[Linux-aus] LCA2014 update

[Russell Stuart]

On Thu, 2012-08-30 at 00:39 +0930, Glen Turner wrote:
> LCA is too small. It is currently too large for a university,

LCA 2011 may have had a limit, but if so we didn't come close reaching
it.  We had ensured we could handle over 1000 if that many turned up.
They didn't.  If there was some way to get more people there and we
didn't use it, then we stuffed up.

> Fix the sexism problem. Practically, because it is the prime risk to
> access to university venues; philosophically, because it isn't free
> software if using it carries a moral cost.

Going by Valerie Aurora's recent post there a very serious sexism
problem at DEFCON.  But ... DEFCON isn't an open source conference.  And
it isn't LCA.  As far as I am aware, there hasn't been a single reported
case of harassment (sexist or otherwise) that wasn't handled
appropriately at _any_ LCA.  As far as sexism goes, LCA has been
fortunate in having Linux Chix and later the ADA initiative help it to
engage and encourage women, and has as a result had the percentage of
females attending has been rising over time.

> "The community" is a pain in the arse. If you are writing more than two
> e-mails about one topic which you are not doing anything else to
> advance, then you are part of the problem.

Indeed.  I cringe whenever I see the accusations of LCA organising teams
being sexist when in reality tell they go out of their way to encourage
and engage women.  If you wanted to hold up an example of how women
should be included in the open source community, you could do a lot
worse than point to LCA and LA.