How was your weekend?
I can tell you mine has been exciting. I attended DebConf2016, the international conference for Debian Developers. It was more of a spontaneous decision since I learnt that it is taking place on campus and free to attend. I ended up really enjoying it.
What is DebConf?
Debconf an international conference for Debian Developers. This year they chose CapeTown specifically UCT to host it. It has about 250 participants so far. It attracts delegates from all over the world with a diverse set of interests, skills and ethnicity. There were delegates all the way from Germany to India, from Senior Engineers to Students. It was quite an fascinating space to be in.
What is Debian?FOSS?
Debian is an Operating System based on the Linux Kernel. Its free and open source and Ubuntu is derived from it. Learn more about it here. I don't use Ubuntu or Debian but I was drawn to attend because I'm a supporter of open source. I'm actively contributing to open source specifically scikit-learn a popular Machine Learning library for python.
Sessions
There are varieties of talks. Topics range from Internet of Things to India! (that's right, India). I attended a talk by Karen Sandler on FOSS(Free and Open Source Software) and companies, FOSS in India by Keerthana Krishnan , Lessons from a year of contributing to Open Source Software Dieter Adriaenssens and a panel on Introduction to Debian. They were intellectually stimulating, not also of the 4 above, only one is actually about Debian. I particularly enjoyed the lightening talk on India by Keerthana who is also a University student.
The Community.
I have met incredible people in just a weekend. I was able to connect to Karen Sandler from the outreachy program with whom we had a lot to talk about #WomenInTech. I also connected with Chirayu Desai, a Google Summer of Code participant who was also a Google Code In prize winner as well as other GSOC Debian participants. The Debian community is absolutely welcoming and approachable. In the hallway you can strike up a conversation with anyone and talk about anything literally. They are particularly keen to get more people in Africa involved in contributing to FOSS, which would explain the hospitality. In addition to that, the conference is also very easy going, spontaneous sessions and arrangements are more than welcome.
All in all, Debconf was a great way to spend the weekend. It is still running until 9th July. Of course a conference isn't complete without swag.
Find out more about debconf here and if you are in CapeTown, don't hesitate to pop in at Menzies Building, UCT Campus. If you are not, you can livestream the sessions from the website. Have a great week ahead!
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