Discount at little store next to hotel front desk

[Wouter Verhelst]

Hi all,

Just to inform you that the guy who owns the little store next to the
hotel front desk asked us to let everyone know that he is offering a 15%
discount on products in his store to conference attendees.

(I have no skin in this game, but thought it was a nice offer that I'm
happy to pass on)

-- 
 w@uter.{be,co.za}
wouter@{grep.be,fosdem.org,debian.org}

I will have a Tin-Actinium-Potassium mixture, thanks.

Re: When can we get video archive for dc23?

[Wouter Verhelst]

Hi all,

Sorry about the late reply; I managed to bounce myself off of the
mailinglist and did not notice until today.

(I already told Hideki what's up, but this deserves an on-list reply)

On Tue, Sep 12, 2023 at 03:00:06PM +0530, Hideki Yamane wrote:
> I'll write short article about DC23 for Japanese Magazine, so want
> to check video archives for that. If someone know about when archive
> will be put on website/youtube/etc, please let me know it. 

There were some issues with the review system, which delayed reviews for
a while. The reviews (and transcodes) are now happening, and videos are
starting to appear on the meetings-archive.

For an overview of what the current state is, go to
https://sreview.debian.net/overview

-- 
 w@uter.{be,co.za}
wouter@{grep.be,fosdem.org,debian.org}

I will have a Tin-Actinium-Potassium mixture, thanks.

Re: tagging non-english talks

[Wouter Verhelst]

Hi Adam,

On Tue, Sep 01, 2020 at 07:31:00PM +0200, Adam Borowski wrote:
> Hi!
> I've just tried to look through videos of talks I've missed, and, when
> browsing the index, I have trouble telling the language the talk is in.
> It was already noticeable on the Schedule, but there you could spot a
> fancy non-Latin script.  In the video archive, only spanish/brazilian
> words survive.
> 
> Thus:
> On DebConf 21+, let's prefix the titles of all non-English talk with
> "[XX] " where XX is the language code, both on the schedule and in
> video archive filenames.
> 
> This would make the lives of both non-English-speakers and of the rest
> of us easier.

Sure.

This info is already (supposed to be) available through the archive
metadata at ,
but I guess it makes sense to also encode it in the filename as well.

I'll see what we can do to make this happen.

-- 
To the thief who stole my anti-depressants: I hope you're happy

  -- seen somewhere on the Internet on a photo of a billboard

Re: Singers wanted.

[Wouter Verhelst]

On Fri, Aug 28, 2020 at 02:38:13AM +1000, Ashley J Gittins wrote:
> Curious... I'm interested (I'm a tenor),

Bass here.

[...]
> However we're in Australia, so latency to .de is ~300ms, no good for live
> collaboration unless you're considering something to work around that (pre
> recorded, or delays lines etc), so it probably wouldn't be practical for us
> to participate in anything realtime.

I think honsestly only a non-live option is realistic.

(also, I'm in Cape Town, so long delays too for live options)

-- 
To the thief who stole my anti-depressants: I hope you're happy

  -- seen somewhere on the Internet on a photo of a billboard

Re: How to organize a Mini-DebConf

[Wouter Verhelst]

On Thu, Nov 15, 2018 at 11:35:55PM +0900, Norbert Preining wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> during the DebConf in Taiwan I met and became friends with the founders
> of FOSSASIA, and we thought about organizing a Mini-DebConf in Singapore
> next year.
> 
> Since it is the first time for us, we have no idea about the necessary
> procedures and what else is implied/expected/requested.
> 
> Can someone give a short explanation what we would have to do to be able
> to declare it as a Mini-DebConf?

I think the answer to that is, simply, "make it an event that is meant
for Debian contributors". It doesn't have to focus on DD's *only*, but
if it's an event that wouldn't be interesting (or possible, or easy) for
a DD to attend, then it has no business calling itself a mini-debconf.

But there have been minidebconfs that were independently organised or
that were part of a larger event; there have been minidebconfs that were
two days (which seems to be most common, since that would be during a
weekend etc), but also one or three days; there have been minidebconfs
that managed to organize accomodation for guests (read,
"bring-your-own-mattress floor space") and there have been that didn't,
there have been minidebconfs where the video team attended and that had
live streams, and there have been examples where that didn't happen,
etc etc etc.

So IMHO, it's fine to do something and call it a "minidebconf", as long
as that one requirement -- that it would be interesting for any Debian
contributor to attend -- has been met.

-- 
To the thief who stole my anti-depressants: I hope you're happy

  -- seen somewhere on the Internet on a photo of a billboard

Re: Re: Questions after talks at DebConf (idea)

[Wouter Verhelst]

On Tue, Sep 11, 2018 at 08:30:27PM +0530, shirish शिरीष wrote:
> I was afraid of the accents and fast-talk of some people while other
> people whose first language was not English were easier to understand
> as they took time to organize and deliver their questions not just in
> Q but also afterwards.

Regardless of whether Q is problematic for a first-time speaker, this
*is* a problem, and not just for first-time speakers. Some people in
Debian are native speakers, some aren't. Some non-native people in
Debian have a good grasp of the English language, but their accent is
horrible to the point that it's almost incomprehensible at times. And
some people just don't speak English very well, and will have a problem
understanding anyone who doesn't speak their native language no matter
what.

As such, even if my grasp of English is near-native, I have on occasion
had trouble understanding someone at DebConf, simply because of the
language barrier.

When doing emails, this isn't really a problem, since you can re-read
the mail and use a dictionary if you need to. Not so in live speech.
Given that background, IME it's not usually the case that people will be
offended if you ask them to repeat what they said, or to speak a bit
slower, or something along those lines, but this may be something that
first-time attendees and/or first-time speakers may not be aware of.

How about we create a page specifically for first-time attendees and
people who would like to speak at DebConf, where we state something
along the lines of the following:

- While English is the language expected for official events (talks,
  BoFs, etc), apart from that it's perfectly okay for participants to
  use other languages too.
- If you have trouble understanding someone due to language barriers or
  your own limited understanding of the language in use, it's okay to
  ask the speaker to clarify.
- While in the spirit of cooperation we encourage speakers to allow a
  short Q session after the end of their talk, there may be some
  subject matters where such a session would not contribute much to the
  Debian community as a whole; in such case, it's fine to skip it.
  Audience members considering to ask a question should remember to ask
  it in a non-adversarial manner, respecting the dignity of the speaker
  and the community as a whole.

This may be part of the DebConf CoC if people think it reasonable?

-- 
Could you people please use IRC like normal people?!?

  -- Amaya Rodrigo Sastre, trying to quiet down the buzz in the DebConf 2008
 Hacklab

Re: Questions after talks at DebConf (idea)

[Wouter Verhelst]

On Sat, Sep 08, 2018 at 04:40:38PM +0100, Chris Lamb wrote:
> Hi Samuel,
> 
> > > About embarrassing behaviour from the audience: First, this barely ever
> > > happens, [...]
> > 
> > I completely agree this all of this, and that's what I explain to our
> > PhD students. But them actually believing it is another matter.
> 
> There is a huge gap between "what I think speaking at a conference
> might be like" (ie. insane levels of nerves, you're picked apart on
> every word you say, you will be heckled, nobody will like you,
> questions will be hostile, professional reputations are easily ruined,
> totally not for me, etc) ... and what it /actually/ is like to speak
> (ie. nerve-inducing for sure, but actually not too awful at the end of
> the day).

I can't help but wonder whether "we don't allow Q" is *actually* going
to encourage first-time speakers. Although it's quite a while ago by
now, I believe the nerves I felt the first time I was going to speak in
front of an audience had nothing to do with the Q, but more with
things like "aren't they going to laugh at me?!?"

I'm all for encouraging first-time speakers, but Q at the end of a
session are valuable too; as such, to me, outlawing Q is a bit like
throwing the kid out with the bathwater.

-- 
Could you people please use IRC like normal people?!?

  -- Amaya Rodrigo Sastre, trying to quiet down the buzz in the DebConf 2008
 Hacklab

Re: Suggestions, questions and concerns about DebConf19?

[Wouter Verhelst]

On Sat, Aug 11, 2018 at 11:44:40AM +0200, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:
> On 08/11/2018 11:23 AM, Thomas Goirand wrote:
> >> What happens in case of an emergency then? Aren't organizers of large
> >> events of this type required by law to keep lists of real name?
> > 
> > Why would they?
> 
> It's a matter of liability. If your event surpasses a certain size, you
> will not be able to make sure that everyone who attends is of good will,
> for example.

Right, and that's completely irrelevant.

> >> If, for example, an attendee of the conference has a serious accident
> >> and other folk call emergency services, they will have a problem when
> >> asked for the name and street address of an attendee.> Or, even worse,
> >> if an attendee died, organizers will not be able to contact someone
> >> from the circle of their family etc.
> > 
> > For this kind of issues, there's government organizations like
> > consulates and so on.
> 
> And? How is the consulate going to identify them?

By way of a government-issued document, like a passport?

> >> Or imagine an attendee commits a felony, you need to be able to
> >> identify them as well.
> > 
> > Talk to the police.
> 
> Even the police cannot identify a foreigner without passport documents.

We cannot either.

> There have been numerous cases in the past where police found someone
> unconscious without an ID and amnesia and they were unable to identify
> them for months. Just happened here recently in Berlin.

That does happen, yes, and in such cases it's something we might be able
to help with if we know in detail who a particular person is.

But there's nothing that *requires* us to be able to do that. "We run a
conference" doesn't mean "we babysit everyone who attends". Nor should
it; if (adult) attendees decide that they value their privacy more than
their personal safety, then that's their problem, not Debconf's.

> >> There are probably countless occasions where
> >> it's simply not enough to identify as "trumpet232" at the registration
> >> desk.
> > 
> > I don't agree. That's not Debian's job to do the one of the police and
> > other governmental organizations.
> 
> So you're saying that taking care of each other is not important for
> Debian?

It would be useful if you stopped coming up with extreme hyperbolic
examples and then accusing the people who don't agree with you of
something ethically unjust. It's not helpful, nor constructive.

-- 
Could you people please use IRC like normal people?!?

  -- Amaya Rodrigo Sastre, trying to quiet down the buzz in the DebConf 2008
 Hacklab

Re: English-speaking taxi number?

[Wouter Verhelst]

On Sun, Jul 29, 2018 at 03:23:24PM +0200, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:
> On 07/29/2018 07:52 AM, John Sullivan wrote:
> > (trying to avoid direct use of Uber due to the proprietary software
> > required)
> 
> You have more a problem with the fact that UBER uses proprietary software
> than the fact that they are exploiting their workers through by declaring
> them as "contractors" through the help of loopholes in the law? [1, 2]

Are you saying that "it's not free software" is not enough of a reason not to
use something?

-- 
Could you people please use IRC like normal people?!?

  -- Amaya Rodrigo Sastre, trying to quiet down the buzz in the DebConf 2008
 Hacklab