Brazil to host GPLv3, FISL, and me
I just got my flight tickets for a 10 day trip to Brazil. The 2nd international GPLv3 conference is happening in Porto Alegre in the far south of Brazil – in conjunction with the 7th International Free Software Forum (FISL), which takes place from the 19th to the 22nd of April. The GPLv3 event is in the Babbage room, on the evenings of the 21st and 22nd (see the schedule).
I’ll be giving a talk as part of FISL about "Lessons learned in Europe for keeping Latin America Software Patent Free", and as part of the GPLv3 conference, I’ll moderate a panel discussion on ""Free Software Development and Adoption of GPLv3 in Latin America" on the 22nd.
I committed to these activities while under the wrong impression that speakers got their flights paid for. Financially, I shouldn’t be going, but it will be a valuable experience, so I got the tickets and I’ll make the most of it instead of breaking my agreements.
It’s amazing how much easier it is to communicate and work with someone when you’ve at least had some food or a pint together. The first international GPlv3 conference, last January, was very useful in this respect. FISL is one of the World’s largest free software events. Last year they reported having over 4.5k attendees, and like FOSDEM, it’s a real free software event, not a wishy-washy event. So I expect good things.
It will also be good to meet the people in FSF Latin America, which was formed recently.