FOSDEM is one of the largest gatherings of Free Software contributors in the world and happens each February in Brussels (Belgium, Europe). One of the tracks will be the Desktops DevRoom (formerly known as “CrossDesktop DevRoom”), which will host Desktop-related talks.
We are now inviting proposals for talks about Free/Libre/Open-source Software on the topics of Desktop development, Desktop applications and interoperability amongst Desktop Environments. This is a unique opportunity to show novel ideas and developments to a wide technical audience.
Topics accepted include, but are not limited to:
- Open Desktops: Gnome, KDE, Unity, Enlightenment, XFCE, Razor, MATE, Cinnamon, ReactOS, etc
- Closed desktops: Windows, Mac OS X, CDE, MorphOS, etc (when talking about a FLOSS topic)
- Software development for the desktop
- Development tools
- Applications that enhance desktops
- General desktop matters
- Cross-platform software development
- Web
Talks can be very specific, such as the advantages/disadvantages of development with Qt on Wayland over X11/Mir; or as general as predictions for the fusion of Desktop and web in 5 years time. Topics that are of interest to the users and developers of all desktop environments are especially welcome. The FOSDEM 2015 schedule might give you some inspiration.
Submissions
Please include the following information when submitting a proposal:
- Your name
- The title of your talk (please be descriptive, as titles will be listed with around 400 from other projects)
- Short abstract of one or two paragraphs
- Short bio (with photo)
- Requested time: from 15 to 45 minutes. Normal duration is 30 minutes. Longer duration requests must be properly justified. You may be assigned LESS time than you request.
How to submit
All submissions are made in the Pentabarf event planning tool: https://penta.fosdem.org/submission/FOSDEM16
When submitting your talk, make sure to select the “Desktops” devroom as the “Track”. Otherwise your talk will not be even considered for any devroom.
If you already have a Pentabarf account from a previous year, even if your talk was not accepted, please reuse it. Create an account if, and only if, you don’t have one from a previous year. If you have any issues with Pentabarf, please contact pgquiles at elpauer dot org.
Deadline
The deadline for submissions is December 6th 2015. FOSDEM will be held on the weekend of January 30th and 31st 2015 and the Desktops DevRoom will take place on Sunday, January 31st 2015.
We will contact every submitter with a “yes” or “no” before December 18th 2015.
Recording permission
The talks in the Desktops devroom will be audio and video recorded, and possibly streamed live too.
By submitting a proposal you consent to be recorded and agree to license the content of your talk under a Creative Commons (CC-BY) license.
If you want us to stop the recording in the Q & A part (should you have one), please tell us. We can do that but only for the Q & A part.
More information
The official communication channel for the Desktops DevRoom is its mailing list desktops-devroom@lists.fosdem.org.
Use this page to manage your subscription: https://lists.fosdem.org/listinfo/desktops-devroom
Organization
The Desktops DevRoom 2016 is managed by a team representing the most notable open desktops:
- Pau Garcia i Quiles, KDE
- Christophe Fergeau, Gnome
- Michael Zanetti, Unity
- Philippe Caseiro, Enlightenment
- Jérome Leclanche, Razor
If you want to join the team, please contact pgquiles at elpauer dot org