November 8th & 9th, 2024
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About

Founded in 2013, SeaGL (the Seattle GNU/Linux Conference) is a free—as in freedom and tea—grassroots technical summit dedicated to spreading awareness and knowledge about free / libre / open source software, hardware, and culture.

SeaGL strives to be welcoming, enjoyable, and informative for professional technologists, newcomers, enthusiasts, and all other users of free software, regardless of their background knowledge; providing a space to bridge these experiences and strengthen the free software movement through mentorship, collaboration, and community.

When & where

November 8th & 9th, 2024 at University of Washington and online.

Attend

SeaGL is free to attend, and you do not need to register—just show up!

You may attend SeaGL without identifying yourself, and you are encouraged to do so to protect your privacy.

All attendees must abide by the Code of Conduct, and if participating in-person, the Health and Safety Policy.

Stay informed

Sign up for our low-traffic announcement mailing list or subscribe to our RSS news feed.

Announcing SeaGL 2024
February 22, 2024

We’re excited to share that the Seattle GNU/Linux Conference is returning for its twelfth (12th) year on Friday, November 8th and Saturday November 9th, 2024. Our in-person event will again take place in the Husky Union Building at the University of Washington and we are striving to provide a great experience for our remote attendees too (but we need your help, see below).

This year’s staff-selected theme is “Around the Clock” and we’ll be working around the clock to bring you the best SeaGL yet! An internal goal this year, appropriate given the theme, is to clarify when each conference component needs to be ready. To that end, we are currently planning on opening the CFP in May and our sponsorship prospectus should be available in March.

If you (or a friend) have ever wondered what it takes to put these things on, join us and find out! We realize that our virtual experience last year suffered, in part due to being spread too thin with the return to in-person. Hopefully more folks will join SeaGL’s all-volunteer staff, which is actively recruiting committee coordinators and helpers of all levels.

Not quite ready to volunteer? No problem! Please join our matrix community or low-traffic announcement list to stay in touch. And send some suggestions about how SeaGL can be more IDEA (inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible) aligned. As always, SeaGL couldn’t have come this far without our community and we want to thank each and every one of you.

It may be well over the horizon, but we are flying high and looking forward to seeing many of you on November 8th & 9th (if not before)!


SeaGL 2023: turning it up to 11!
November 03, 2023

Today marks the return of an in-person SeaGL!

Welcome to our eleventh year, SeaGL 2023!

There are a variety of details regarding how to attend, what’s on the schedule, and how you can help. Please take a moment to read and share!

How to Attend

You may have heard… this year SeaGL will be hybrid! The in-person event will take place on the University of Washington campus at the Husky Union Building (known as the HUB). We’ve created this page with maps and links to information about parking and the venue.

As the venue is located within a public university, it has a wide variety of accessibility and diversity features. However, if there are additional ones that are important to you, please suggest them in this IDEA form and we will see what accommodations can be made.

If you are planning to join remotely, visit attend.seagl.org and either create an ephemeral account or sign-in with your Matrix ID. You will be added to the broader SeaGL hallway chat and sent instructions for how to join specific chat rooms. To view a talk, enter one of the “Current Session” channels and click on the watch button to open an embedded live stream.

Code of Conduct + Health and Safety Policy

SeaGL, like free software, is for everyone. It’s paramount to us that all attendees feel (and be!) safe and welcome.

To that end all staff, presenters, and attendees of SeaGL are expected to obey the Code of Conduct not only at SeaGL but also in all SeaGL-associated spaces including but not limited to associated social events and virtual channels.

In-person attendees are also expected to obey the Health and Safety Policy for the duration of the conference. This includes requiring masks inside presentation rooms and encouraging them in other areas. If you don’t have your own we are providing them gratis.

If you have any concerns that are at all of a Code of Conduct nature, please email coc AT seagl.org as soon as possible. If you need immediate help, please locate any SeaGL staffer.

Keynotes + Programming + Social Events

Each day of SeaGL will be packed full with two keynote speakers nominated by this year’s organizers followed by over 40 presentations selected by our program committee. Each afternoon we will have a tea break (TeaGL, described below) and each evening there will be a social event at the conference venue. On Friday there will also be a career expo where you can get assistance and advice on your professional development.

Some of the schedule highlights:

Friday

Saturday

Beverages and Snacks

Venue doors open at 8am each day and we’ll be providing coffee and tea with some light pre-packaged fare.

This year we will not be able to offer lunch, however, there is an excellent selection of eateries within walking distance of the HUB and on Friday there are various in-building options available.

We are also unable to provide a larger meal or drinks during the social events. That said, we will have individually packaged nibbles and finding a few feathered friends for later night food focused conversations is always fine!

Finally, the afternoon talks will be separate by a special event we like to call…

TeaGL: Tea Tasting and Exchange

If you’re a fan of tea, we’ve got just the event for you!

We’ll have a variety of grab-and-go teas, hot water, and disposable cups for those wanting to hold something warm while socializing.

However, for the patient and persistent, this year will feature a sampling of black, green, white, oolong, and pu-erh Chinese teas, as well as an herbal blend named “Lunar Orchard” that turns purple.

Additionally, if you’d like to bring your favorite teas along to sample and share, please do! But make sure they are in an unopened package to keep the venue satisfied.

Social Media

We encourage people to get together, chat, and just generally share their SeaGL experiences. People are the best part of Free Software, after all.

If you share anything on your social network of choice, please use the #SeaGL2023 hashtag so everyone can follow along. If you use Mastodon, please follow @SeaGL@mastodon.social for announcements and updates.

Volunteering

Per usual, we are seeking volunteers to help make the event a success. Here are some of the at-event positions we’re looking for more help with:

  • Room Monitors: introduce speakers (with their permission), perform room head counts, make sure speakers have everything they need, and ensure sessions run smoothly and finish on time.
  • Sign-Wranglers: post up and take down signs in and around venue.
  • Refreshment Aides: help with the set up, tear down, and clean up of coffee and tea breaks.
  • Information Attendants: register attendees (if they want), check-in speakers and exhibitors, hand out programs, and provide directions and answers to questions.
  • Virtual Hosts: keeps an eye on the Matrix channels, identifies content in need of moderation, reaches out to in-person staff as needed.

We also welcome up-and-coming volunteers for future years. If you’re interested in joining the flock, please fill out this form or reach out via Matrix or email.


Whew, that was a lot

There’s so much going on at this return to an in-person SeaGL and we can’t wait to see you there!


Sneak peek into SeaGL Keynotes
October 31, 2023

The time has come for SeaGL 2023, happening this week! As a Halloween treat we bring you a preview of our keynote presentations. These keynotes will be held in-person at 9am on both Friday and Saturday in the Lyceum at the University of Washington HUB. They will also be streamed live online for our remote attendees!

Deb Nicholson presents: “Diversity and Allyship isn’t Always Easy”

Friday, November 3rd, 2023. 9:10 am

Everyone loves the idea of diversity and most of us want to think of ourselves as “a good ally.” Not only is it the right thing to do, but there are also some very appealing benefits that come with making your tech event, project or workplace a welcoming place for vulnerable, marginalized or under-indexed people. More perspectives lead to more innovation and diverse companies tend to enjoy higher employee loyalty and customer satisfaction rates. There are many great talks and papers about how to increase diversity, but they often skip over the difficult parts. We’re not doing ourselves any favors by leaving the challenges, costs or even the backlash out of the discussion. Once we’re willing to talk about it, maybe we can come up with some ideas to help each other overcome the stress points? I want to start that conversation. This talk is coming from someone who passionately supports diversity and wants to help others do this work and to set them up for success with realistic expectations.

About the speaker: Deb Nicholson (@baconandcoconut@freeradical.zone), Executive Director at the Python Software Foundation and a founding organizer of SeaGL.

View in Schedule

Sri Ramkrishna presents: “The Linux App Ecosystem: A renaissance that nobody is watching.”

Friday, November 3rd, 2023. 9:40 am

The Linux App Ecosystem is essentially a group of projects, frameworks, and organizations that implement, contribute, and enhance writing applications on the Linux platform. During the initial years, there was a slew of excitement as open source became more prominent. Yet, as the years went by and even as the concept of open source took off and became the modus operand of software engineering, the interest in the app ecosystem seemed to dwindle and it found itself pushed further away from open source mainstream. Largely hidden from mainstream view, wonderful things are happening.

About the speaker: Sri Ramkrishna (@sri@mastodon.social), one of the longest time GNOME contributors and a veteran FLOSS advocate.

View in Schedule

Hong Phuc Dang presents: “Embracing Open Source: Pioneering Sustainable Solutions for a Thriving Future.”

Saturday, November 4th, 2023. 9:10 am

In an era marked by pressing environmental challenges and the urgent need for sustainable development, we need open source now, more than ever. Open Source, with its collaborative ethos and transparent nature, has the potential to revolutionise the way we approach sustainability. This keynote explores the symbiotic relationship between Open Source and sustainability, highlighting how Open Source principles foster innovation, inclusivity, and scalability, while nurturing a global ecosystem of problem solvers. Hong Phuc will share inspiring examples from diverse domains, showcasing how Open Source empowers individuals, organisations, and entire communities to create impactful and sustainable solutions.

About the speaker: Hong Phuc Dang (@hpdang@floss.social), co-founder of FOSSASIA, one of the largest FOSS community in Asia.

View in Schedule

Kaylea Champion presents: “Simple Dreams and Complicated Nightmares: Innovation, Trust, and Risk in FLOSS”

Saturday, November 4th, 2023. 9:40 am

Free/libre open source software is everywhere – but that success has come at a cost, and our freedom to follow our own passions is both a blessing and a curse. In this talk, I’ll share results from a series of recent research projects to understand the risks we face and the ways we can protect the health of our movement. I’ll share specific actions you and your projects can take to keep building a thriving ecosystem for both contributors and end users.

About the speaker: Kaylea Champion (@kaylea@social.coop), Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington researching many things related to free/libre/open source. She is an advocate for women in technology and past SeaGL presenter.

View in Schedule


IDEA Sharing at SeaGL
October 23, 2023

We are rapidly approaching our eleventh annual gathering. After three years of being fully virtual, for 2023 we will have a hybrid in-person/virtual format, with remote participation options throughout the conference. During this time of transition, we are directing additional care towards becoming more inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible (IDEA).

The SeaGL team has seen a lot of people carve out niches for themselves when they don’t feel welcome in the broader tech community. We hope to provide underrepresented groups a place where they have the community’s full support to get involved. To this end, SeaGL would like to extend an open invitation to all folks join us for knowledge sharing and mutual learning. We’d especially like to bring in people who care about these issues and are open to working with us to improve the state—not only of SeaGL—but of the free/libre/open source ecosystem as a whole.

Some ways you can participate:

  • attend, in-person or remotely, on Friday and Saturday, November 3rd & 4th
  • volunteer, day-of or before the event, by visiting https://seagl.org/get_involved
  • spread the word, a personal invitation is always better received and can reach groups that are otherwise unaware

Additionally, if you have access needs or suggestions for things which would make the conference a more comfortable place for you, please submit them to this anonymous form. You will be able to provide contact if you’d like us to reach out about your feedback.

We are also interested in contracting an assessment of our CFP process, community spaces, etc., and would love to hear any recommendations that you may have for doing this.

Once again, if there’s anyone else that you think might be interested, please pass this message along. We’d love to have as many people as possible from around the tech community join us this November and beyond.

Note that if you are planning on attending in-person, we have released a new health and safety policy which will apply at the event. We’d like to thank the Public Health Pledge for their leadership in encouraging conferences to have health and safety policies!

Regards,
The SeaGL 2023 IDEA committee


Older News

Contact

Chat

Please join us in Matrix.

Social Media

Mastodon | Pixelfed | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

An overview of SeaGL’s social media activity is available in #social-media:seagl.org.

Email

participate@seagl.org | press@seagl.org
or join the announcement mailing list.

Exhibitors

We will have a small hall available for in-person exhibitors as well as virtual expo hall space available at SeaGL 2024. Free/libre/open-source software/hardware projects and non-profit organizations may request gratis space. There are several paid sponsorship levels and add-ons for other entities. If your group would like to exhibit at SeaGL, please review our Partnership/Sponsor Prospectus or send an email to sponsor@seagl.org for more information.

Sponsorship

We can’t do what we need to do without the support of the community. If you would like to offer financial support but don’t need an exhibit table, please send an email to sponsor@seagl.org.

Our fiscal sponsor, Open Source Initiative, set up a donation page enabling you to support SeaGL. These contributions may be tax deductible as OSI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Thank you for your support!

Donate to SeaGL