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Re: [Debconf-discuss] Talk != BOF



Steve Langasek dijo [Fri, Jun 09, 2006 at 06:37:01PM -0700]:
> FWIW, I had decided that next year I would not be giving any talks at
> DebConf because I regard the paper submission process as a farce.  (I also
> found that material preparation for the talks substantially interfered with
> my ability to enjoy the conference itself, so I'm not sure I would give a
> presentation next year either, but that's somewhat beside the point.)  In
> both of the talks I co-presented this year, I consider the papers a waste
> *of* paper containing no original information, being entirely secondary to
> the talks themselves.  I find, looking at the proceedings for the first time
> as I write this mail, that other papers are definitely more worthwhile, but
> either there's a double-standard for paper quality based on the identity of
> the speaker, or the standards are so low as to make the paper requirement
> itself, and the coupling of paper-writing with sponsorship money, wholly
> insulting.

Hmm... And I think this brings another topic I was thinking a bit
about, on how Debconf has changed its focus over the last years - Of
course, everything evolves, but still...

I felt that in Oslo/Brazil, the motivation was mostly "let's get
together, hack and have fun. Oh, and we will throw in some
conferences, just to make it a bit more attractive". Some people
attended the talks, some didn't. That's fine.

In Finland, most people attended. Also, the density of talks grew
tremendously - I am talking from memory, but in Brazil IIRC we had
three or so scheduled talks a day, and anyway, most people stayed at
the hacklab instead of going to _every_ talk (Corroborating: We _did_
have more talks scheduled [1], but a good deal of the talks are _real_
BoFs, sometimes not even Debian-related).

I think this happened because the increased distance at the two last
conferences between our hacking and talking areas - And yes, I'd like
to push back towards a less formal, more relaxed environment, where
talks are just one _more_ feature of Debconf, and not anymore the
central one.

Greeteings,

[1] http://debconf4.debconf.org/schedule.html

-- 
Gunnar Wolf - gwolf@gwolf.org - (+52-55)5623-0154 / 1451-2244
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