-Tentative schedule below. Schedule is subject to updates and changes.
Saturday, March 24th
@@ -29,6 +27,9 @@ Gabriella ColemanYou think you're not a target? A tale of three developers...
+In business: Keeping free software sustainable
If you develop or distribute software of any kind, you are vulnerable to whole categories of attacks upon yourself or your loved ones. This includes blackmail, extortion or "just" simple malware injection! By targeting software developers such as yourself, malicious actors, including nefarious governments, can infect and attack thousands -- if not millions -- of end users.
-How can we prevent these disasters? The idea behind reproducible builds is to allow verification that no flaws have been introduced during build processes; this prevents against the installation of backdoor-introducing malware on developers' machines, ensuring attempts at extortion and other forms of subterfuge are quickly uncovered and thus ultimately futile.
-Through a story of three different developers, this talk will engage you on this growing threat to you, and how it affects everyone involved in the production lifecycle of software development, as well as how reproducible builds can help prevent against it.
+Starting a business is a big decision, and choosing to share its results with the world is perhaps bigger still. Denver started JMP early last year, and faced this very choice, deciding to release all of JMP's code as free software and to charge money to use the instance he runs. In this session, Denver will describe why he chose to build a free software business, and will discuss the details of the business model he arrived at, alongside other business models for free software companies.
+Few contributors are paid to work on free software today, and far fewer are paid by non-profit organizations (or even by small businesses). It is imperative for us to explore how we can sell free software, especially through non-profits and small businesses, so we can bring freedom to more people and, just as importantly, build sustainable futures for our contributors.
LibreOffice certification for FSF members
+Sustaining free software for the long run: What we've tried, what comes next
The FSF and The Document Foundation have worked together to offer LibreOffice Certification to FSF Members, for developers, migrators and trainers. This session will provide all of the relevant information about LibreOffice Certification, in order to make it easier for FSF Members to apply and prepare for the certification review.
+Our movement often talks about freedom as measured at a single point in time: is this code, right now, free? This session will analyze freedom as an ongoing challenge: how do we build code, development communities, and developer economies that empower the freedom of users and developers in the long run? As part of this challenge, we'll look at the culture, economics, and engineering of software freedom through a sustainability lens, and talk about how thoughtful structure can enable user and developer freedom.
F-Droid & Exodus
+State of the Onion
The Tor Project has been hard at work this year building free software +to fight surveillance and censorship across the globe. Join a handful of +Tor contributors at this panel, and learn all about the state of the +onion. We'll talk about how we're adding new security features like +browser sandboxing, improving support for mobile devices, deploying the +next generation of onion services, making Tor more usable, lowering our +network overhead, making our software more maintainable, and growing our +community with new outreach initiatives. We'll also share some of what +you can expect from Tor in the coming year, and we're eager to hear +questions from our community, too.
+Free software in academia
+LibreOffice certification for FSF members
This panel will offer a well-rounded discussion on various ways to incorporate free software into university curricula and scholarly projects, as well as ways to promote further engagement between scholars and the free software community. The panel will explore how free software fits into both computer science programs, such as the Free and Open Source Software and Free Culture Minors at RIT, and into digital humanities projects. What are the barriers to free software in academia? How does terminology cloud the issue? How do we promote the ethics of "free as in freedom" when the draw to many academics is "free as in beer"? How do free software and free culture interact in digital humanities and humanitarian projects?
+The FSF and The Document Foundation have worked together to offer LibreOffice Certification to FSF Members, for developers, migrators and trainers. This session will provide all of the relevant information about LibreOffice Certification, in order to make it easier for FSF Members to apply and prepare for the certification review.
Music blocks (workshop)
+Engaging nonprofits: why free software is essential to the social good
Music Blocks is a visual programming language for exploring musical -concepts. It was developed by Walter Bender (SugarLabs) and Devin -Ulibarri (New England Conservatory), along with contributions from -countless youth from all over the world.
-Bring a laptop to this hands-on workshop, and engage yourself in coding -while having fun with music. Walter and Devin will be on site to guide -you through what Music Blocks has to offer, and to help you with any -questions you may have.
-This workshop will be kid-friendly, for years 7 and up. It is recommended -that you bring your laptop with Chromium and/or Firefox pre-installed, as -well as your own earbuds or headphones. Some laptops and peripherals may -be provided, but there is no guarantee. Adults are allowed too, but the -coordinators will prioritize kids in attendance.
+Many nonprofits today are at a disadvantage in the software they use to manage everything from donor management to graphic design. Staff members are often not focused on acquiring the best digital resources, and over-complicated, restrictive, and expensive softwares dominate the nonprofit market. Free software could provide a much-needed revolution for the nonprofit world.
+The good news is that some nonprofits are beginning to work with other organizations and free software developers and communities to start solving common problems.
+In this session, I will review some tangible ways in which free software is having and can have a positive impact on the nonprofit world and some of the challenges nonprofits face both with current software available and in getting involved. I will then discuss strategies for advocating for free software for nonprofits. With nonprofits across the globe facing issues of censorship, privacy concerns, and the need for more financial freedom than ever before, this is the perfect time for nonprofits to embrace free software.
TBA
+Engaging young people: How to include positive youth participation in our free software community
Engaging youth by meeting in their space in a respectful and encouraging +manner is critical to achieving youth participation within the free +software movement. Many opportunities to engage young people within +their communities already exist across the globe, so let's explore how +we can contribute in ways that are fun, engaging, empowering, and +memorable.
+Boston-based Mariah Villarreal and Devin Ulibarri have been working in +their respective fields to empower youth with free software and free +culture. Mariah and Devin will present some of their fieldwork, and will discuss the challenges and opportunities that teaching libre +technology to youth provides. Mariah and Devin will also highlight how +this branch of activism fits into the larger software freedom advocacy +landscape.
+Practical, verifiable software freedom with GuixSD
+libreCMC: The libre embedded GNU/Linux distro
GuixSD is a GNU/Linux distribution built from the ground up to empower users to exercise the four freedoms they've been granted by free software. In this talk, you will learn how GuixSD makes it easy to inspect source code, share source code and binaries and even entire system configurations, verify that binaries were built from the source they claim, customize software packages, and experiment without fear of breaking your system.
+Embedded devices are all around us and have become deeply "embedded" into our daily lives : from micro controllers to "smart"-watches, routers and televisions, they are all around us. Many of us don't think twice about the root of control in these devices or even the software that runs on them. In some cases, manufactures lock users out from controlling these devices and cause a security nightmare when they stop supporting them. This session will cover a wide range of topics including : what libreCMC is, the project's goals / developments and why Free Software is crucial in securing control and freedom in embedded devices.
Music blocks (workshop) (con't)
+What college students do and don't know about free software
Continuted from previous session.
+Given the rapid growth of free software, it seems reasonable that free software communities might expect undergraduate students in Computer Science or Software Engineering programs would graduate with an understanding of free software and the ability to make project contributions. However, many students are not being taught core tools and concepts such as licenses, version control, and issue trackers as part of their degree program. This presentation will summarize the results of recent field research on the state of undergraduate education about free software; discuss the gap between undergraduate computing education and community expectations; and explore both the reasons for the gap and approaches to bridging it.
A wee server for the home
+Child Welfare Digital Services
On the surface, this presentation is about setting up a small, inexpensive, low-power server for the home. However, it uses that objective as an excuse to delve deeper into some technical issues, as well as to reflect upon the effect of free software on the relationship between computers and humans. It will answer the obvious questions about such a server: the whats, whys, hows, etc. It will share experiences with hardware and software for services such as shared file systems, backups, printing, Jabber/XMPP, music, and more. But it will also sneak in some deeper technical excursions enabled by free software, such as the preferred way, and reasons, to write random data prior to setting up encrypted storage. It will also include some personal observations on the experiential differences between using free and non-free software, especially those relating to enjoyment and to learning and teaching, formal and informal.
+California Child Welfare Digital Services (CWDS) is one of the largest and most progressive state government technology projects in the United States. CWDS is developing a suite of digital services Web applications to provide case management, facilities licensing, and related capabilities to social services practitioners who assure the safety, permanency, and well-being of children at risk. CWDS demonstrates the viability of solutions researched, designed, and developed by public employees. Applications developed by CWDS are free software, licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL). This presentation describes why CWDS chose free software, how the project is helping to modernize government processes such as procurement, recruiting, legal services, and the utilization of agile methodology, and how other projects can leverage CWDS software, methodology, and lessons learned.