[This message is sent to the conference organizing committee, to the FSF Europe main mailing list, to the it.comp.software.libero newsgroup, and to the Associazione Software Libero main mailing list.]
I have a few doubts about the Italian Free Software Conference 2007; i cannot find a dedicated mailing list or forum, so I'll try discussing them here.
http://hacklab.cosenzainrete.it/confsl07/
I've been working in information technology for 17 years, almost exclusively with free software for seven, and got my degree at the Calabria University (where the conference will take place); when I got to know about it, I tried to participate, submitting three different subjects related to my professional work.
The committee answered reiterating what is written in the "Call for Papers":
http://hacklab.cosenzainrete.it/confsl07/index.php?option=com_content&ta...
A couple things look peculiar to me. I wholly agree that:
"The primary target of the Italian Free Software Conference is to make the point about The Free Software art in Italy."
and that:
"This Conference wants also to be a gather for everyone who is involved in the Free Software diffusion and use in Italy, like companies, public institutions, universities, developers, researchers and neckers(?) to convey and have collaborations and projects."
but how can this be reconciled with:
"For this reason the technical level of the conference would like to be high-grade, with strongly innovative contents..."
and with:
"This Conference has the intention of being the first Free Software Conference of scientific nature..."
then going back to the formerly declared aims:
"...that involves all the souls of Italian Free Software, and would like to be the first of a series of annual meetings that would further the Free Software diffusion in Italy increasing the consciousness both of technic and economic implication, ethic and philosophic."
I am a developer, use free software, take part in its communities, and am interested in its diffusion.
I can contribute my experience in study and professional usage of free software, and also in the dynamics of its communities. Unfortunately I cannot deliver "strongly innovative contents", nor did I deal with "Free Software [...] of scientific nature".
I find such criteria as damagingly limiting, and in conflict with the other stated objectives stated.
I hope someone will help me get a better understanding of such matters.
On Sat, 2007-03-17 at 14:57 +0100, Nicola Larosa wrote:
I hope someone will help me get a better understanding of such matters.
Nik,
I guess you have received the answer of the organizer of the conference in Italian already. To summarize for the rest of the list, the conference being organized is a 3 days event: 2 days are used by a scientific conference, the rest of the time will be dedicated to the Italian wider community and a Fellowship meeting. You are welcome to participate to any part of the conference you prefer, nobody wants to exclude you from sharing your experience as free software developer and I'm sure that in the 3 days there will be time for this to happen.
Cheers, Stefano
Stefano Maffulli wrote:
Nik,
I guess you have received the answer of the organizer of the conference in Italian already.
Yes, I did. They told me I should have not raised this matters publicly, among other things.
To summarize for the rest of the list, the conference being organized is a 3 days event: 2 days are used by a scientific conference,
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? Is there any publicly available record of the discussion that produced such a decision?
the rest of the time will be dedicated to the Italian wider community and a Fellowship meeting. You are welcome to participate to any part of the conference you prefer, nobody wants to exclude you from sharing your experience as free software developer
I did not intend to imply anything of the sort; I'm only trying to understand the situation.
and I'm sure that in the 3 days there will be time for this to happen.
Yes, at least I could take part in the Fellowship meeting, even if I'm a rather fresh one. ;-)
On Wed, 2007-03-21 at 09:00 +0100, 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?
Why not?
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. 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.
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.
Cheers stef
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