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list of interdisciplinary open source conferences

Interdisciplinary Open Source Community Conferences

Criteria

  • Must be an event that someone involved in open source would be interested in attending
  • Must be a community oriented event (no corporate owned for-profit events here please)
  • Can't be about a specific language/framework.

Leave suggestions in the comments below

CodeNeuro

Open Source Bridge

Open Source Open Society

  • Wellington, NZ
  • http://www.opensourceopensociety.com/
  • "OS//OS is a two-day gathering of bright minds and communities from open technology, open government, open business and open education"

Chaos Communication Congress

  • Hamburg, Germany
  • http://www.ccc.de/en/
  • "The Chaos Computer Club e. V. (CCC) is Europe's Largest association of hackers."

CSV Conf

Data Terra Nemo

  • Berlin, Germany
  • http://dtn.is
  • "Terra nemo is a Latin expression meaning "No man's land". In this context we describe systems and protocols without centralized ownership and how they impact the landscape of the internet."

SRC Con

  • Minneapolis, MN
  • http://srccon.org/
  • "Two days of building better newsroom code, culture, and process—together."

OpenVisConf

  • Boston, MA
  • http://openvisconf.com
  • "OpenVis Conf is a two-day, single track conference about the practice of visualizing data on the web. "

Polyglot Unconference

  • Vancouver, CA
  • http://www.polyglotconf.com/
  • "Polyglot is a "non-denominational" software development un-conference event that encourages software developers and operators from different stacks, backgrounds and with different opinions to come together for one day of spontaneous sharing, teaching and learning."

Nonprofit Software Development Summit

Mozilla Festival

  • London, UK
  • http://mozillafestival.org
  • "MozFest is a yearly festival with hundreds of passionate people exploring the Web, learning together, and making things that can change the world. It's very hands-on and immersive. Sometimes it will feel chaotic, but everyone is open-minded and eager to help you make and learn with them."

foss4g

  • All Over! Next is Seoul, Korea
  • http://foss4g.org
  • "FOSS4G is the acronym for Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial. It is the annual recurring global event hosted by OSGeo since it’s inception in 2006."

Open Knowledge Festival

  • Berlin, Germany (next one TBA)
  • http://okfestival.org
  • "Organised by Open Knowledge and owned, in the broadest sense, by the open community, the Festival will bring together over 1,000 people from more than 60 countries to share their skills and experiences; encouraging them to work together to build the very tools and partnerships that will further the power of openness as a positive force for change."

HOPE - Hackers on Planet Earth

  • New York City
  • http://www.hope.net/
  • "the most European of the American hacker conferences. defcon for cipher hippies. put on by 2600 magazine"

FOSDEM

  • Brussels, Belgium
  • https://fosdem.org
  • "FOSDEM is a free event for software developers to meet, share ideas and collaborate."

FSCONS

  • Gothenburg, Sweden
  • https://fscons.org
  • "FSCONS exists to provide a meeting place where subjects covering society, culture and technology can be discussed and brought to life in peer discussions, without being confined to each particular subject area. It should provide both the physical and virtual space where people, organisations and governments, with interest in the three subject areas can meet in a participatory and constructive dialogue. The unique combination of topics creates a platform where cross-pollination between the areas can occur, and where new co-operations and thoughts can emerge which allows the participants to find new inspiration even from areas outside of their own."

Libre Graphics Meeting

  • location alternates between Europe and Northern America (next one Toronto, Canada)
  • http://libregraphicsmeeting.org
  • "The Libre Graphics Meeting (LGM) is an annual meeting on free and open source software for graphics. Held yearly since 2006 the Libre Graphics Meeting aims to attract developers, artists and professionals who use and improve free and open source software graphics applications. The LGM aims to bring these people together in the cause of creating high quality free graphics applications."

border:none

  • Nuremberg, Germany (next one TBA)
  • https://border-none.net
  • "A novel 2-day concept conference about the decentralization of the web, featuring inspiring talks and creative sessions, spreading over several outstanding venues in medieval Nuremberg."

Decentralize Camp

  • Düsseldorf, Germany (next one TBA)
  • http://decentralizecamp.com
  • "The web is more and more converting to a monoculture. Big global players like Google, Facebook and Co. control every part of our digital life and build an alternative web of walled gardens. It's in our hands to move the web in a new direction and keep it open and decentralized and it's our responsibility to get started now. This camp is about defining the status quo, about exchanging ideas, making plans and moving forward."

WutheringBytes

  • Hebden Bridge, UK
  • http://wutheringbytes.com/
  • "A weekend festival of technology". "Was an amazing conference last year with talks from Sophie Wilson co-designed the ARM processor , Live rocket launching and a profound talk from Sarah Angliss on the origins of techno"

Squatconf

  • In squats. Last one was in Paris.
  • http://squatconf.eu/
  • "Squatconfs are tech conference that happen... in squats, hence the name. It started because some of us are lucky enough to attend marvelous conventions, made with love by amazing people. Great events with top-notch speakers, incredible venues, and amazing parties. These conferences are run with huge contributions from volunteers, and financial support from sponsors, providing top-notch events at affordable prices. But even then, they're not affordable for everyone."

Notacon

Theorizing The Web

  • New York City
  • http://theorizingtheweb.tumblr.com/
  • "Theorizing the Web is an inter- and non-disciplinary annual conference that brings together scholars, journalists, artists, activists, and commentators to ask conceptual questions about the interrelationships between the web and society. We deeply value public engagement, and consider insights from academics, non-academics, and non-“tech theorists” alike to be equally valuable."

PolyConf

  • http://polyconf.com/
  • Poznań, Poland
  • "a three-day, single track, multi-disciplinary conference on advanced technologies for programmers interested in polyglot approach to software development."
@knowtheory
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OpenVisConf is really great, run by some really awesome people (and started by the inestimable @iros)

@max-mapper
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Author

@knowtheory thanks for the reminded, added!

@notmatt
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notmatt commented Apr 14, 2015

Polyglotconf, an unconference in Vancouver seems to fit the bill: http://www.polyglotconf.com/

@ThomasG77
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FOSS4G (Free Open Source Software 4 Geospatial), the biggest annual event in the Open Source Geospatial industry http://foss4g.org

@ThomasG77
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Open Knowledge Festival http://2014.okfestival.org (you should remember as CSV Conf was at the same time, same place ;))

@jancborchardt
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Great list Max! Here are some additional suggestions:

FOSDEM

  • Brussels, Belgium
  • https://fosdem.org
  • "FOSDEM is a free event for software developers to meet, share ideas and collaborate."

FSCONS

  • Gothenburg, Sweden
  • https://fscons.org
  • "FSCONS exists to provide a meeting place where subjects covering society, culture and technology can be discussed and brought to life in peer discussions, without being confined to each particular subject area. It should provide both the physical and virtual space where people, organisations and governments, with interest in the three subject areas can meet in a participatory and constructive dialogue. The unique combination of topics creates a platform where cross-pollination between the areas can occur, and where new co-operations and thoughts can emerge which allows the participants to find new inspiration even from areas outside of their own."

Libre Graphics Meeting

  • location alternates between Europe and Northern America (next one Toronto, Canada)
  • http://libregraphicsmeeting.org
  • "The Libre Graphics Meeting (LGM) is an annual meeting on free and open source software for graphics. Held yearly since 2006 the Libre Graphics Meeting aims to attract developers, artists and professionals who use and improve free and open source software graphics applications. The LGM aims to bring these people together in the cause of creating high quality free graphics applications."

border:none

Decentralize Camp

  • Düsseldorf, Germany (next one TBA)
  • http://decentralizecamp.com
  • "The web is more and more converting to a monoculture. Big global players like Google, Facebook and Co. control every part of our digital life and build an alternative web of walled gardens. It's in our hands to move the web in a new direction and keep it open and decentralized and it's our responsibility to get started now. This camp is about defining the status quo, about exchanging ideas, making plans and moving forward."

These are of specific open source projects but they are very open to other people and collaboration. I attended them and can only recommend doing so as well.

GUADEC (GNOME conference)

  • location varies in Europe (next one in Gothenburg, Sweden)
  • https://www.guadec.org
  • "GUADEC is the main conference for GNOME users, developers, foundation leaders, individuals, governments and businesses worldwide. GUADEC is not just a software conference though! People come together to meet collaborators from chat rooms and mailing lists, to network, to visit old friends and make new ones, and to have fun."

DrupalCon

  • varies worldwide (next one in Los Angeles, USA)
  • https://events.drupal.org
  • "DrupalCon brings together thousands of people from across the globe who use, develop, design, and support Drupal. Together we will unite in celebration to gain new skills, new friends, and advance the Drupal project."

ownCloud Contributor Conference

  • Berlin, Germany
  • https://owncloud.org/conf
  • "Annually bringing ownCloud Contributors from around the world together for a week of coding, design, discussion, talks & fun."

@No9
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No9 commented Apr 15, 2015

WutheringBytes

  • Hebden Bridge
  • http://wutheringbytes.com/
  • "Was an amazing conference last year with talks from Sophie Wilson co-designed the ARM processor , Live rocket launching and a profound talk from Sarah Angliss on the origins of techno"

Squatconf

  • In squats
  • http://squatconf.eu/
  • "Squatconfs are tech conference that happen... in squats, hence the name."

@wearpants
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HOPE - Hackers on Planet Earth

  • http://www.hope.net/
  • the most European of the American hacker conferences
  • defcon for cipher hippies
  • put on by 2600 magazine

@wearpants
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Notacon

There are a bunch more smaller/regional conferences in the security/hax0r family doing interesting stuff, but can't think of them OTOMH. Not sure how much appeal for OSS developers tho, but more interdisciplinary scene crossing would certainly be nice.

@una
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una commented Apr 15, 2015

OSCon <-- The Open Source Conference is in both Portland and Amsterdam this year

@MylesBorins
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Not sure if this qualifies, but I had an absolute blast at The Linux Audio Conference last year.

--> http://lac.linuxaudio.org/

@sckott
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sckott commented Apr 15, 2015

hmmm, but oscon is a for-profit event

Must be a community oriented event (no corporate owned for-profit events here please)

@diraol
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diraol commented Apr 15, 2015

Flisol (http://www.flisol.info) - Latin American Free Software Instalation Festival
Distributed Event.

@diraol
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diraol commented Apr 15, 2015

Latinoware (http://latinoware.org/) - Latin-America Free Software Conference

@diraol
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diraol commented Apr 15, 2015

FISL (http://softwarelivre.org/fisl16) - Free Software International Forum
Hosted in Porto Alegre/RS - Brazil

@wearpants
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-1000 on including OSCON.

OSCON was in Portland for many years, and then Tim O'Reilly moved it to San Jose. So Portland was like, "fsck you, we'll have a conference!" and OS Bridge was born. It turned out San Jose was a sh1tty place to have a conference to no one's surprise at all, and the next year OSCON came crawling back to Portland. But Portland was like, "fsck you, we'll have a conference!" and had OS Bridge again. Which turned out to be a good thing, because OS Bridge is awesome and OSCON costs over $9000.

The moral of the story is that hackers should run their own community infrastructure instead of relying on friendly corporates like Tim O'Reilly. That, or it's that you should move to Portland right now before everyone from Norcal shows up and ruins it.

@steltenpower
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graphicalweb.org, @TheGraphicalWeb
World conference on open web graphics (SVG, webGL, CSS, video, Canvas, …) +every input device. 2015 edition: Sept. 23-26, organized by Slippery Rock University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA (2015)
Very mixed crowd, loads of open source (not all)

@bnvk
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bnvk commented Apr 16, 2015

Indie Web Camp

  • USA: Portland, SF, NYC, Cambridge
  • Europe: Brighton UK, Berlin & Dusseldorf DE
  • indiewebcamp.com
  • The IndieWeb is a people-focused alternative to the "corporate web"

@shaunix
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shaunix commented Apr 20, 2015

Open Help Conference

@maxlath
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maxlath commented May 10, 2015

OuiShare Labs Camp

@webmaven
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Codex Hackathon

  • San Francisco, California
  • http://codexhackathon.com/
  • "We're throwing a literary/publishing/library/books hackathon during the American Library Association conference"

@irabinovitch
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SCALE - Southern California Linux Expo

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • http://www.socallinuxexpo.org
  • A annual Linux and open source conference organized by open source community members in Southern California. SCALE includes multiple session tracks on topics ranging from community and advocacy to security, systems administration, and even a full day track for K-12 students to present their work. Additionally SCALE offers an exhibit hall with 120+ booths and demos by commercial organizations and open source projects.

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