Category: Community

Help Grow GNOME in Africa

This spring we’re asking you to help us set our priorities when you donate to the GNOME Foundation. You have the option of asking us to focus on building GNOME in Africa or WebKitGTK development.

We want GNOME to be for everyone, regardless of where they come from. To achieve that, we work with contributors from all over the world. The GNOME community in Africa has grown significantly throughout 2019, and we’re excited to help them continue that growth!

Sigu Migwa and StellaMaris Njage spoke at GUADEC 2019 about growing a GNOME community in their home country of Kenya, and the challenges they have to think about. This was the first time many of us learned about what people are doing with GNOME in any African context and this talk brought up concerns we hadn’t considered. However, many of these issues are the same faced by every community looking to grow. While free software is by no means new to Africa, the GNOME community wants to do more in that area.

At the Open Source Source Festival in Lagos, Nigeria, Regina Nkemchor Adejo spoke about desktop applications using GNOME, targeting the experience specifically for the African user.

2020 also brought the launch of the Pan African GNOME Summit, which was postponed due to COVID-19. However, the team is still working on the event and plans to proceed with it when possible.

We want to celebrate what happened in 2019 and so far in 2020, but we know it’s not enough and that we can do more to grow a GNOME community across Africa. A vote to support GNOME in Africa is a vote for building more initiatives across the African continent. Examples of possible activities include:

  • travel sponsorships to bring people from Africa to GNOME events;
  • assisting in the organization of events in Africa, including hackfests and conferences;
  • university outreach targeted at African universities; or
  • translations specifically for African languages.

The most important thing for us is working with GNOME contributors and members who are already in Africa to bring the GNOME software, project, and community to them in the ways that work for their local communities, and to support their leadership in the best ways we can.

GUADEC 2020 Call for Participation is Now Open

The GNOME Foundation is excited to announce that the call for participation or CfP for GUADEC 2020 is now open. Proposals can be submitted on the event page: https://events.gnome.org/e/guadec2020

GUADEC, the GNOME community’s largest conference, is taking place between the 22nd – 28th of July and will be held in Zacatecas, Mexico.  The GNOME Foundation is looking for talks on a wide range of topics including but not limited to:

  • Application development
  • Privacy and security
  • Community and team building
  • Design of user and developer experience
  • Use of GNOME technologies outside the desktop
  • Newcomers initiatives 
  • Project planning and governance

The first day, the 22nd of July, will be called “GNOME Open Day”. The GNOME Foundation is looking for proposals for this day, in particular, that will focus on local outreach, governance, and getting more people involved in the Zacatecas region. These talks should be meant for new GNOME users. We also welcome talks on this day to be given in both Spanish and English to make them more accessible for locals. 

Talk submissions are due by the 31st of March: https://events.gnome.org/event/1/abstracts/

Additional updates about GUADEC 2020 can be found on the event website and social media channels. Press inquiries and questions regarding the event can be sent to: guadec@gnome.org

We hope to see you in Zacatecas!

GNOME at FOSDEM February 1st – 2nd

GNOME will be present at FOSDEM 2020 which takes place this weekend in Brussels, Belgium, from February 1 – 2. FOSDEM is one of the largest gatherings for Free Software enthusiasts and contributors.

Photo by Teemu Mäntynen CC BY-NC 2.0

GNOME will be hosting a booth in the K-building where attendees can meet contributors, test the latest version of GNOME, and pick up some of the latest GNOME merch designs.

On Saturday, GNOME will be hosting our famous social evening – GNOME Beers! Gathering at Bonnefooi starting at 7:30pm, we’d love you to come along and socialize, meet staff, and chat with core contributors. Additional details about GNOME’s presence at FOSDEM including more info about the social event is available on GNOME’s FOSDEM wiki page.

We’re looking forward to see you.

Call for GNOME.Asia 2020 Summit proposals

The GNOME.Asia Committee is inviting interested parties to submit proposals for hosting the GNOME.Asia Summit during the second half of 2020.

GNOME.Asia Summit is the featured annual GNOME Conference in Asia. The event focuses primarily on the GNOME desktop, but also covers applications and the development platform tools. It brings together the GNOME community in Asia to provide a forum for users, contributors, foundation leaders, governments, and businesses to discuss the current technology and future developments.

Over the last twelve years, GNOME.Asia Summit has been held in many cities throughout Asia, including Gresik, Beijing, Ho-Chi-Minh City, Taipei, Bangalore, Hong Kong, Seoul, Beijing, Depok, New Delhi, and Chongqing.

The Committee’s preference is to find a new location each year in order to spread GNOME throughout Asia, and we are looking for local organizers to rise to the challenge of organizing an excellent GNOME event. The GNOME.Asia committee will assist in the process, but there is a definitive need for individuals to be actively involved and committed to the planning and execution of the event.

How to Submit a Proposal:

Interested parties are hereby invited to submit a formal proposal to the GNOME.Asia Committee. The deadline for the proposals is January 17th, 2020. Please email your proposal to gnome-asia-committee-list@gnome.org. 

We might invite you to present your proposal in more details over our regular IRC meetings, or send you additional questions and requests. Results will be announced by the second week of February 2020.

The conference might require availability of facilities for 3-5 days, including a weekend, during the second half of 2020. Final event dates should avoid other key free software conferences or other events that may conflict. 

The key points that should be included in the proposal, and which will be used to decide among candidates, are.

  • Local community support for hosting the conference.
  • Venue details. Information about infrastructure and facilities to hold the conference should be provided.
  • Preliminary schedule with main program & different activities.
  • Information about how Internet connectivity will be managed.
  • Lodging choices ranging from affordable housing to nicer hotels, and information about distances between the venue and lodging options.
  • The availability of restaurants or the organization of catering on-site, cost of food/soft drinks/beer.
  • The availability and cost of travel from major Asian and European cities.
  • Local industries, universities and government support.
  • Please provide a reasonably detailed budget (sponsorships, expenses, etc).
  • Provide plans for local sponsorship.
  • Provide plans to encourage student and youth participation.

Below, we have included resources for people interested in submitting a proposal. Please do not hesitate to contact the GNOME.Asia committee with any questions at gnome-asia-committee-list@gnome org.

 We are looking forward to hearing from you soon!

– GNOME.Asia Committee

Resources for Interested GNOME.Asia 2020 Organizers: 

[1] Wiki about GNOME Asia: http://wiki.gnome.org/GnomeAsia
[2] Check list: https://wiki.gnome.org/GnomeAsia/SummitCheckList
[3] HowTo’s: https://wiki.gnome.org/GnomeAsia/HowToOrganizeGNOME.Asia%20Summit
[4] GNOME Foundation conference requirements: https://wiki.gnome.org/Foundation/Conferences
[5] Sample winning proposal: http://wiki.gnome.org/GnomeAsia/2012Summit/Bids?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=Proposal_of_HongKong_GNOME_Asia_Hackfest_2012_20120124.pdf

Please help us spread the word! If you haven’t already, please follow us on Twitter: @gnome_asia and @gnome, and on Facebook.

Step up and become a Friend of GNOME!

The GNOME project is built by a vibrant community and supported by the GNOME Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity registered in California (USA). The GNOME community has spent more than 20 years creating a desktop environment designed for the user. We‘re asking you to step up for GNOME and become Friend of GNOME. We’re working to have 100 new Friends of GNOME join by January 6, 2020.

This photo includes a large group of people standing on steps outside on a sunny day. In the foreground is a large beach blanket with brightly colored GNOME logos on it.
Photo by Ana Rey licensed under a CC-BY-SA license.

The GNOME Foundation was founded in 2000, to support the activities of the GNOME project and our goal of building a desktop environments that respects the freedom of every user, developer, and contributor. We continue to make great strides towards this.

2019 has been an exciting year for us with the expansion of the Foundation‘s staff and efforts:

This year has not been without challenges. Most notably, October brought with it allegations of patent infringement from Rothschild Patent Imaging, Ltd. Rather than settling or backing down, we are taking this fight as far as we have to in order to say that patent trolls have no place in free software. This effort is something we’ll be carrying forward into the coming year.

Looking ahead to 2020, we already have a lot going on in addition to our patent case. There’s kicking off the GNOME Coding Education Challenge in order to expand the tools we have available to learn and teach. We will be seriously expanding our accessibility efforts, and are currently planning an accessibility audit and making plans for updates to the Orca screen reader. We’ve already started planning GUADEC 2020, which will bring us to our first North American GUADEC in Zacatecas, Mexico. We have a GNOME.Asia in the works. There will be more hackfests and newcomer events, intern and mentorship opportunities, and constant efforts to work on, for, and with the community. We’ll do all of this while upholding the standards of technical excellence you have come to expect from the GNOME project, building software for people of every country with every level of ability.

The GNOME Foundation supports the work of the GNOME community, and we need your help to keep going. We’re working on the future, not just of how you interact with your computer, but the future of free software and we want you to join us. Step up for GNOME! You can become a Friend of GNOME, to support us on either an annual or monthly basis. We ask for a minimum donation of $10/month, and recommend $25 a month ($5 for students). Every donation comes with a Thank You postcard from a GNOME hacker and a discount on GNOME swag when you find our booth at a conference. For $30 a month, you can get a subscription to LWN. If you donate $500 or more on an annual basis, you’ll get a wonderful Thank You note especially from executive director Neil McGovern.

We’re bringing software freedom to the desktop. We‘re developing a safe, secure, accessible desktop environment for everyone; building a global community of contributors; and fostering the next generation of free and open source software contributors. By becoming a Friend of GNOME you are becoming a part of that.

Cheers,

Andrea, Bart, Emmanuele, Kristi, Molly, Neil, and Rosanna

GUADEC 2020 announcement

The GNOME Foundation is excited to announce that GUADEC 2020 will take place between the 22nd – 28th of July in Zacatecas, Mexico.

Zacatecas is a city and municipality in Mexico, located in the north-central part of the country. Set in a valley and surrounded by mountains, the city, which had its start as a Spanish mining camp in the mid-16th century, has a rich interesting history and is a very pleasant city to visit, featuring several interesting attractions.

The foundation is confident that the organizing team will do their best to make GUADEC 2020 a great experience for every party involved.

To stay up-to-date with the latest conference deadlines and registration dates, news, activities and more follow @GUADEC and @GNOME on Twitter.

Whether you wish to present your work, take part in the workshops, or simply attend the talks, the GNOME Foundation hopes to see you in Zacatecas!

File:Zacatecas vistaBufa.jpg
Levimx90 CC-BY 3.0

Linux Application Summit 2019 about to start in Barcelona

The GNOME Foundation is very excited that Linux Application Summit 2019 is about to start in Barcelona, Spain.

Linux App Summit 2019 (or LAS) is a joint collaboration between GNOME and KDE which will feature 3 days of talks from prominent members of the Linux developer community from Tuesday 12th November to Thursday 14th November, and Birds of a Feather sessions on Friday 15th.

Linux App Summit which is primarily is a conference focused on spreading information and encouraging the development of the Linux application ecosystem.

The full schedule and more information about Linux Application Summit including the list of speakers is available at the official website. 

The GNOME Foundation also thanks all of the sponsors and individuals who made the Linux App Summit possible.

CC-BY-2.0 Jorge Láscar

GNOME Shell 2019 Hackfest concludes in Leidschendam Netherlands

The GNOME Shell 2019 Hackfest which took place in Leidschendam, Netherlands have concluded.

During the Hackfest various discussions was held and work was done to improve Wayland integration with GNOME Shell, mixed DPI densities, Xwayland-on-demand, and more!

Thanks go out to the Revspace Hackerspace for the venue. Reports from the Hackfest is available on the wiki . The Hackfest was considered as a great success as much progress on the GNOME the Shell was done.

GNOME Asia Summit 2019 to take place this weekend in Gresik, Indonesia

GNOME Asia Summit 2019 will take place this weekend in Gresik, Indonesia.

The main focus is primarily on the GNOME desktop, but also applications and platform development tools are covered. The summit brings together the GNOME community in Asia to provide a forum for users, developers, foundation leaders, governments and businesses to discuss the present technology and future developments. 

Our executive director Neil McGovern and our director of operations Rosanna Yuen will keynote the summit.

More information about Asia Summit 2019 including a schedule and the full list of speakers can be found on the official website at https://2019.gnome.asia/

GNOME.Asia Summit 2019 Registration is now open

We’re excited to announce that the Registration for GNOME Asia Summit 2019 is now open at https://2019.gnome.asia/#/registration

GNOME Asia Summit 2019 which will take place between 13-14th  October in Gresik, Indonesia. 

The main focus is primarily on the GNOME desktop, but also applications and platform development tools are covered. The summit brings together the GNOME community in Asia to provide a forum for users, developers, foundation leaders, governments and businesses to discuss the present technology and future developments. 

More information about the GNOME 2019 Summit including a schedule, the list of speakers and venue information is available on the official website at https://2019.gnome.asia/. 

The Foundation is looking forward to meet everyone who makes it to Gresik.

This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0.