OpenTechSummit 2016 (Report)

I was honored to be part again this year at OpenTechSummit 2016 this year where I represented Mozilla and specifically the Community Design initiative, where we encourage contributors to get involved with design at Mozilla. Check out my blog post to find out more about Mozilla Community Design.

The event was quite nice and as it was my 2nd time I was part of OpenTechSummit, I felt quite like home, where I met many old friends, as well as new ones. In the following is a short description of the event:

Topics range from open hardware to open data, design, graphics, software, start ups and digital policies. In a barcamp style track there is space for adhoc meetings, lightning talks and breakout sessions. There will also be dedicated workshops for kids and maker enthusiasts, where you can make your own gadgets (TV-B-Gone, upgrade knitting machines, your own traffic lights) and Fashiontec wearables. In the evening we will have an “OpenTech-Himmelfahrt” lounge. The Linux Professional Institute offers Linux certification at a discounted rate. More than 70 speakers will present the latest technology trends, including Lennart Poettering (Developer Systemd), Michael Christen (Founder Yacy Searchengine), Wan Leung Wong (Tinyboy 3D Printer Hong Kong), André Fiedler (FirefoxOS Engineer), Andreas Bräu (Knitting machine hacker), Jan Suhr (Nitrokey Crypto Device) and Luca Comparini (Power Systems at IBM).

You can listen to a recording of my talk here. There are many things I need to improve when giving a talk, while I keep on striving to polish my speaking skills, but with the Mozilla Tech Speakers program the process becomes a very worthwhile one.

I also extended my stay in Berlin, to work at the Mozilla Office on various Mozilla projects, which was something I have wanted to catch up on for quite some time. Felt good meeting with the Mozilla crew again.

Conclusion

The weather in Berlin was wonderful during the event, which might not be the most fitting thing for indoor events. Many talks lacked people due to that, as quite many preferred drinking a beer outside. However, the 1:1 conversations I had after my talk made up for it, and I met with quite some Mozillians during that time. I was really impressed by the 2015 edition, which hooked me up for this edition as well. however I was let down a bit due to some lack of guidance and organization of speakers and their sessions. I hope OTS 2017 will improve on these.