[OSGeo-Discuss] [location-iwg] FOSDEM 2015: proposal for a geospatial devroom

[Martin Hammitzsch]

Okay, thanks a lot. So we may talk about a potential schedule for the
geospatial devroom. I agree, we should keep the type of schedule since
it is known. But, as suggested, we might mix it with what you have
summed up very nicely (ideas sharing, collaborative sessions ...). So
a day could be structured as follows:

Arrive and coffee
Welcome, housekeeping, about the day and its format
Keynote(s) (invited speakers)
Coffee break
Lightning Talks (me and my projects, 2min each, to get introduced to each other)
Coffee break
Talks, talks, talks (speakers 20-30min each)
Lunch break
Talks, talks, talks (speakers 20-30min each)
Coffee break
Pitching ideas / topics for breakout sessions / collaborative discussions
Breakout sessions / collaborative discussions (in groups)
Coffee break
Results / summaries of break out sessions
Wrap-up

We may reduce or extend the parts following the unconference type. But
it would still mean that speakers are an essential part of the
geospatial devroom.

Johan, next question: Speakers are invited or do they apply / submit
an abstract?

Martin




On 7 August 2014 11:11, Johan Van de Wauw <johan.vandewauw at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 7, 2014 at 10:29 AM, Martin Hammitzsch
> <martin.hammitzsch at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Johan,
>>
>> I am bit lost in understanding the format of devrooms. First I was
>> thinking of a space where developers meet for pitching their ideas and
>> forming groups to get their hands dirty in 1-3 days of collaborative
>> ideas generation, of drafting concepts, and of programming. But then I
>> read something about talks and checked the schedule of FOSDEM 2014 -
>> it seems that a devroom is something similar to a session or track we
>> know from other conferences and thus contains lots of talks instead of
>> programming. However, at least the talks seem to be from programmers
>> for programmers. Nevertheless, I am a bit confused.
>>
>> I very much like the idea of a geospatial devroom. But I would be
>> happy to clarify first what format you and others have in mind - just
>> talks, unconference, hackdays, ..., a mix of it? Please let me know
>> what you have in mind.
>>
>
> Martin,
>
> Thanks for your comments. I've been at FOSDEM so many years that I
> just assumed everyone would understand.
>
> Indeed, until now most devrooms were more or less like conference
> talks, but as you say from developer to developer. I think we should
> more or less keep to this type of schedule if we want to attract
> people from other projects to the room. If we just don't have
> something catchy on the schedule people from outside our projects may
> be unlikely to join.
> This being said I think we could definitely add one timeslot where
> everyone in the room can present quickly his ideas. Or timeslots where
> we can have a collaborative discussion eg "Let's build openaerialmap".
>  I think it would be useful to have at least timeslots with a title
> and a description for the schedule to lure in other developers.
>
> Everything above is just my opinion and I should add that I little or
> no experience with going to any unconferences/... and I'm really open
> to any other suggestions and ideas.
>
> Johan