for papers, presentations, discussion sessions and tutorials for its DebConf12 conference. Submissions are not limited to raditional talks: you could propose a performance, art installation, debate, or anything else. Official submissions will be accepted until 1 June 2012, 23:59 UTC.

This year, we will continue to organize some talks into thematic tracks. If you have a proposal for a DebConf track, please contact <debconf-team@lists.debconf.org>. Previous examples included Debian Science, Debian Infrastructure, and Community Outreach tracks. If you would like to be a track coordinator, please volunteer on that list. Detailed information on how to submit an event are available on the mail from the DebConf team.

DebConf12 dates announced

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:59:00 +0000

The DebConf team just sent out a press release announcing the dates for DebConf12 in Nicaragua.

Dates: July 1-7, 2012 will be DebCamp and July 8-14, 2012 will be DebConf.
Press release text
About DebConf12
Contribute

We hope to see many of you there!

Make DebConf12 a success: donate or become a sponsor

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 20:29:00 +0000

The Debian Project’s annual conference is slowly coming closer. Visiting places around the world since 2000, DebConf will take place this year in Managua, Nicaragua, in July and will again provide an opportunity for people who contribute to Debian to meet in person for face-to-face collaboration and discussions.

At DebConf we try to bring together as many Debian contributors as possible, including those who could not afford to attend from their own resources. You can help make DebConf12 a success by your organisation becoming a sponsor, or by donating money as an individual.

Individual donations can be made online in either US dollars or euros.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, you can find more information about DebConf12 sponsor page or directly contact <sponsors@debconf.org>.

In addition to monetary donations, sponsorship can be provided in the form of in-kind donations, or by lending equipment for the conference period.