The future of DebConf, online lessons from the pandemic [Was: Re: DebConf21 online, DebConf22 in Kosovo, DebConf23 in India, DebConf24 in Israel]

[Bernelle Verster <bernellev@gmail.com>]

Thanks for this discussion, this is something very close to my heart.

On Fri, May 14, 2021 at 12:46 PM Paul Sutton <zleap@disroot.org> wrote:
>
>
> >
> > On the other hand, if the mission of the conference is promoting
> > Debian around the globe, with carbon emissions, pandemia, etc. we
> > should also consider a more fragmented conference, localized in
> > different areas/continents. Maybe it would make sense to run all those
> > piled up DebConfs the same year? (Maybe this is tad late now, after
> > the announcement)
> >
> > Disclaimer - These are no strong opinions, just some food for thought.
> >
> > Have a nice day,
> >
>
>
> This has come up on other lists too,  not specific to Debian but
> conferences in general.  We now have the infrastructure to meet up
> virtually (Big blue button, Jitsi, irc, matrix, et al) there is also
> local infrastructure to meet on a very local level too.
>
> Doing things virtually also makes this accessible to more people who
> can't travel, perhaps many of our younger developers who can't just
> simply jump on a plane but are environmentally conscious.
>
> Before we shut down in the UK, I as running a code club and a local tech
> event,  there is no reason why the same building can't host similar
> events and connect with other groups elsewhere in the country.
>
> So I think decentralising could work

+1

 In that respect I am grateful for the pandemic to really push this
conversation forward, it was something that bothered me more and more
in recent years, partly because not wanting to fly because of climate
change. Also from a work position, to digress a bit - I left my
previous employer and assumed I will just have to make do as a poor
person, because I was simply unwilling to not work from home,
flexi-time, part-time. But then covid hit and now I think the options
are more.

To conflate an issue, and to counter the potential criticism that then
DebConf-in-person, where the cool/influencial/employer people go, will
only be in the rich countries, I've also just started to think one
must just suck it up, rather than complain something isn't available
in your country. Help to get it there in whatever ways available to
you or shut up. Online makes those options to 'get it there' more and
I think helps to be an equaliser between countries. I'm not sure how
much value doing a DebConf in strange countries have, all the costs
and efforts considering. I say this having been one of the strange
countries to do a DebConf and having done all the things to get Debian
here more. Of course this is purely my personal, jaded opinion and I
will continue to help any DebConf anywhere, however I can.

Online has significant advantages. The biggest challenge is the social bit.

I think it is possible to have a significant social aspect both on-
and off-line that complement each other, to have local 'mini-DebConfs'
that are mostly self-organised but with some support from an
international level, all at the same time and 'bonding' online, to
have one massive super conf. There are still many issues to sort out
and I am also a bit sceptical that people would absorb it. We would
need more support to nurture and moderate the social spaces, whatever
they end up being. Posters, sponsors, job fairs, 'hallway sessions'
need more care and effort online. People all over the world are
talking about this and there is a lot of learning going on, which is
great. Perhaps if we want to consider this seriously, we can get a
little team to investigate this?

The two biggest issues I see are people just not willing to adapt and
sticking to in-person, which makes it hard to compliment with online.
Fully online is one thing. Having a combination is hard. Related to
this, the hardest thing about the pandemic, I think, was the loss of
the 'little interactions'  and I'm not sure how to mimic that online -
this article articulated it well for me [0]. And I don't have an easy
answer to that.

[0] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/01/pandemic-goodbye-casual-friends/617839/

regards
Bernelle

>
> Paul
> --
> Paul Sutton, Cert Cont Sci (Open)
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