Kathy Reid

In just a few days I will travel to Tarntanya/Adelaide - fulfilling a desire to take the Overland across north-Western Victoria and into South Australia - to present my talk on the #TokenWars at @everythingopen #EO2025 #EverythingOpen.

The future of many open source, volunteer-run conferences is precarious.

Rising costs of hosting, dwindling sponsorship, and reluctance to fund employees to attend, as well as the increasing burn-out of the dedicated folks who pitch in thousands of hours a year to make them happen - on top of the erosion caused by the pandemic - means that this may be the last year in many I get to catch up with the community I've come to call "my people" over the last 15 years.

So, let's make it a blast.

Three stellar #keynotes lead the proceedings - maker, technologist and Skill Seeker, @sjpiper145, critical technologist and FOI expert, @daedalus, alongside passionate advocate for the power of libraries, @Trishh.

On top of that, I'm also anticipating great talks from Andy Gelme, @Unixbigot, @saera, @nnye, @dtbell91, @emmadavidson, @kattekrab @caitelatte@cloudisland.nz Aleisha Amohia and Sara King, just to name a few - people I have admired and respected for a long time.

See you there, perhaps for the last time in a long while?

Jan 13 at 10:49pmWeb
Show threadSteph PiperJan 13
@KathyReid @everythingopen @daedalus @Trishh @Unixbigot @saera @nnye @dtbell91 @emmadavidson @kattekrab Looking forward to it!!
Show threadAndrew BartlettJan 14
@KathyReid Yeah, I dipped out for COVID and Carbon reasons and by the time I wanted to dip back in it has become much harder to get to conferences on company dime/time.
Show threadKathy ReidJan 14
@abartlet 100% - we're seeing it across the board. We can't even get people to buy streaming tickets anymore, and I think the key reason for that is it's still "work time" when it's streaming ...
Show threadIanJan 14
@KathyReid @abartlet I had bought an online ticket to #EverythingOpen last year, but was still pulled into work because I "wasn't away" at the conference.
Show threadKathy ReidJan 14
@ibeardslee @abartlet yeah totally understand the frustration there. If you're "present" you're at work, which makes you draggable into things. Is there a better word for draggable-into-things?
Show threadKen Walker Jan 14
@KathyReid @everythingopen @sjpiper145 @daedalus @Trishh @Unixbigot @saera @nnye @dtbell91 @emmadavidson @kattekrab Thanks very much for posting this. Have a day in Adelaide on the 22nd and this is perfect. Just registered for the day.
Show threadKathy ReidJan 14
@kgw @everythingopen @sjpiper145 @daedalus @Trishh @Unixbigot @saera @nnye @dtbell91 @emmadavidson @kattekrab you're so welcome! Hope to see you there!
Show threadNicolaJan 14

@KathyReid @everythingopen My talk will actually end up crossing into the zone of making the people part of the open ecosystem more sustainable. Totally agree that we are at a tipping point with people’s capacity for participating!

Looking forward to seeing you and hearing your talk. 🤩

Show threadKathy ReidJan 14
@nnye @everythingopen oooh excited to hear this! And to see you!
Show threadDan SloanJan 15
@KathyReid @everythingopen @sjpiper145 @daedalus @Trishh @Unixbigot @saera @nnye @dtbell91 @emmadavidson @kattekrab I took the Overland for the trip to and from PyCon AU in 2023, it was quite a pleasant low-speed low-stress way to do conference travel. Much preferred over cramming myself into a plane or driving. Hope you enjoy it and the conference!