Fosdem, a truly open conference
Fabian Piau | Monday January 28th, 2013 - 11:10 AM
Fosdem stands for Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting. Organized by many volunteers since 2001 and hosted by l’Université Libre de Bruxelles, this conference hosts approximately 4,000 visitors (previous year’s figure). It takes place once a year during a weekend in February, the 2013 edition will take place on February 2-3.
Now that I’m living in Belgium (And no! It is not a matter of taxes!), this is an opportunity to attend a larger European conference. Until now, I was used to smaller events such as Nantes and Brussels JUG. I have tried to negotiate a place for Devoxx 2012 but it was a bit tricky especially when you have just been hired!
You don’t need to negotiate for Fosdem! It’s free, it happens during a weekend and you do not even need to register. Finally, you just have to come.
The program includes keynotes, lightning talks, open discussions, hacking sessions, there are even some certification exams… Saturday and Sunday will be quite busy and I guess it will be hard to decide myself where to go.
Note that Kohsuke Kawaguchi, creator of Hudson/Jenkins, will hold a keynote. Using this continuous integration platform for many years, I would not miss it. The complete schedule is also available for download in PDF.
In February, I will try to use my budding journalistic skills and post a review. Some feedback about what I have liked, what I have learned and some photos. Stay tuned!
