Re: [Debconf-team] DC14: parallel activities for families with kids
On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 05:38:02PM +0200, Gaudenz Steinlin wrote:
> Giacomo Catenazzi <cate@debian.org> writes:
> >
> > This would be simple, but it doesn't seem the most request of families
> > (OTOH CH was special, with no real alternatives for families near the
> > venue).
> >
>
> Can we at least please stop this meme now. Each family is different and
> has their own requrirements. Several families have proven that Le Camp
> was perfect for them and others have shown that there were nearby
> alternatives that worked for them.
Several families attending don't prove anything, you also have the families
that didn't attend because the venue. It's like saying it isn't hard to
start contributing to Debian because we welcome every year new DDs.
We have had families with children attending DebConf *every* year just
plenty of attendees didn't notice in open venues.
Because some people are able to afford to have a car and to be hosted somewhere
else [*], which costed this year a certain amount because the few possibilities
offered in the area, or to pay 960 CHF (from 2*(200+40*7)) to get a 2 person
room in the venue, that doesn't mean the venue was "perfect for them".
When something you do in your free time, stealing time from your family, already
adds this extra cost of participation, you just stop participating.
[*] orga team was telling families to host themselves out from the venue
a few weeks ago.
> not. Some others might be happy to have other DebConf attendees careing
> about their children during the day, others probably won't.
> IMO we should offer a solution that we think will work for most and that
> actually someone wants to implement. After that families can decide if
> they like it or not.
In this part, I agree. Parents have different standards and expectations
about the child care of their children. The orga team should make it easy
for parents to self-organize and provide assistance but not directly
providing child care. Probably the best is a closed and non-archived list
where the parents can make groups (age, language, etc) and find the solution
for their children.
And about the venue, it doesn't matter where the venue is as long as:
- Parents can take their children without extra cost (at least until the
children need a bed) and have their needs taken account of in room allocation.
- Children who already eat food like adults, can eat with the group.
DebConf had been OK with both points above most of the years, sometimes in
city (e.g. Bosnia) and sometimes in the middle of nothing (e.g. Mexico).
Ana
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