As many of you are already noticing, Málaga is becoming an important hub is Spain for innovation in general and software in particular. Open Source has its place and events like OpenSouthCode are getting traction carried out by this trend. In addition, the organisers of this event have a clear view of what the event should look like. Having FOSDEM as reference, OpenSouthCode is moving from being a local event of reference into a national event. This process will take a few years to consolidate but this first step in 2023 has been remarkable.
This year OpenSouthCode has been bigger and better. A few sponsors supported the event and added to that support their presence through booths where they could interact with participants in a very relaxed atmosphere.
KDE had a relevant participation too. KDE Spain took the decision to organise Akademy-es,, the event in Spanish for KDE developers and users so, in addition to a booth, a full track with KDE related topics was organised as part of OpenSouthCode.
The KDE booth was a success. It included a special screen where kids could draw with Krita, using a digital pen. A contest was organised and many kids, who came to OpenSouthCode to participate in specific workshops created for them, passed by our booth to create their own Konqi version. The winner (a very talented girl) got a t-shirt as prize. Seeing all these kids being interested on KDE was refreshing.
As contribution to Akademy-es, I helped organising the social activity last Sunday June 11th, taking those who stayed after the event to visit La Alcazaba de Málaga. Afterwards, I took them for lunch to a well known tapas place in the city centre. I had a good time playing the “local touristic guide role”, even though I am not strictly a local.
I provided a talk the second day of the event about a topic I am passionate about: delivery metrics. I have written about it in the past, provided talks, workshops… . You can find the link to the slides and to the video (coming soon) of my talk at the Talks – Interviews section of this site. The talk was in Spanish but I created the slide deck in English. In fact, the deck is an update of a workshop I did while working at MBition (Mercedes Benz).
It was a blast to see so many friends, former colleagues, people I follow closely and others I respect here in Málaga for two days. Some of the talks were extremely interesting and fun to watch. I had many interesting conversations and could chat about topics I care about with true experts.
The event has potential for growth under the current format and spirit. The organising team has taken the event this 2023 edition to a higher level. Now the challenge will be to consolidate it, turning the event into “a must” for FLOSS developers and enthusiasts in Spain. This first step towards that goal has been very successful, in my view. Congratulations to the organisers. Thank you for for inviting me as speaker and for hosting Akademy-es. Next year, more.
toscalix 