Hello fellow telecom hackers,
Seeing that OsmoDevCon 2022 is being discussed, I would like to propose a more inclusive alternative, to be held in either USA or Mexico. There are two severe lack-of-inclusion problems with OsmoDevCon:
1) Since its very beginning, ODC has been exclusionary, limited only to Osmocom developers specifically, excluding those developers and tinkerers who work on non-Osmocom projects in the "indie" telecom space, "indie" being defined as independent of major commercial vendors and industry. I hold the opinion that all monocultures are bad in principle, and an Osmocom monoculture is no better than, say, a Microsoft monoculture. Osmocom is currently in the dominant position, outweighing all others by some orders of magnitude, but might does not make right, and we need more diversity. We need more players in this niche space than just Osmocom!
2) The recent decision to limit OsmoDevCon only to those who have agreed to put a certain class of pharmaceutical into their bodies, *on top* of the Osmocom-only restriction of the previous paragraph, makes the proposed conference even more exclusionary and therefore of no service to the wider telecom hacker community.
Of course it is not my place as a Russian-American to try to tell EU countries whom to allow or not allow within their borders, nor is it my place to tell private individuals like our Fearless Leader Harald whom to allow or not allow in their private spaces. But what I *can* do instead is to step forward and offer to organize and host a more inclusive alternative, and that is what I am doing with this post.
Specifically I am offering to organize and host a physical in-person gathering of telecom (all telecom, not just wireless) hackers, enthusiasts and tinkerers, very similar in spirit to OsmoDevCon, but more inclusive:
1) Welcoming everyone who has devoted a major portion of his or her life to *any* project in the indie telecom space, regardless of which domain that project is hosted under, and regardless of whether that project is FOSS or merely PSS. (PSS = Published Source Software, a superset of FOSS.)
2) Welcoming everyone regardless of personal medical choices - what you do with your body is your business, not mine - you don't tell me what I should or shouldn't put in my body, and I won't tell you what you should or shouldn't put into yours. Also no forced testing: if you wish to get yourself tested for this or that before attending, it is your sovereign choice to do so, but no one will *ever* be turned away from an event which I organize and host, neither for refusing to test nor for any other reason.
If there is anyone interested in such an inclusive in-person gathering of telecom hackers, I am offering to host one in my part of the world. Where is it geographically? I live in USA, near San Diego, and right next to the border between USA and Mexico. Depending on who is interested in joining and where they will come from, I can host our InclusiveDevCon on either side of the border, i.e., either in USA or in Mexico.
It is my understanding that gaining entry into Mexico is much easier than gaining entry into USA, hence for that reason I suggest that we hold our get-together on the Mexican side of the border. If we do choose Mexico as our host country, the specific location will need to be in the northern part of that country, specifically in the Mexican state of Baja California; the candidate cities would be Tijuana or Ensenada, somewhere close to the border with USA. However, if the only people who are interested in joining either already live in USA or can easily enter this lovely country, then holding our Inclusive- DevCon in USA would make more sense - in that case it will be somewhere in San Diego area.
Alternatively, if there is anyone in the community who shares my stated values of wider inclusion but cannot or does not wish to travel to USA or Mexico, if you would be willing to host an inclusive event in your part of the world, then I will consider traveling to attend your event - but *only* if your event is open to non-Osmocom PSS developers *and* open to those who refuse injections. Please note, however, that I cannot enter Russia - other parts of the former USSR including Transnistria are potentially accessible to me, but not Russia - I was born there, but I permanently lost the ability to visit my birthplace as a result of having done my gender transition while living in USA, with all steps for legal name and gender change done under the American system, as opposed to Russian.
In hacking solidarity, Mother Mychaela of FreeCalypso
Hi Mychaela, On Tue, Nov 02, 2021 at 02:03:00PM -0800, Mychaela Falconia wrote:
Seeing that OsmoDevCon 2022 is being discussed, I would like to propose a more inclusive alternative, to be held in either USA or Mexico.
I would consider this an alternative in the sense of "in addition to", but not in the sense of "either or". Fact is that the far majority of past and present active Osmocom developers are in or closer to Europe than to the Americas. So from a "overall effort to get everyone in one place" from both a financial but also an ecological point of view, hosting it in Europe has advantages.
- Since its very beginning, ODC has been exclusionary, limited only
to Osmocom developers specifically, excluding those developers and tinkerers who work on non-Osmocom projects in the "indie" telecom space,
Well, it is an _osmocom_ developer conference. By the most obvious and literal meaning of that name, it means "for osmocom developers". Please note that in the past, at our discretion, we did invite select people from other projects such as Sukchan to cover open5gs, or Ismael to cover srsLTE, or very early on also David Burgess from OpenBTS.
If somebody (e.g. you in your proposal) wanted to organize an event about all kinds of free software / open source / "indie" telecom projects, I would certainly welcome it. The more, the merrier.
I am not aware of any similar events being hosted for the srsLTE/srsRAN, open5gs or yateBTS projects/communities. The only (non FOSS but "PSS" in your definition) project with a track record of events/conferences I know of is OpenAirInterface.
- The recent decision to limit OsmoDevCon only to those who have
agreed to put a certain class of pharmaceutical into their bodies,
There was no decision yet, but just a proposal. Also, in general, I think it is recognized that the organizer[s] of an event get to determine the attendance requirements, particularly so if it also involves questions of public health.
Hi Harald,
I would consider this an alternative in the sense of "in addition to", but not in the sense of "either or".
Yes, of course - sorry for not making this part clear in my original post. Practically speaking, if I am going to host the proposed ITHG (Inclusive Telecom Hacker Gathering), it would need to be scheduled to not conflict with OsmoDevCon, allowing all ODC attendees to also attend ITHG. (*Everyone* who attends ODC is also welcome to join ITHG, but obviously not vice-versa, given your current policies.)
Fact is that the far majority of past and present active Osmocom developers are in or closer to Europe than to the Americas. So from a "overall effort to get everyone in one place" from both a financial but also an ecological point of view, hosting it in Europe has advantages.
I would be willing to travel to Europe (anywhere other than Russia) *if* someone were to host a conference or gathering that (1) allows me to join despite my project being non-Osmocom PSS and (2) allows me to join despite me remaining the way Goddess made me, vaccine-free. However, if no one else steps up to host such an inclusive conference or gathering and if I am the only one able and willing to organize and host, then my part of the world (southwestern corner of USA or northwestern corner of Mexico) is the only geographical area where I can practically pull it off.
If somebody (e.g. you in your proposal) wanted to organize an event about all kinds of free software / open source / "indie" telecom projects, I would certainly welcome it. The more, the merrier.
OK, so let's throw around some potential dates for when I can host my proposed ITHG in Tijuana, Mexico. Here are two date range options I currently have in mind:
Option 1: the second half of February or the first half of March 2022, before the abomination of DST kicks in.
Option 2: some time in June 2022, two months after ODC.
Is there anyone at all from this community who would be willing to travel to Tijuana in either of these proposed date ranges?
Duration: I am thinking of a one day event, but if the people who come decide to stay longer, I should be able to extend to 2 or perhaps even 3 days - it all depends on the attendees and their level of interest.
Location: I am thinking of renting a conference room at a hotel in Tijuana, perhaps at the same Hyatt where I stayed back in August for medical tourism. *If* everyone who is interested in attending can gain entry into USA without difficulty, then we can hold our ITHG on the USA side of the border instead - but I absolutely need to make the event accessible to vaccine-free people from other countries, and if you are in the latter category, then it is my understanding that gaining entry into Mexico would be much easier than gaining entry into USA - hence my leaning toward holding our ITHG in Tijuana.
Another advantage of the Mexican side of the border over the USA side are the different policies of T-Mobile USA vs. Telcel Mexico regarding GSM/2G phone users. On the Mexican side of the border you can walk into any Telcel store and buy a prepaid SIM that has the classic GSM 11.11 SIM application still present, and operate it in any classic GSM phone. It even officially says "Compatible con GSM, 3G y 4G" on the paper package in which those Telcel prepaid SIMs are wrapped - official support for GSM/2G! Not so easy on the USA side of the border: T-Mobile still has their GSM network operational, but the SIMs they sell in their stores (prepaid or otherwise) are maliciously hobbled, with the classic GSM 11.11 SIM application removed. One can get an unhobbled SIM from a certain T-Mobile MVNO, but those are not as easily accessible to visiting tourists.
I am not aware of any similar events being hosted for the srsLTE/srsRAN, open5gs or yateBTS projects/communities. The only (non FOSS but "PSS" in your definition) project with a track record of events/conferences I know of is OpenAirInterface.
If there is at least one person from Osmocom who would be willing to join my ITHG, then ITHG will be a proper inter-project gathering, with at least two projects represented: the putative person represending Osmocom and me representing FreeCalypso. Given that Osmocom is the 1000 pound gorilla in the room, the goliath compared to all other indie telecom projects out there, there will need to be at least one person from Osmocom agreeing to attend ITHG, in order for ITHG to have legitimacy. *If* we get that one person from Osmocom agreeing to join, *then* I will reach out to YateBTS community, inviting them to join as well - but we need at least one person from Osmocom to be on board first.
M~
Just dropping my personal choice: I will not travel by flight. In or near Berlin is my personal requirement for attending any con.
If it were only up to me, I would permit unvaccinated attendance, but this choice includes all of society. I am not ready to take the responsibility to partake in a gathering that allows likely spread of COVID. Consider the case that it results in infection and possibly long covid and/or death of an attendee or her family / friends.
My choice to categorically not travel by flight goes along the same lines, related to greenhouse gas emissions. A single intercontinental flight *quadruples* my personal annual emissions. It's way out of proportion.
~N
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Harald Welte -
Mychaela Falconia -
Neels Hofmeyr