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Memories from Akademy 2018

Aug 17, 2018 | 3 minutes read

Tags: Akademy, KDE

Here is my semi-traditional “memories from Akademy” post for this year. I have to admit I don’t manage to do it consistently each year but this edition was special enough that for sure it deserves one.

First of all, it was the first time I did live sketchnoting of the sessions I attended. I posted the result on social media as soon as the talk was over and I also had a special blog post to present them. I think it was all well received which is motivating. I will likely do it again I think.

Second, we had two excellent keynotes by Dan Bielefeld and Claudia Garad. Thus, none of the keynotes were from people within the KDE community but really I don’t think that was an issue. For a keynote I like to get insights on things I wouldn’t have explored and there are more chances that it would come from non-KDE people or former KDE people.

Third, we had kind of an extra keynote, from the KDE community. Indeed, due to flight delays, Nate Graham’s talk was moved to become the closing talk. Turned out it was perfect to conclude the conference part.

Fourth, the organization and location were just super efficient. I think I didn’t thank them properly but really a big THANK YOU is in order to this year local team. You did great and the venue was very convenient and easy to reach.

Fifth, the program was good but a bit more choice in the sessions would have been nice. I understand some of the KDE e.V. assembly topics are now in the main program and the goals are pushed forward. This is good but we should be careful at not cannibalizing the program too much for those.

Sixth, we got proof that both Michael Pyne and Ben Cooksley exist!!! It was really great to finally get to meet them and see them during talks and BoFs.

Seventh, regarding BoFs, I was surprised at the interest to my session about community data analytics. More people showed up than I expected, plenty of good feedback and ideas floating around. I’d also like to thanks Sébastien Renard and Benjamin Port in advance who are working on patches to improve the scripts. Looking forward to review that and sorry guys for not being more present and supportive this week, I shall do better.

Last but not least, this edition was bigger than the past couple of years. More people showed up than before and I think we also had more gender diversity than before (I didn’t count, it’s purely based on perception and unscientific). Two very welcome trends. This resulted in a more vibrant edition that the last few ones. I think we’re doing some things right here and that’s very encouraging for the future.