[CREATE] entering the LGM community (was "Reclaim your tools". A film by Jakub Szypulka)

[Boudewijn Rempt]

On Saturday 15 January 2011, helen varley jamieson wrote:

> it was clear that most of the people at LGM were good friends from 
> previous LGMs,

Not just that -- most people working on free graphics apps meet all the year on irc, on mailing lists, we see each others releases, maybe follow half a dozen apps by compiling from source control. And we know the artists who use our apps and engage with us to tell us what sucks and what rocks. For me, LGM is a place where every time I get a change to put faces and nicks together.

> & were more interested in catching up with each other & 
> their specific projects than in meeting new people; 

Not sure about that -- I love meeting new people, but the problem is that generally speaking, the average white male free software developer (like me) is pretty shy and it's easier to see a tag and think "ah! Pinta! never met the guy, but I've seen his app, and I can ask him a smart question about his use of techology, and then the ice will be broken" than it is to approach a stranger whose interests you don't know.

> 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.

I've been thinking about two possibilities -- a "first lgm attendee desk" where people who don't know anybody yet can get coffee and an introductions to people whose interests might touch theirs. But that needs to be staffed by people who know most of the rest already :-)

What I would like much more is some kind of "lab" where the main projects are available on one or two machines with someone knowledgeable around to show off, and a big banner saying something about the app. If that's available on Friday and Saturday morning, it might help the newcomers figure out what's what and who's working on what.

--
Boudewijn Rempt  | http://www.krita.org