[eclipse.org-eclipsecon-program-committee] EclipseCon 2010 Part 1 - Valu

[Oisin Hurley <oisin.hurley+eclipsecon2010@xxxxxxxxx>]

So here we are, welcome to the EclipseCon 2010 Program Committee
mailing list.  This is number one of a short series of emails
detailing the background thinking I have for the nature of the
conference, the structure of the conference and, finally, some tasks
for the PC.

                            * * *

Each of you has been picked out by me (or recommended) because you are
someone who cares about Eclipse - the code, the foundation, the
processes, the community. This is the most important prerequisite -
that it is important to you. Everything else is just an implementation
detail :)

There's going to be some differences about this conference. Some of
the things are under our control, and some are not. Global conditions
are expected to impact heavily on travel - so the conference is going
to be smaller. To keep the numbers up, it means that we need to offer
more ostensible value than ever before. Tough job.

What's value at a conference? For me it has always fallen into three
broad categories - Education, Discovery and Interaction.

Education first, so that I can learn from experts what I need to know
to do my job better.  Discovery second, so I can find out about things
that are new, interesting, and may not only give me a boost in my
current work life, but might even spin up ideas for setting up my own
technology business. Interaction third, where I can see people whos
name I know from mailing lists, and blogs, and twitter, and talk with
them, argue with them and enjoy a natural human discourse. I want to
get on the plane home buzzing with new-found knowledge, a laptop full
of new project source code and the guidance of the masters ringing in
my ears.

So I've tried to start from these points when pushing out ideas that
may seem odd or outré. The impression I have from you as individuals
is that you don't think I'm crazy just yet - we'll see how we work it
as a group.

               * * *

I'll assume at this point that you have all read Bjorn's blog entry at

http://eclipse-projects.blogspot.com/2009/07/announcing-fabulous-eclipsecon-2010.html

Yes, Bjorn is here to create the conference and make it the most
awesome success - as you all know, he is not a man for false modesty,
and I whole-heartedly agree with him when he asserts that he does a
damn fine job of it.

In that entry, Bjorn enthuses about the themes I'd like to see us  
pursue.

  -  Making with Eclipse
  -  Making at Eclipse
  -  Community

These are very, very simple messages, and that's deliberate.  Making
and Community are basic concepts with strong positive connotations.
They are human-centric and do not have any association with the
potential intellectual violence of technology specifics -- the message
is if you make stuff with Eclipse, regardless of how complex or
trivial it may be, then you are welcome. So that is the message to the
developers and influencers we want to bring to the conference.

I have a second reasons for these broad themes, and that reason is to
prompt us, the Program Committee, to behave differently.  In the
formats of the past, the Committee content has been driven by the
silos of the top-level projects. While this was an expedient approach,
I think it shuttered peoples minds to the overall activity of the
submissions, and did nothing to encourage cross-fertilization of
content and understanding.  It also made for a large and unwieldy
group of individuals, with a wide standard deviation of diligences.
It's my thought that the Committee could perform at a higher pitch if
they considered themselves partners in adversity rather than
individuals looking solely after their own domain.

Let's get back to the themes themselves. Making With Eclipse is for
those people who are creating products based on Eclipse technology. My
colleagues at Progress producing the tools for our integration
solutions would fall into this category. They are here to show the
world what they are doing and how successful they have been, all built
on the back of Eclipse. They are also here to tell us the things that
irritate them too, and make suggestions about how we the projects and
we the foundation could alleviate their current difficulties. They are
also here to meet with other people who are suffering the same
challenges as their own, have a beer with them, have a rant, and
maybe, maybe drive some change using their consumer power.

At this point I should refer to something that I see coming up every
year - the sales pitch presentation. In the Making With Eclipse theme,
it is ok to come and tell us about what you did to make your Eclipse
product. It is ok to show a picture of it and tell us what it is
called and what it does and how you achieved your goal of creating
it. It is not ok to tell us how much better it is than the
competition, how much it costs and that kind of sales behaviour. In
previous EclipseCons, there has been a sense, not of
anti-commercialism, but that corporate presentations are not really
desirable. I say, if it shows the awesome stuff you have done with
Eclipse, then you are welcome to tell us how you made it.

Making At Eclipse is directed to those people who work on the projects
here - contributors and committers, these are the guys that live to
grow the size of the source code control databases and who provide the
basis upon which the Making With Eclipse guys build their success. We
know these people, for they are us.  In this theme, committers and
contributors showcase their work, inform the conference of plans and
roadmaps, discuss their requirements on the Foundation and each other.

Community of course, is ever present, a background susurrus of
interchanges and activities. This year, I think it's appropriate that
we encourage people to take a little time for introspection and
analysis, and to make the activity visible to the community.  Economic
pressures are upon us all and participation within the organization
suffers - companies reduce their investments, in people and cash. We
also need to see if we are as well set up for success as we used to be
- does anything need to change? Or do all we need to do is tactically
weather the current storm?  Someone once said that you should never
waste a crisis, as it gives you an opportunity to make changes that
you couldn't do in times of ease and comfort.  Lets get some feedback
from the community and let's at the very least debate the issues. This
track should contain offerings that could make us perform better as a
community, communicate better, highlight practices and issues with
them and show different ways in which things are done in other
communities.

         *  *  *

The first question here is - with this kind of a thematic set-up,
how can I advertise my project? The answer is there are a number
of approaches we can take - ranging from simple tagging to visual
markers on the programs and digital media. Let's discuss.

Can you provide the rest of the questions?

 best regards
   --oh