<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> thanks for sharing your experiences ginger, they're really useful to hear. the brussels LGM was my first LGM, & while there were things that made me feel like an outsider, there were other things that made me feel welcome, compared to other events i've been to.<br> <br> it was pretty easy to find the registration desk & at the time that i arrived there were not many other people about; the two people at the desk were very welcoming & friendly which was great. (i've been at other events where i've felt like walking out as soon as i arrived, as i've been totally ignored or it's not clear where to go & so on). the badges were a great way to start chatting to strangers but it would have been good if people's names were bigger & easier to read. i confess to being a fan of name tags, it makes meeting & remembering lots of people at conferences so much easier, & it's much easier to be a brave newcomer if you can identify who people are.<br> <br> it was clear that most of the people at LGM were good friends from previous LGMs, & were more interested in catching up with each other & their specific projects than in meeting new people; this is totally understandable, given that the LGM is a brief opportunity for face-to-face meetings of a geographically disparate community. but it does mean that newcomers can feel excluded, especially if you're also outside of the dominant demographic. luckily for me there were a couple of people i knew from other events which meant i had a sort of group to belong to, but i imagine that for someone who didn't know anyone it might have been difficult to "break in" to a group. <br> <br> obviously there are organisational things that can make it easier, such as the communal lunches which were done well in brussels. but it shouldn't just be down to organisers (who are busy with everything else), or to newcomers to be brave & persistent. as ginger says, if we fall at the first gate, the community may be missing out as well as the indivudal. the "regulars" can also regard it as part of their role as members of the community to be actively welcoming to newcomers.<br> <br> obviously this is an issue for any kind of conference/event/distributed community gathering, & in my experience of such things LGM is by no means the worst :) but i think that the LGM community in particular has a lot to gain from including a diverse range of artists & users outside of the developer role & while it's good to hear that it is becoming more open, it's still good to be mindful & proactive in this area.<br> <br> h : )<br> <br> On 13/01/11 12:52 AM, ginger coons wrote: <blockquote cite="mid:AANLkTi=KqbMeuhDWDFs_-8Du1Psczm+Yw1jMU29xNo1x@mail.gmail.com" type="cite"><br> <div class="gmail_quote"> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">That calls for even more clarification :) How do you feel about it<br> now, after two more LGMs? Have you become more like others, others<br> more like you or was it a mutual motion towards each other?<br> <div> <div class="h5"><br> </div> </div> </blockquote> </div> <br> Tough questions. I think (although I don't have much past experience to compare against) that in the last few years, there's been a lot of movement within the Libre Graphics community and specifically at the meetings, towards both the involvement and the inclusion of people who don't fit the traditional developer role. For me, that's meant that I've experienced an awful lot of interest in what I do as a designer/artist/user/whatever and have also found others who share my own outlook. Not only that, but I've noticed (again, in my limited experience) more and more involvement from people who are not the stereotypical 30+ white man many people might think of in conjunction with F/LOSS. <br> <br> At the same time, it's almost impossible for me to distinguish whether I've become accustomed to the community or whether it's shifted. Although I think it's a fair bet to say that there's been some of both. The important thing here, as Helen pointed out, is that, in all this, I'm an example of someone who, while at first alienated and put off, eventually persevered and came to know the community for the generally nice and inclusive place it is. The worrying possibility here is that maybe there are lots of other people who feel that outsiderness and never get beyond it, depriving them of the opportunity to discover the depth of opportunity available in the community and also depriving the community of their potential contributions. <br clear="all"> <br> -- <br> ginger "all-lower-case" coons<br> <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://adaptstudio.ca" target="_blank">adaptstudio.ca</a><br> 647.865.7757 (Toronto)<br> 514.213.1318 (Montreal)<br> <pre wrap=""> <fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset> _______________________________________________ CREATE mailing list <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:CREATE@lists.freedesktop.org">CREATE@lists.freedesktop.org</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/create">http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/create</a> </pre> </blockquote> <br> <br> <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- ____________________________________________________________ helen varley jamieson: creative catalyst <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:helen@creative-catalyst.com">helen@creative-catalyst.com</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.creative-catalyst.com">http://www.creative-catalyst.com</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.avatarbodycollision.org">http://www.avatarbodycollision.org</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.upstage.org.nz">http://www.upstage.org.nz</a> ____________________________________________________________ </pre> </body> </html>