During this panel discussion, key contributors to several Free and Open Source Software projects will discuss tips for successfully engaging with the project of your choice. Panelists will share their own experiences getting started in Free and Open Source development. They will also share best practices with audience members, helping newcomers understand the basics of contributing to Open Source so their initial foray is most effective.
Leslie Hawthorn is the champion for this session and will moderate it along with Cat Allman. Should any of the panelists listed below as tentative based on travel scholarship availability not be able to attend, Leslie can swap in for a panelist and Cat can moderate solo. (Or, should Cat prefer to participate on the panel, that would also work well.)
We will need a room and microphones for each presenter. Other than that, we should not have any other physical space or A/V needs.
Selena Deckelmann has 10 years of experience as an information technology specialist in high tech, government, and manufacturing. She has 8 years of experience with Perl development, and she's worked as a network engineer, systems administrator, software developer and IT manager. Selena works for End Point Corporation and is an enthusiastic open source advocate and PostgreSQL specialist. She is Founder and co-chair of the Open Source Bridge conference, a conference for open source citizens. In her spare time, she likes to mix drinks for her local Perl and Postgres user groups, and fetch eggs from her chickens (when she has them).
Deb Nicholson is the Membership Coordinator for the Free Software Foundation, which she joined in August 2006. She is responsible for the Women in Free Software Group chartered by the FSF, as well as the Increasing Women's Participation in Free Software Track at the FSF's annual conference, Libre Planet. When not herding cats, Deb hacks on GNU Social, a Free Software social networking package.
Prior to joining the FSF, Deb spent 13 years working for equality and social justice by pushing legislation and supporting progressive candidates. As our society becomes more dependent on digital methods for access to power and information, she is glad to be part of the struggle towards freedom for computer users.
N.B.: Deb has confirmed that she will participate on the panel provided she receives travel assistance, specifically costs for her accomodation, airfare and conference pass. As a member of an NGO, she has applied for a travel scholarship from ABI and will be able to finally confirm her attendance based on the decision of the travel scholarship committee.
Terri Oda is a web security researcher working on her PhD in computer security at Carleton University in Canada. She makes up a significant fraction of the GNU Mailman steering committee and volunteers as an open source developer, writer, teacher, amateur photographer and occasionally even a system administrator for various other organizations, yet somehow still finds time to play games with friends and bake cookies.
Pinar Yanardag is a 24 year old computer scientist from Istanbul, Turkey. She has beens involved with Free Software since 2003. Pinar is currently at the Perceptual Intelligence Lab (PiLab) at Bogazici University and working on her master’s thesis, “An Interactive Web-Based Machine Learning Implementation” under the advisement of Prof. Ethem Alpaydin.
Before devoting herself to the field of machine learning, she worked for Parkyeri (selected as the fastest growing Internet company in Turkey) as a project manager and software developer, TUBITAK UEKAE (The National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptology) as a Security Team Leader and as a Python/QT developer for Pardus GNU/Linux distribution. She has regularly mentored for Pardus as part of the Google Summer of Code program.
N.B.: Pinar has confirmed that she will participate on the panel provided she receives travel assistance, specifically costs for her accomodation, airfare and conference pass. She has applied for a student travel scholarship from ABI and will be able to finally confirm her attendance based on the decision of the travel scholarship committee.