Nicola Larosa wrote:
I did not get answers to this, so I need to ask it again: *why* does a free software conference need to limit itself to a scientific and academic approach?
Stefano Maffulli wrote:
Why not?
Because asking everybody to make *innovative*, *scientific* contributions risks ruling out maybe, what, 95% of people interested in free software? (The delayed call for papers deadline may be connected to this.)
Is there any publicly available record of the discussion that produced such a decision?
There is no public record and there is no need to justify such choice. I think people are free to organize conferences the way they see fit.
Yes, they are free, but I see the need, not to "justify" post facto, but to *discuss*, such a choice. Again, this is *not* about practical, organizational matters, but only about the overarching criteria.
Maybe it's just me, but free software is a lot about community. It seems peculiar to try and gather people without any kind of previous discussion about the hows and the whys, and then establish criteria that seem to unnecessarily exclude many people.
In this case a group of organizations has proposed to have 3 days of conferences, two dedicated to scientific advancements in Free Software research, one to the Italian communities. You are free to join the conference, if you want and in any part you are interested in.
Repetita iuvant, but not always. ;-)
Yes, at least I could take part in the Fellowship meeting, even if I'm a rather fresh one. ;-)
That would be awesome. We will publish a draft agenda by the end of this week so we can discuss that. If you have suggestions for topics you want to see addressed let me know.
I'll look forward to that. I think I'd be interested in at least one thing, see the top of this email for details. ;-D