749 seagl2023 2023-11-03 2023-11-04 2 00:05 2023-11-03T02:10:00-07:00 09:10 00:20 Room 1 20-Minute Talk 1016-keynote-diversity-and-allyship-isn-t-always-easy-deb-nicholson Keynotes Everyone loves the idea of diversity and most of us want to think of ourselves as "a good ally.” Not only is it the right thing to do, there are some very appealing benefits that come with making your tech event, project or workplace a welcoming place for vulnerable, marginalized or under-indexed people. More perspectives leads to more innovation and diverse companies tend to enjoy higher employee loyalty and customer satisfaction rates. There are many great talks and papers about how to increase diversity, but they often skip over the difficult parts. We're not doing ourselves any favors by leaving the challenges, costs or even the backlash out of the discussion. Once we're willing to talk about it, maybe we can come up with some ideas to help each other overcome the stress points? I want to start that conversation. This talk is coming from someone who passionately supports diversity and wants to help others do this work and to set them up for success with realistic expectations. Everyone loves the idea of diversity and most of us want to think of ourselves as "a good ally.” Not only is it the right thing to do, there are some very appealing benefits that come with making your tech event, project or workplace a welcoming place for vulnerable, marginalized or under-indexed people. More perspectives leads to more innovation and diverse companies tend to enjoy higher employee loyalty and customer satisfaction rates. There are many great talks and papers about how to increase diversity, but they often skip over the difficult parts. We're not doing ourselves any favors by leaving the challenges, costs or even the backlash out of the discussion. Once we're willing to talk about it, maybe we can come up with some ideas to help each other overcome the stress points? I want to start that conversation. This talk is coming from someone who passionately supports diversity and wants to help others do this work and to set them up for success with realistic expectations. false Deb Nicholson 2023-11-03T02:40:00-07:00 09:40 00:20 Room 1 20-Minute Talk 1017-keynote-the-linux-app-ecosystem-a-renaissance-that-nobody-is-watching-sri-ramkrishna Keynotes The Linux App Ecosystem is essentially a group of projects, frameworks, and organizations that implement, contribute, and enhance writing applications on the Linux platform. During the initial years, there was a slew of excitement as open source became more prominent. Yet, as the years went by and even as the concept of open source took off and became the modus operand of software engineering, the interest in the app ecosystem seemed to dwindle and it found itself pushed further away from open source mainstream. Largely hidden from mainstream view, wonderful things are happening. The Linux App Ecosystem is essentially a group of projects, frameworks, and organizations that implement, contribute, and enhance writing applications on the Linux platform. During the initial years, there was a slew of excitement as open source became more prominent. Yet, as the years went by and even as the concept of open source took off and became the modus operand of software engineering, the interest in the app ecosystem seemed to dwindle and it found itself pushed further away from open source mainstream. Largely hidden from mainstream view, wonderful things are happening. false Sriram Ramkrishna 2023-11-03T03:30:00-07:00 10:30 00:50 Room 1 50-Minute Talk 975-lessons-learned-from-growing-a-home-lab My journey of becoming self-reliant by building a home lab Systems and Platforms In the presentation titled "Lessons learned from growing a Home Lab," I will introduce the concept of tech self-reliance and demonstrate its attainability for everyone. The journey of building a home lab will be explored, highlighting lessons and challenges faced along the way. The crucial steps to break free from rental fees and closed hardware limitations will be discussed, including acquiring enterprise-grade hardware from companies like Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, on a budget. Networking aspects such as obtaining a domain and setting up dynamic DNS will be addressed. I will also discuss my experience with various software options, such as private chat servers like Zulip, FOSS social media like Diaspora, and game servers. Three key lessons wil be shared at the end of the presentation. Firstly, there are profound individual benefits and opportunities for personal and professional growth and learning. Secondly, the benefits of a home lab extend to like-minded enthusiasts, creating a supportive community for knowledge exchange. Finally, non-technical individuals also benefit from a home lab, as it enhances their digital literacy, enables them to troubleshoot basic technical issues, and fosters a deeper understanding of technology in their everyday lives. In the presentation titled "Lessons learned from growing a Home Lab," I will introduce the concept of tech self-reliance and demonstrate its attainability for everyone. The journey of building a home lab will be explored, highlighting lessons and challenges faced along the way. The crucial steps to break free from rental fees and closed hardware limitations will be discussed, including acquiring enterprise-grade hardware from companies like Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, on a budget. Networking aspects such as obtaining a domain and setting up dynamic DNS will be addressed. I will also discuss my experience with various software options, such as private chat servers like Zulip, FOSS social media like Diaspora, and game servers. Three key lessons wil be shared at the end of the presentation. Firstly, there are profound individual benefits and opportunities for personal and professional growth and learning. Secondly, the benefits of a home lab extend to like-minded enthusiasts, creating a supportive community for knowledge exchange. Finally, non-technical individuals also benefit from a home lab, as it enhances their digital literacy, enables them to troubleshoot basic technical issues, and fosters a deeper understanding of technology in their everyday lives. false Guilherme Carvalho Trindade 2023-11-03T04:30:00-07:00 11:30 00:50 Room 1 50-Minute Talk 968-conflu-con-crud-and-covid-19 The time for Health and Safety policies is yesterday Community and Culture “Conflu” and “con crud” are nothing new to people who attend in-person conferences, and the tendency to come home sick has long been treated as unavoidable, and as an acceptable risk. The COVID-19 pandemic put a finer point on the health risks of in-person events, and presents executives, leaders, and organizers with a choice: Do we seize this opportunity to better understand our duty of care and run more inclusive events? Or do we fall back on a status quo that calcified inequities and excluded people with disabilities, chronic illness, caregivers, and those who live with them? The choice is clear. We aim to rise to the challenge of running safer and more inclusive events. Let’s draw on the lessons we learned as community leaders and influencers pushed Codes of Conduct into the mainstream, and raise the bar together – again. In this presentation, we will explore lessons learned amid the pandemic, dive deep on the evolving practice of Health and Safety policies, and prepare our communities for a world racked by the climate crisis in which contagious diseases are growing in number and frequency. Take heart: this talk is a hopeful one. Attendees will leave with a vision of a more inclusive future, mental models to navigate newfound complexity, and good examples to draw on for events of every size and shape. “Conflu” and “con crud” are nothing new to people who attend in-person conferences, and the tendency to come home sick has long been treated as unavoidable, and as an acceptable risk. The COVID-19 pandemic put a finer point on the health risks of in-person events, and presents executives, leaders, and organizers with a choice: Do we seize this opportunity to better understand our duty of care and run more inclusive events? Or do we fall back on a status quo that calcified inequities and excluded people with disabilities, chronic illness, caregivers, and those who live with them? The choice is clear. We aim to rise to the challenge of running safer and more inclusive events. Let’s draw on the lessons we learned as community leaders and influencers pushed Codes of Conduct into the mainstream, and raise the bar together – again. In this presentation, we will explore lessons learned amid the pandemic, dive deep on the evolving practice of Health and Safety policies, and prepare our communities for a world racked by the climate crisis in which contagious diseases are growing in number and frequency. Take heart: this talk is a hopeful one. Attendees will leave with a vision of a more inclusive future, mental models to navigate newfound complexity, and good examples to draw on for events of every size and shape. false Robin Riley 2023-11-03T07:50:00-07:00 14:50 00:50 Room 1 50-Minute Talk 982-service-and-your-career How Volunteer Work Can Work for You Open-Source Careers DESCRIPTION There’s a crushing Catch-22 in the technology world that keeps people from realizing their career dreams. Career consultants often hear this exasperated plea for help: “How do I get experience doing something new, when the companies I am talking to only want to hire people who already have experience?” Lori is a former computer engineer and technology executive who will explain how candidates can gain key engineering work experience by volunteering. Volunteers participate in a very wide range of opportunities, from technical conferences like SeaGL, to open source projects, to service to the country. This talk will explain how to leverage any volunteer accomplishment with strategic integration into resumes and job interviews. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Lori will share real life examples of enhancing engineering and leadership careers by engaging in volunteer work which offers strategic experience. This talk provides actionable advice about how to integrate that experience with resumes, interviews, and career networking. Here are selected topics: - Advantages of Volunteer Work over Compensated Work - Tie Your Volunteer Work into Your Profession - Volunteer for Conferences Instead of Just Attending - Contribute to Open Source Projects - Hackathons and Competitions - Speak at Meetups & Events - Maintain Multiple Social Spheres - Find a Mentor, Be a Mentor - If You are in Between Jobs, Get Busy ADDITIONAL COMMENTS In your professional life you may face limits imposed by the company you work for and the outlines of your job description. Working in a volunteer organization may enable you to break out of that box. Everyone starts out as a beginner, but if you’re motivated to excel, you might quickly find yourself running a volunteer team. That experience could be a key factor to getting your next promotion or a new job. This talk content was originally developed with Paris Pickard. Even though Paris isn't available to be a co-presenter, her contributions are included, with her blessing. DESCRIPTION There’s a crushing Catch-22 in the technology world that keeps people from realizing their career dreams. Career consultants often hear this exasperated plea for help: “How do I get experience doing something new, when the companies I am talking to only want to hire people who already have experience?” Lori is a former computer engineer and technology executive who will explain how candidates can gain key engineering work experience by volunteering. Volunteers participate in a very wide range of opportunities, from technical conferences like SeaGL, to open source projects, to service to the country. This talk will explain how to leverage any volunteer accomplishment with strategic integration into resumes and job interviews. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Lori will share real life examples of enhancing engineering and leadership careers by engaging in volunteer work which offers strategic experience. This talk provides actionable advice about how to integrate that experience with resumes, interviews, and career networking. Here are selected topics: - Advantages of Volunteer Work over Compensated Work - Tie Your Volunteer Work into Your Profession - Volunteer for Conferences Instead of Just Attending - Contribute to Open Source Projects - Hackathons and Competitions - Speak at Meetups & Events - Maintain Multiple Social Spheres - Find a Mentor, Be a Mentor - If You are in Between Jobs, Get Busy ADDITIONAL COMMENTS In your professional life you may face limits imposed by the company you work for and the outlines of your job description. Working in a volunteer organization may enable you to break out of that box. Everyone starts out as a beginner, but if you’re motivated to excel, you might quickly find yourself running a volunteer team. That experience could be a key factor to getting your next promotion or a new job. This talk content was originally developed with Paris Pickard. Even though Paris isn't available to be a co-presenter, her contributions are included, with her blessing. false Lori Barfield 2023-11-03T08:40:00-07:00 15:40 01:00 Room 1 Social Event 1013-teagl Social Events Placeholder Placeholder false 2023-11-03T09:40:00-07:00 16:40 00:50 Room 1 50-Minute Talk 1000-blender-for-beginners Performance Art The 3D animation suite Blender is the greatest software in the history of the world, so how come you haven't started learning it? Quit being a goober and check out this intro to Blender that will rip off the band-aid of beginner mistakes and start the journey of your 3D animation dreams. We'll start with an introductory guide to your first 30 minutes in Blender, then crank up the voltage with extreme projects to fill your mind with unbelievable possibilities. The 3D animation suite Blender is the greatest software in the history of the world, so how come you haven't started learning it? Quit being a goober and check out this intro to Blender that will rip off the band-aid of beginner mistakes and start the journey of your 3D animation dreams. We'll start with an introductory guide to your first 30 minutes in Blender, then crank up the voltage with extreme projects to fill your mind with unbelievable possibilities. false Oscar Baechler 2023-11-03T10:30:00-07:00 17:30 01:00 Room 1 Social Event 1011-blender-movie-night Social Events Placeholder Placeholder false 2023-11-03T03:30:00-07:00 10:30 00:20 Room 2 20-Minute Talk 1008-open-recycling-the-juxtaposition-of-sustainability-and-flo-ss Languages and Tools There are many parallels between the principles of Free/Libre/Openness and Sustainability but how do they relate in general? Can they exist without each other, or are they just two sides of the same coin? This talk is about reconciling ideas across these two complicated paradigms and some more simple / practical examples in which they can align very directly. It was born out of trying to repurpose and reuse materials and industrial parts on the supply side: while considering ways to incentivize the implementation of both Sustainability and FLO(SS) which, at the least, are interdependently entwined. There are many parallels between the principles of Free/Libre/Openness and Sustainability but how do they relate in general? Can they exist without each other, or are they just two sides of the same coin? This talk is about reconciling ideas across these two complicated paradigms and some more simple / practical examples in which they can align very directly. It was born out of trying to repurpose and reuse materials and industrial parts on the supply side: while considering ways to incentivize the implementation of both Sustainability and FLO(SS) which, at the least, are interdependently entwined. false Athan Spathas 2023-11-03T04:00:00-07:00 11:00 00:20 Room 2 20-Minute Talk 1007-gnu-guix-the-other-functional-package-manager Languages and Tools GNU Guix is a functional package manager – an approach to package management pioneered by Nix. Like Nix, Guix lets you create computing environments (and even entire operating systems) declaratively: you describe what you want and let Guix figure out how to build it. And after over 10 years of development, Guix knows how to build a lot of things. While Nix is quickly becoming more popular among the tech vanguard, Guix is still rather unknown. This is a shame, because Guix is really cool! It has its own well-designed, programmer-friendly perspective on how to do functional package management. Perhaps the key technical distinction of Guix is its use of Scheme as the package definition language. Scheme is a fantastic choice here for two reasons. The first is that its extensible syntax allows for very high-level package definitions. A simple package looks pretty much like a JSON object, but you still have access to all the power of a modern programming language for when you need it. The second reason is its support for code staging. Guix uses an extended form of code quotation called G-Expressions that makes it easy to write low-level build scripts in terms of high-level concepts. But Guix also has non-technical distinctions, too. The Guix project has a thoroughgoing commitment to free software. The default package repository only contains free software according to the Free Software Distribution Guidelines. Beyond just licensing concerns, Guix prioritizes the “freedom to modify” by making it relatively painless to maintain patches to any package in your environment. The Guix community has also focused on “bootstrapping” our packages so that even compilers are defined entirely by source code, rather than the common practice of defining them in terms of an opaque binary. It’s the fully transitive “freedom to study”! Of course, there are reasons Guix might not be for you. That’s okay! Come learn about the very unique approach Guix has taken to free software distribution and see if it inspires you. GNU Guix is a functional package manager – an approach to package management pioneered by Nix. Like Nix, Guix lets you create computing environments (and even entire operating systems) declaratively: you describe what you want and let Guix figure out how to build it. And after over 10 years of development, Guix knows how to build a lot of things. While Nix is quickly becoming more popular among the tech vanguard, Guix is still rather unknown. This is a shame, because Guix is really cool! It has its own well-designed, programmer-friendly perspective on how to do functional package management. Perhaps the key technical distinction of Guix is its use of Scheme as the package definition language. Scheme is a fantastic choice here for two reasons. The first is that its extensible syntax allows for very high-level package definitions. A simple package looks pretty much like a JSON object, but you still have access to all the power of a modern programming language for when you need it. The second reason is its support for code staging. Guix uses an extended form of code quotation called G-Expressions that makes it easy to write low-level build scripts in terms of high-level concepts. But Guix also has non-technical distinctions, too. The Guix project has a thoroughgoing commitment to free software. The default package repository only contains free software according to the Free Software Distribution Guidelines. Beyond just licensing concerns, Guix prioritizes the “freedom to modify” by making it relatively painless to maintain patches to any package in your environment. The Guix community has also focused on “bootstrapping” our packages so that even compilers are defined entirely by source code, rather than the common practice of defining them in terms of an opaque binary. It’s the fully transitive “freedom to study”! Of course, there are reasons Guix might not be for you. That’s okay! Come learn about the very unique approach Guix has taken to free software distribution and see if it inspires you. false Timothy Sample 2023-11-03T04:30:00-07:00 11:30 00:50 Room 2 50-Minute Talk 998-linux-like-it-was-50-years-ago Everything Else To a modern audience, "Linux" and "Unix" mean pretty much the same thing. User-oriented Linux distributions provide a graphical interface with desktop applications. But Unix wasn't always like that. In this engaging virtual presentation, you'll learn about the origins of Unix, and we'll do a live demo of using Linux like it was Unix from 50 years ago. Bring your own Linux laptop and follow along! We'll use ed(1) to edit files and use nroff to write documents - and do all of it from a terminal! If you're curious about Linux and Unix history, you'll love this session. To a modern audience, "Linux" and "Unix" mean pretty much the same thing. User-oriented Linux distributions provide a graphical interface with desktop applications. But Unix wasn't always like that. In this engaging virtual presentation, you'll learn about the origins of Unix, and we'll do a live demo of using Linux like it was Unix from 50 years ago. Bring your own Linux laptop and follow along! We'll use ed(1) to edit files and use nroff to write documents - and do all of it from a terminal! If you're curious about Linux and Unix history, you'll love this session. false Jim Hall 2023-11-03T06:50:00-07:00 13:50 00:20 Room 2 20-Minute Talk 983-pulling-back-the-curtain-with-seagl-s-tech-team Everything Else Ever been curious how SeaGL has produced a conference for 10+ years - first in-person, then virtual and hybrid? It takes a lot of hard work, but also a lot of tech! This talk will give a whirlwind introduction to the free software projects we use to run SeaGL. We'll talk about how the Tech team works with - and benefits greatly from - the broader free software community and maybe even meet some of the humans behind your favorite grassroots conference! Ever been curious how SeaGL has produced a conference for 10+ years - first in-person, then virtual and hybrid? It takes a lot of hard work, but also a lot of tech! This talk will give a whirlwind introduction to the free software projects we use to run SeaGL. We'll talk about how the Tech team works with - and benefits greatly from - the broader free software community and maybe even meet some of the humans behind your favorite grassroots conference! false AJ Jordan 2023-11-03T07:20:00-07:00 14:20 00:20 Room 2 20-Minute Talk 988-cuarto-de-maquinas-building-a-hack-er-space-in-mexico-s-bajio-region-and-why-you-should-too or what you can do with perseverance and some fr3ns Community and Culture Despite Mexico's size, its hacking scene is relatively small, particularly when compared to its counterparts in Europe and the United States. With only a handful of established spaces and a community that lacks a consolidated digital presence, it's clear there's room for growth. The COVID-19 pandemic further impacted this community, leading to the temporary closure of prominent spaces like Rancho Electrónico and HackerGarage. Five years ago, we attempted to open Kernel Panic Room as part of an independent cultural center. While it was a hack(er)space in name, it lacked the core principles and clear vision that define a true hack(er)space. Now, we're embarking on a new journey with Cuarto de Máquinas (CdM), and we're excited to share our experiences, lessons learned, and future plans with you. In this talk, we'll delve into the history of our own hack(er)space, highlighting the memes that have shaped our journey and discussing the current state of the hacking scene in Mexico. We'll also give you a virtual tour of our space, share our ongoing projects, and outline our plans for the future. Our hope is that our story will inspire you to embark on your own hacking journey, and perhaps find areas where our paths might intersect. Join us as we chart the course for the future of hacking in Mexico's Bajío region. Despite Mexico's size, its hacking scene is relatively small, particularly when compared to its counterparts in Europe and the United States. With only a handful of established spaces and a community that lacks a consolidated digital presence, it's clear there's room for growth. The COVID-19 pandemic further impacted this community, leading to the temporary closure of prominent spaces like Rancho Electrónico and HackerGarage. Five years ago, we attempted to open Kernel Panic Room as part of an independent cultural center. While it was a hack(er)space in name, it lacked the core principles and clear vision that define a true hack(er)space. Now, we're embarking on a new journey with Cuarto de Máquinas (CdM), and we're excited to share our experiences, lessons learned, and future plans with you. In this talk, we'll delve into the history of our own hack(er)space, highlighting the memes that have shaped our journey and discussing the current state of the hacking scene in Mexico. We'll also give you a virtual tour of our space, share our ongoing projects, and outline our plans for the future. Our hope is that our story will inspire you to embark on your own hacking journey, and perhaps find areas where our paths might intersect. Join us as we chart the course for the future of hacking in Mexico's Bajío region. false st4t3 2023-11-03T07:50:00-07:00 14:50 00:50 Room 2 50-Minute Talk 978-what-s-really-going-on-when-you-use-your-browser-to-access-something-on-the-web Languages and Tools What is REALLY going on when you hit a link HTTPS//somesite.someTLD? This is a talk for beginners who want to know more about what goes on when you access a website. I am going to **very** briefly mention the OSI model, and only briefly mention the TCP/IP model. Everything else I am going to talk about is going to be at layer 7 (with a digression to OSI layer 5 when discussing HTTPS and layer 3 (IP) when discussing ping). [The presentation slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSuiVvCK3nSsC2WDJrmwwkdhl_7Pw8x_bgLuZ-DdZmkcq4JEgeMc30T5ZEO80Y_c6Dg7KlD2YpeRfUS/pub?start=false&loop=true&delayms=30000) I am going to talk about HTTP, HTTPS, DNS and dig, curl and wget, and ping. I am going to discuss some failure modes. This talk will be oriented toward newbies. Slides can be viewed [on Jeff's website](https://jeffsilverm.ddns.net/under_the_hood.html) or [in Google Drive](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSuiVvCK3nSsC2WDJrmwwkdhl_7Pw8x_bgLuZ-DdZmkcq4JEgeMc30T5ZEO80Y_c6Dg7KlD2YpeRfUS/pub?start=false&loop=true&delayms=30000&slide=id.p). What is REALLY going on when you hit a link HTTPS//somesite.someTLD? This is a talk for beginners who want to know more about what goes on when you access a website. I am going to **very** briefly mention the OSI model, and only briefly mention the TCP/IP model. Everything else I am going to talk about is going to be at layer 7 (with a digression to OSI layer 5 when discussing HTTPS and layer 3 (IP) when discussing ping). [The presentation slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSuiVvCK3nSsC2WDJrmwwkdhl_7Pw8x_bgLuZ-DdZmkcq4JEgeMc30T5ZEO80Y_c6Dg7KlD2YpeRfUS/pub?start=false&loop=true&delayms=30000) I am going to talk about HTTP, HTTPS, DNS and dig, curl and wget, and ping. I am going to discuss some failure modes. This talk will be oriented toward newbies. Slides can be viewed [on Jeff's website](https://jeffsilverm.ddns.net/under_the_hood.html) or [in Google Drive](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSuiVvCK3nSsC2WDJrmwwkdhl_7Pw8x_bgLuZ-DdZmkcq4JEgeMc30T5ZEO80Y_c6Dg7KlD2YpeRfUS/pub?start=false&loop=true&delayms=30000&slide=id.p). false Jeff Silverman 2023-11-03T09:40:00-07:00 16:40 00:50 Room 2 50-Minute Talk 977-opening-up-the-world-of-webassembly-with-guile-hoot How the Guile Hoot project is pushing WebAssembly forward for all dynamic languages Languages and Tools Guile Hoot is a free and open source WebAssembly toolchain and Scheme compiler that is opening doors for all programming languages to run within the web browser. The Guile Hoot project is being developed by the Spritely Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, as part of its mission to build the next generation of decentralized infrastructure for networked communities. In this talk, we'll cover: * What is WebAssembly and why is it important? * What is Guile Hoot and what makes it special compared to other WebAssembly projects? * How does building a Scheme compiler help other programming languages such as Python and Ruby? * How does Guile Hoot fit into the Spritely Institute's mission? * How can I get involved in this effort? Along the way, we will show several code examples and live demos of applications built with Guile Hoot. Guile Hoot is a free and open source WebAssembly toolchain and Scheme compiler that is opening doors for all programming languages to run within the web browser. The Guile Hoot project is being developed by the Spritely Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, as part of its mission to build the next generation of decentralized infrastructure for networked communities. In this talk, we'll cover: * What is WebAssembly and why is it important? * What is Guile Hoot and what makes it special compared to other WebAssembly projects? * How does building a Scheme compiler help other programming languages such as Python and Ruby? * How does Guile Hoot fit into the Spritely Institute's mission? * How can I get involved in this effort? Along the way, we will show several code examples and live demos of applications built with Guile Hoot. false David Thompson Robin Templeton 2023-11-03T04:30:00-07:00 11:30 00:20 Room 3 20-Minute Talk 1003-using-floss-to-plan-your-daily-exercise-by-birding Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love my local park Everything Else It's me again with another birding talk! This year, I'm looking to talk about a tool I've made using FLOSS to email me a daily list of parks in my immediate neighborhood that haven't been birded recently. Why? Because I like contributing to community science databases while also walking. This tool is publicly available and used by some other people now - I'll talk about how I set it up, why it's cool, and hopefully - how you can sign up to use it, too. It's me again with another birding talk! This year, I'm looking to talk about a tool I've made using FLOSS to email me a daily list of parks in my immediate neighborhood that haven't been birded recently. Why? Because I like contributing to community science databases while also walking. This tool is publicly available and used by some other people now - I'll talk about how I set it up, why it's cool, and hopefully - how you can sign up to use it, too. false Richard Littauer 2023-11-03T05:00:00-07:00 12:00 00:05 Room 3 Lightning Talks 935-designing-for-impact How Open Source Design Communities are Paving the Way for Success Open-Source Careers The digital age has brought about a new era of work, but with it comes new challenges. Traditional models of collaboration and innovation are becoming increasingly obsolete, leaving many designers and organizations struggling to keep up. The question is: how can we thrive in this fast-paced, ever-changing landscape? That’s where open source design communities come in. They offer a fresh approach to collaboration and creativity, paving the way for success in the digital age. Did you know that open source design is used by some of the biggest names in tech, including Microsoft, Google, and Facebook? By leveraging the collective intelligence and creativity of a global network of contributors, these companies are able to develop products and services faster and more efficiently than ever before. In this talk, we’ll explore how these communities are redefining success and driving innovation across a range of industries. We’ll discuss the unique advantages of open source design, from increased collaboration and creative freedom to faster development cycles and greater efficiency. You’ll also gain insights into how open source design communities are empowering individuals and teams to thrive in the digital age, and discover practical strategies for leveraging these communities to advance your own career or business. We’ll explore real-world examples of open source design in action, from cutting-edge software development to the creation of new products and services. 3 Key Take-away: 1) The unique advantages of open source design, from increased collaboration and creative freedom to faster development cycles and greater efficiency. 2) Practical strategies for leveraging open source design communities to advance your own career or business, including how to access a wider range of tools, resources, and perspectives, and how to collaborate more effectively with others. 3) real-world examples of open source design in action, from cutting-edge software development to the creation of new products and services. You’ll gain insights into how these communities are driving innovation across a range of industries, and how you can use these insights to thrive in the fast-paced, ever-changing digital landscape. The digital age has brought about a new era of work, but with it comes new challenges. Traditional models of collaboration and innovation are becoming increasingly obsolete, leaving many designers and organizations struggling to keep up. The question is: how can we thrive in this fast-paced, ever-changing landscape? That’s where open source design communities come in. They offer a fresh approach to collaboration and creativity, paving the way for success in the digital age. Did you know that open source design is used by some of the biggest names in tech, including Microsoft, Google, and Facebook? By leveraging the collective intelligence and creativity of a global network of contributors, these companies are able to develop products and services faster and more efficiently than ever before. In this talk, we’ll explore how these communities are redefining success and driving innovation across a range of industries. We’ll discuss the unique advantages of open source design, from increased collaboration and creative freedom to faster development cycles and greater efficiency. You’ll also gain insights into how open source design communities are empowering individuals and teams to thrive in the digital age, and discover practical strategies for leveraging these communities to advance your own career or business. We’ll explore real-world examples of open source design in action, from cutting-edge software development to the creation of new products and services. 3 Key Take-away: 1) The unique advantages of open source design, from increased collaboration and creative freedom to faster development cycles and greater efficiency. 2) Practical strategies for leveraging open source design communities to advance your own career or business, including how to access a wider range of tools, resources, and perspectives, and how to collaborate more effectively with others. 3) real-world examples of open source design in action, from cutting-edge software development to the creation of new products and services. You’ll gain insights into how these communities are driving innovation across a range of industries, and how you can use these insights to thrive in the fast-paced, ever-changing digital landscape. false Ibi 2023-11-03T07:50:00-07:00 14:50 00:20 Room 3 20-Minute Talk 979-building-linux-from-source-with-lfs-and-physix-project Systems and Platforms Linux From Scratch (LFS) is an online book instructing how to build your OS from Source. The Physix Project is an automated framework for building LFS. The goal of this session is to provide information needed to empower everyone to build their own personal OS, or kick-start their own distro. Linux From Scratch (LFS) is an online book instructing how to build your OS from Source. The Physix Project is an automated framework for building LFS. The goal of this session is to provide information needed to empower everyone to build their own personal OS, or kick-start their own distro. false tree 2023-11-03T08:20:00-07:00 15:20 00:20 Room 3 20-Minute Talk 945-simple-site-hosting-with-lightweight-kubernetes With MicroK8s, LetsEncrypt, and Nginx Ingress Systems and Platforms Kubernetes is a complex system with an equally complex ecosystem. In this presentation, I will demonstrate with live examples each of the steps needed to host several simple sites on a self-contained Kubernetes cluster running on a small VPS server. This will include installation of the lightweight MicroK8s Kubernetes distribution and the Nginx ingress and cert-manager addons, along with the creation, tagging, and import of container images into the MicroK8s management layer. We will use declarative YAML configurations for the sites, for automated LetsEncrypt certificate provisioning and renewal, as well as for the ingress configuration. Whether looking to host your sites with a modern and robust framework, or looking to get a working cluster with moving parts quickly set up for experimentation, this presentation will detail everything needed for a straightforward setup. Slides: https://seagl2023.slides.k8s.jp.net/ Kubernetes is a complex system with an equally complex ecosystem. In this presentation, I will demonstrate with live examples each of the steps needed to host several simple sites on a self-contained Kubernetes cluster running on a small VPS server. This will include installation of the lightweight MicroK8s Kubernetes distribution and the Nginx ingress and cert-manager addons, along with the creation, tagging, and import of container images into the MicroK8s management layer. We will use declarative YAML configurations for the sites, for automated LetsEncrypt certificate provisioning and renewal, as well as for the ingress configuration. Whether looking to host your sites with a modern and robust framework, or looking to get a working cluster with moving parts quickly set up for experimentation, this presentation will detail everything needed for a straightforward setup. Slides: https://seagl2023.slides.k8s.jp.net/ false James Pannacciulli 2023-11-03T09:40:00-07:00 16:40 00:20 Room 3 20-Minute Talk 993-the-art-of-organizing-a-community-hackathon A Blueprint for Inspiring Collaboration and Innovation Community and Culture Hackathons have emerged as powerful catalysts for community engagement and collaboration, especially within the realm of open-source software development. These events bring together developers from diverse backgrounds, united by a shared passion for technology and a desire to create something that might change the world for the better. By hosting a hackathon for your local open-source community, you not only provide a platform for talent to showcase their skills, but also foster a sense of belonging and collective purpose. Hackathons encourage creativity, knowledge sharing, and enable participants to focus on the joy of coding while in a supportive and fun environment. At the end of the day, hackathons are a great place to meet new lifelong friends while getting to learn the latest and greatest in technology. In this tech talk, I'll share my previous experience as the co-founder of HackDavis (UC Davis's major collegiate hackathon), as well as my involvement in more corporate hackathons that I've hosted during my time at Amazon and Square. I'll go over key elements of a great hackathon, such as sponsorship, mentorship, finding a venue, organizing workshops, and how to create an inclusive judging process. I'll go over local open source hackathons that you can participate in as well, such as Google Summer of Code and Hacktoberfest. By the end of the talk, you'll be able to spin one up in your local community back home, or attend one yourself! Hackathons have emerged as powerful catalysts for community engagement and collaboration, especially within the realm of open-source software development. These events bring together developers from diverse backgrounds, united by a shared passion for technology and a desire to create something that might change the world for the better. By hosting a hackathon for your local open-source community, you not only provide a platform for talent to showcase their skills, but also foster a sense of belonging and collective purpose. Hackathons encourage creativity, knowledge sharing, and enable participants to focus on the joy of coding while in a supportive and fun environment. At the end of the day, hackathons are a great place to meet new lifelong friends while getting to learn the latest and greatest in technology. In this tech talk, I'll share my previous experience as the co-founder of HackDavis (UC Davis's major collegiate hackathon), as well as my involvement in more corporate hackathons that I've hosted during my time at Amazon and Square. I'll go over key elements of a great hackathon, such as sponsorship, mentorship, finding a venue, organizing workshops, and how to create an inclusive judging process. I'll go over local open source hackathons that you can participate in as well, such as Google Summer of Code and Hacktoberfest. By the end of the talk, you'll be able to spin one up in your local community back home, or attend one yourself! false Christina Zhu 2023-11-03T10:10:00-07:00 17:10 00:20 Room 3 20-Minute Talk 999-cyborg-security The implications of human IoT devices Performance Art So you're thinking about becoming a cyborg. It may or may not surprise you to learn that there are several of us around already, and while cybernetic enhancement can greatly improve our lives, it also has its downsides. Adaptive devices used by people with disabilities and medical conditions have been failing in unexpected ways for years, despite oversight from government bodies. Recreational implants, which are much less regulated, have even more scope for interesting bugs. On the other hand, while medical implants require extensive testing and are almost always closed-source, it's possible to build your own recreational implant with entirely open source code and get someone to install it for you - theoretically. How do we secure medical devices that constantly collect telemetry? How hard would it be for someone to hack that NFC chip that you got implanted in your hand? And when we find flaws in these machines, how are we meant to fix them if they're already in our bodies? Whether you're interested in joining the human IoT network for recreational purposes, want to explore, code, and create implantable devices yourself, or have a medical need for augmentation, join me for this briefing to prepare for the security and privacy implications of connecting ourselves directly to the Internet. So you're thinking about becoming a cyborg. It may or may not surprise you to learn that there are several of us around already, and while cybernetic enhancement can greatly improve our lives, it also has its downsides. Adaptive devices used by people with disabilities and medical conditions have been failing in unexpected ways for years, despite oversight from government bodies. Recreational implants, which are much less regulated, have even more scope for interesting bugs. On the other hand, while medical implants require extensive testing and are almost always closed-source, it's possible to build your own recreational implant with entirely open source code and get someone to install it for you - theoretically. How do we secure medical devices that constantly collect telemetry? How hard would it be for someone to hack that NFC chip that you got implanted in your hand? And when we find flaws in these machines, how are we meant to fix them if they're already in our bodies? Whether you're interested in joining the human IoT network for recreational purposes, want to explore, code, and create implantable devices yourself, or have a medical need for augmentation, join me for this briefing to prepare for the security and privacy implications of connecting ourselves directly to the Internet. false Dawn Cooper 2023-11-04T02:10:00-07:00 09:10 00:20 Room 1 20-Minute Talk 1015-keynote-embracing-open-source-pioneering-sustainable-solutions-for-a-thriving-future-hong-phuc-dang Keynotes In an era marked by pressing environmental challenges and the urgent need for sustainable development, we need open source now, more than ever. Open Source, with its collaborative ethos and transparent nature, has the potential to revolutionise the way we approach sustainability. This keynote explores the symbiotic relationship between Open Source and sustainability, highlighting how Open Source principles foster innovation, inclusivity, and scalability, while nurturing a global ecosystem of problem solvers. Hong Phuc will share inspiring examples from diverse domains, showcasing how Open Source empowers individuals, organisations, and entire communities to create impactful and sustainable solutions. In an era marked by pressing environmental challenges and the urgent need for sustainable development, we need open source now, more than ever. Open Source, with its collaborative ethos and transparent nature, has the potential to revolutionise the way we approach sustainability. This keynote explores the symbiotic relationship between Open Source and sustainability, highlighting how Open Source principles foster innovation, inclusivity, and scalability, while nurturing a global ecosystem of problem solvers. Hong Phuc will share inspiring examples from diverse domains, showcasing how Open Source empowers individuals, organisations, and entire communities to create impactful and sustainable solutions. false 2023-11-04T02:40:00-07:00 09:40 00:20 Room 1 20-Minute Talk 1014-keynote-simple-dreams-and-complicated-nightmares-innovation-trust-and-risk-in-floss-kaylea-champion Keynotes Free/libre open source software is everywhere -- but that success has come at a cost, and our freedom to follow our own passions is both a blessing and a curse. In this talk, I'll share results from a series of recent research projects to understand the risks we face and the ways we can protect the health of our movement. I'll share specific actions you and your projects can take to keep building a thriving ecosystem for both contributors and end users. Free/libre open source software is everywhere -- but that success has come at a cost, and our freedom to follow our own passions is both a blessing and a curse. In this talk, I'll share results from a series of recent research projects to understand the risks we face and the ways we can protect the health of our movement. I'll share specific actions you and your projects can take to keep building a thriving ecosystem for both contributors and end users. false Kaylea Champion 2023-11-04T03:30:00-07:00 10:30 00:50 Room 1 50-Minute Talk 940-going-as-fast-as-possible-in-rust An in-depth look at optimizing the Quadratic Sieve for factoring Languages and Tools The Quadratic Sieve is one of the fastest algorithms for factoring numbers. The gold standard implementation was written in C for x86 processors almost 20 years ago. Let's talk about how we'd implement it today in Rust, the gold standard of low-level languages here in 2023. We'll start with a short outline of the quadratic sieve steps -- don't worry, only basic algebra is required to understand the algorithm and our talk. Then we'll dive deep for the main portion of the talk: performance optimization in Rust. And then we'll dive into some fun optimization areas: * What benefits do Rust and LLVM give us? * What are the disadvantages of Rust over C for this, and what can we do about them? * What do we have to do to get similar performance to a 20-year-old C program? * How do we take advantage of modern processor features like AVX and NEON? * Should we use Rust inline assembly to close the gap? * Should we implement the algorithm differently in Rust or for modern processors? The Quadratic Sieve is one of the fastest algorithms for factoring numbers. The gold standard implementation was written in C for x86 processors almost 20 years ago. Let's talk about how we'd implement it today in Rust, the gold standard of low-level languages here in 2023. We'll start with a short outline of the quadratic sieve steps -- don't worry, only basic algebra is required to understand the algorithm and our talk. Then we'll dive deep for the main portion of the talk: performance optimization in Rust. And then we'll dive into some fun optimization areas: * What benefits do Rust and LLVM give us? * What are the disadvantages of Rust over C for this, and what can we do about them? * What do we have to do to get similar performance to a 20-year-old C program? * How do we take advantage of modern processor features like AVX and NEON? * Should we use Rust inline assembly to close the gap? * Should we implement the algorithm differently in Rust or for modern processors? false Christopher Swenson 2023-11-04T04:30:00-07:00 11:30 00:20 Room 1 20-Minute Talk 938-they-told-me-i-couldn-t-game-on-linux-so-i-started-a-game-hosting-company-on-linux or: why "F*** it, Ship it" doesn't seem like such a bad idea anymore. Systems and Platforms This talk recounts the unique journey of starting a game hosting company using Linux and open source software. We challenged the popular perception that doing anything "fun" on Linux is an impossibility, and have tried to transform this narrative by sharing our tangible results and experiences. With in-depth explorations into our architecture and systems and the challenges we've faced thus far (People, Hardware, and Logistical!) The talk highlights how leveraging the capabilities of open source can create a successful, scalable, and cost-efficient game hosting environment. The "research" (many many nights spent in the datacenter, or on calls with the rest of the team) emphasizes the importance of fostering a diverse gaming ecosystem and advocating for Linux as a viable platform for gamers and professionals alike. This talk recounts the unique journey of starting a game hosting company using Linux and open source software. We challenged the popular perception that doing anything "fun" on Linux is an impossibility, and have tried to transform this narrative by sharing our tangible results and experiences. With in-depth explorations into our architecture and systems and the challenges we've faced thus far (People, Hardware, and Logistical!) The talk highlights how leveraging the capabilities of open source can create a successful, scalable, and cost-efficient game hosting environment. The "research" (many many nights spent in the datacenter, or on calls with the rest of the team) emphasizes the importance of fostering a diverse gaming ecosystem and advocating for Linux as a viable platform for gamers and professionals alike. false Cyra Westmere 2023-11-04T11:00:00-07:00 18:00 01:00 Room 1 Social Event 1012-trivia Social Events Placeholder Placeholder false 2023-11-04T03:30:00-07:00 10:30 00:20 Room 3 20-Minute Talk 969-distributed-authorization-with-caprock Using cryptographic capabilities to overcome internet centralization Security and Privacy In distributed systems, authorization is often the last centralized component. Cryptographic capabilities offer an alternative. For the related problem of authentication, the use of public key cryptography allows decoupling different authentication phases in time, with the effect that at the point of use, only those parts need to be performed that can be distributed, i.e. without any reliance on centralized components. The same principle can be applied to authorization. This talk introduces the concept described in [Capabilities for Distributed Authorization](https://specs.interpeer.io/draft-jfinkhaeuser-caps-for-distributed-auth/), and introduces the [CAProck](https://codeberg.org/interpeer/caprock/) library that implements the concept. A basic understanding of public key cryptography is assumed, i.e. how [digital signatures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_signature) work. In distributed systems, authorization is often the last centralized component. Cryptographic capabilities offer an alternative. For the related problem of authentication, the use of public key cryptography allows decoupling different authentication phases in time, with the effect that at the point of use, only those parts need to be performed that can be distributed, i.e. without any reliance on centralized components. The same principle can be applied to authorization. This talk introduces the concept described in [Capabilities for Distributed Authorization](https://specs.interpeer.io/draft-jfinkhaeuser-caps-for-distributed-auth/), and introduces the [CAProck](https://codeberg.org/interpeer/caprock/) library that implements the concept. A basic understanding of public key cryptography is assumed, i.e. how [digital signatures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_signature) work. false Jens Finkhaeuser 2023-11-04T04:30:00-07:00 11:30 00:20 Room 3 20-Minute Talk 950-advanced-jq-awk-for-json Languages and Tools Part 3 of the jq trilogy ( part 1 was given at SeaGL 2021, part 2 at SeaGL 2022 ). In this part we cover using scripring with jq to programatically change JSON documents. Today's APIs and databases feed us lots of JSON. It's a structured, line-independent data format, and our normal line-based tools such as grep, sed and awk fall a bit short. jq understands JSON document format that's easy to fit into your data pipeline. It can parse, search and manipulate JSON documents. The first talk introduced jq and covered using it to search JSON objects similar to how grep is used for plain text. The second talk covered using jq to manipulate JSON documents. This talk will put those together with scripting similar to writing awk scripts for columnar data. Part 3 of the jq trilogy ( part 1 was given at SeaGL 2021, part 2 at SeaGL 2022 ). In this part we cover using scripring with jq to programatically change JSON documents. Today's APIs and databases feed us lots of JSON. It's a structured, line-independent data format, and our normal line-based tools such as grep, sed and awk fall a bit short. jq understands JSON document format that's easy to fit into your data pipeline. It can parse, search and manipulate JSON documents. The first talk introduced jq and covered using it to search JSON objects similar to how grep is used for plain text. The second talk covered using jq to manipulate JSON documents. This talk will put those together with scripting similar to writing awk scripts for columnar data. false der.hans 2023-11-04T05:00:00-07:00 12:00 00:20 Room 3 20-Minute Talk 947-fortify-your-devops-castle-security-considerations-and-best-practices-for-open-source-infrastructure Security and Privacy Your open-source infrastructure's security has never been more important in the ever-evolving DevOps landscape, where speed and agility are supreme. The topic of this talk focuses on exploring the most important security considerations and best practices for protecting your open-source DevOps infrastructure. This talk will delve into the core parts of open-source infrastructure security, providing participants with insights and noteworthy methodologies to protect their infrastructure. We will talk about the current threat landscape, focusing on the difficulties open-source infrastructure faces and the potential risks they pose. To achieve our objective of strengthened DevOps practices, we will explore a comprehensive set of security measures. From secure configuration management to vulnerability assessment, we will guide participants through demonstrated methods for safeguarding their infrastructure. Also addressing the importance of continuous monitoring and logging, featuring the role they play in recognizing and mitigating potential security breaches. Understanding the importance of collaboration and automation in the DevOps scene, we will accentuate the integration of security practices through the improvement of the development lifecycle. Attendees will acquire reasonable information on integrating security into CI/CD pipelines, utilizing infrastructure-as-code and automated security testing to guarantee defense against vulnerabilities. In the technological landscape, this topic is highly significant. In order to safeguard sensitive data, prevent unauthorized access, and maintain the trust of their stakeholders, organizations must uphold security in light of the growing reliance on open-source infrastructure. Join us in this exciting session to learn more about securing open-source infrastructure in the fast-paced DevOps world and practical strategies. Your open-source infrastructure's security has never been more important in the ever-evolving DevOps landscape, where speed and agility are supreme. The topic of this talk focuses on exploring the most important security considerations and best practices for protecting your open-source DevOps infrastructure. This talk will delve into the core parts of open-source infrastructure security, providing participants with insights and noteworthy methodologies to protect their infrastructure. We will talk about the current threat landscape, focusing on the difficulties open-source infrastructure faces and the potential risks they pose. To achieve our objective of strengthened DevOps practices, we will explore a comprehensive set of security measures. From secure configuration management to vulnerability assessment, we will guide participants through demonstrated methods for safeguarding their infrastructure. Also addressing the importance of continuous monitoring and logging, featuring the role they play in recognizing and mitigating potential security breaches. Understanding the importance of collaboration and automation in the DevOps scene, we will accentuate the integration of security practices through the improvement of the development lifecycle. Attendees will acquire reasonable information on integrating security into CI/CD pipelines, utilizing infrastructure-as-code and automated security testing to guarantee defense against vulnerabilities. In the technological landscape, this topic is highly significant. In order to safeguard sensitive data, prevent unauthorized access, and maintain the trust of their stakeholders, organizations must uphold security in light of the growing reliance on open-source infrastructure. Join us in this exciting session to learn more about securing open-source infrastructure in the fast-paced DevOps world and practical strategies. false faithkovi 2023-11-04T06:50:00-07:00 13:50 00:50 Room 3 50-Minute Talk 955-the-digital-bindery Making your own ebooks Languages and Tools Publishers are continuing to fight to take control over how digital books are used and shared. Fortunately for us, it remains entirely possible to ignore them entirely, and make ebooks by hand that are free for everyone to use. In this talk, I will introduce you to a few different routes for making ebooks, each one at a different level of complexity and control, but all of them free and open-source. Publishers are continuing to fight to take control over how digital books are used and shared. Fortunately for us, it remains entirely possible to ignore them entirely, and make ebooks by hand that are free for everyone to use. In this talk, I will introduce you to a few different routes for making ebooks, each one at a different level of complexity and control, but all of them free and open-source. false Brian Raiter 2023-11-04T07:50:00-07:00 14:50 00:20 Room 3 20-Minute Talk 934-steadfast-self-hosting Rapid-Rise Personal Cloud Security and Privacy Your data are essential to your life, your agency, and your future. Come learn how to save, serve, and safely share your data at home with a smorgasbord of FOSS. I'll cover rapid setup and basic use of tools such as Traefik, Nextcloud, Wallabag, Jellyfin, and more. With these powerful and private services at your disposal you can collaboratively edit documents in realtime online, stream music and video, and future-proof your digital assets. This talk pairs well with a soon-to-be released book of the same topic and title. Both the book and talk are about self-hosting FOSS, were created with FOSS, and *are* FOSS themselves (open source, free to copy, free to modify and redistribute). Your data are essential to your life, your agency, and your future. Come learn how to save, serve, and safely share your data at home with a smorgasbord of FOSS. I'll cover rapid setup and basic use of tools such as Traefik, Nextcloud, Wallabag, Jellyfin, and more. With these powerful and private services at your disposal you can collaboratively edit documents in realtime online, stream music and video, and future-proof your digital assets. This talk pairs well with a soon-to-be released book of the same topic and title. Both the book and talk are about self-hosting FOSS, were created with FOSS, and *are* FOSS themselves (open source, free to copy, free to modify and redistribute). false Adam Monsen 2023-11-04T08:20:00-07:00 15:20 00:20 Room 3 20-Minute Talk 933-adding-feedback-to-an-exercise-bike-using-linux Tales of using kernel modules to add speed and resistance feedback to a display Hardware In 2020 there was an abrupt end to all spin classes. Demand for fancy exercise bikes spikes, along with cost and wait times. Settling for an exercise bike without speed and resistance feedback is simply not an option. What can be done? This is a perfect opportunity for the Frugal Engineer! Walk through the journey to add visual feedback to an otherwise 'dumb' exercise bike. Combine your Linux computer, a tilt sensor, a speed sensor, and a simple display and save yourself thousands. This is an overview of what was done, but also lessons learned. Things that worked. Things that didn't. And suggestions for the next Engineer who might embark on a similar journey. In 2020 there was an abrupt end to all spin classes. Demand for fancy exercise bikes spikes, along with cost and wait times. Settling for an exercise bike without speed and resistance feedback is simply not an option. What can be done? This is a perfect opportunity for the Frugal Engineer! Walk through the journey to add visual feedback to an otherwise 'dumb' exercise bike. Combine your Linux computer, a tilt sensor, a speed sensor, and a simple display and save yourself thousands. This is an overview of what was done, but also lessons learned. Things that worked. Things that didn't. And suggestions for the next Engineer who might embark on a similar journey. false Colin Foster 2023-11-04T09:40:00-07:00 16:40 00:50 Room 3 50-Minute Talk 987-teaching-young-children-about-software-freedom CLI and politics for kids Education Most tech-for-kids stuff emphasizes basic computer use and learning programming. Instruction rarely brings up ethical and social issues with technology. In considering how to best introduce computers to my young son, I developed a plan to help him experience software freedom in practice. We started with command-line and then moved into bash scripting. My aspiration is see kids sharing scripts with each other and modifying one anothers' programs. That helps them understand free/libre/open collaboration and then be able to start dabbling with the source code of more advanced programs. Along the way, we have been reviewing which free software games and programs are most accessible. Now, we have a guide that we invite others to check out and help develop: https://codeberg.org/FLO-Conscience/FLO-kids In this talk, we'll share the stories of what we've learned and discuss the importance of framing kids' computing with understanding of the political and social issues in technology. Note that the first iteration of this talk was given at LibrePlanet 2023: https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/kids-need-to-experience-software-freedom-not-just-the-idea-of-it/ Most tech-for-kids stuff emphasizes basic computer use and learning programming. Instruction rarely brings up ethical and social issues with technology. In considering how to best introduce computers to my young son, I developed a plan to help him experience software freedom in practice. We started with command-line and then moved into bash scripting. My aspiration is see kids sharing scripts with each other and modifying one anothers' programs. That helps them understand free/libre/open collaboration and then be able to start dabbling with the source code of more advanced programs. Along the way, we have been reviewing which free software games and programs are most accessible. Now, we have a guide that we invite others to check out and help develop: https://codeberg.org/FLO-Conscience/FLO-kids In this talk, we'll share the stories of what we've learned and discuss the importance of framing kids' computing with understanding of the political and social issues in technology. Note that the first iteration of this talk was given at LibrePlanet 2023: https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/kids-need-to-experience-software-freedom-not-just-the-idea-of-it/ false Aaron Wolf Rowan Wolf 2023-11-04T03:30:00-07:00 10:30 00:50 Room 2 50-Minute Talk 981-secure-coding-fix-from-the-root Security and Privacy Secure Coding: Fix from the root This talk aims to overcome the drawbacks of the current approach of teaching application security by blindly attacking applications to analyze vulnerabilities. This results in engineers being unable to figure out the proper fix for the vulnerabilities and hence allowing attackers to exploit the same. The talk will help security enthusiasts, developers and students to identify the root cause of the vulnerability in the code, patch it, re-deploy the application, and finally verify the fix. As an attendee, you will learn to find vulnerabilities with both an attacker and a defenders point of view which would help in a swift SDLC of fixing and moving forward instead of traditional pentesting procedures of fixing the issues at the end of the cycle. The demonstration will be done using a vulnerable e-cart application with microservice architecture which is deployed using docker where the vulnerable code is attacked and replaced with secure code snippets, compiled, deployed and pentested again to demonstrate how fixing a vulnerability at the root saves engineers time and efforts. Secure Coding: Fix from the root This talk aims to overcome the drawbacks of the current approach of teaching application security by blindly attacking applications to analyze vulnerabilities. This results in engineers being unable to figure out the proper fix for the vulnerabilities and hence allowing attackers to exploit the same. The talk will help security enthusiasts, developers and students to identify the root cause of the vulnerability in the code, patch it, re-deploy the application, and finally verify the fix. As an attendee, you will learn to find vulnerabilities with both an attacker and a defenders point of view which would help in a swift SDLC of fixing and moving forward instead of traditional pentesting procedures of fixing the issues at the end of the cycle. The demonstration will be done using a vulnerable e-cart application with microservice architecture which is deployed using docker where the vulnerable code is attacked and replaced with secure code snippets, compiled, deployed and pentested again to demonstrate how fixing a vulnerability at the root saves engineers time and efforts. false m0n574 2023-11-04T04:30:00-07:00 11:30 00:50 Room 2 50-Minute Talk 1004-a-gentle-introduction-to-fuzzing-for-developers Security and Privacy Fuzzing is a popular automated bug finding technique. Frequently Vulnerability Researchers' weapon of choice, it can be confusing and frustrating for developers to understand fuzzing output and adapt fuzzing as a tool for their needs. In this talk, we’ll discuss what fuzzing is (and what it isn’t), its strengths and weaknesses, how to distinguish different fuzzers, who’s using fuzzers for what purposes, what fuzzers suit the needs of each group, how to pick the fuzzer for your needs, and how fuzzing might fit into a devops pipeline. There will be an optional fuzzing lab based on docker. Those interested in the lab should have a GCP account ready for about ~30 minutes. Fuzzing is a popular automated bug finding technique. Frequently Vulnerability Researchers' weapon of choice, it can be confusing and frustrating for developers to understand fuzzing output and adapt fuzzing as a tool for their needs. In this talk, we’ll discuss what fuzzing is (and what it isn’t), its strengths and weaknesses, how to distinguish different fuzzers, who’s using fuzzers for what purposes, what fuzzers suit the needs of each group, how to pick the fuzzer for your needs, and how fuzzing might fit into a devops pipeline. There will be an optional fuzzing lab based on docker. Those interested in the lab should have a GCP account ready for about ~30 minutes. false anaaktge 2023-11-04T06:50:00-07:00 13:50 00:50 Room 2 50-Minute Talk 963-free-software-policy-with-semi-firm-firmware Hardware Somewhere between hardware and software, is firmware. It was originally called that precisely because it straddled those two worlds. Yet most firmware is no longer firm, it's more like tofu and exists in firm, semi-firm, and soft states. Current FSF policy that allows proprietary firmware is based on burned-on-chip, write-once firmware from a few decades ago. Most firmware today is field-upgradable and closer to software. This talk will discuss how the modern state of "firm"ware demands new free software policy, and start a discussion on what that policy could be. Somewhere between hardware and software, is firmware. It was originally called that precisely because it straddled those two worlds. Yet most firmware is no longer firm, it's more like tofu and exists in firm, semi-firm, and soft states. Current FSF policy that allows proprietary firmware is based on burned-on-chip, write-once firmware from a few decades ago. Most firmware today is field-upgradable and closer to software. This talk will discuss how the modern state of "firm"ware demands new free software policy, and start a discussion on what that policy could be. false Kyle Rankin 2023-11-04T07:50:00-07:00 14:50 00:50 Room 2 50-Minute Talk 952-literate-documentation-with-emacs-and-org-mode Applying Literate Programming Techniques to Technical Writing Languages and Tools When writing about programming or other technical subjects, you’re often weaving blocks of source code, program output, and raw data in with your prose. These supplementary materials are usually copied and pasted into your document from other sources, which can be difficult and tedious to keep up-to-date as things change. Inconsistencies and errors can easily creep in when you “hard-code” dynamic information like program output into your writing. Wouldn’t it be great if the tool you used for writing knew how to run code in a variety of programming languages, collect and format output, and let you refer symbolically to all this dynamically generated content in your prose? In this talk I’ll demonstrate how to use GNU Emacs’ Org mode to create technical documents that do just that. We’ll explore the features of Babel, Org mode’s literate programming add-on, that makes it convenient to edit, evaluate, and manage embedded code, output, and data all from inside GNU Emacs. We'll also show how these literate documents can be exported to LaTeX and ultimately PDF format to create professional looking output that looks stunning when printed or viewed. **Note**: _This is an updated version of the talk I gave at SeaGL 2019 that features new techniques and workflow improvements I've developed over the intervening years_. You can find all the source materials used in this presentation at my [GitLab repository](https://gitlab.com/spudlyo/orgdemo2). When writing about programming or other technical subjects, you’re often weaving blocks of source code, program output, and raw data in with your prose. These supplementary materials are usually copied and pasted into your document from other sources, which can be difficult and tedious to keep up-to-date as things change. Inconsistencies and errors can easily creep in when you “hard-code” dynamic information like program output into your writing. Wouldn’t it be great if the tool you used for writing knew how to run code in a variety of programming languages, collect and format output, and let you refer symbolically to all this dynamically generated content in your prose? In this talk I’ll demonstrate how to use GNU Emacs’ Org mode to create technical documents that do just that. We’ll explore the features of Babel, Org mode’s literate programming add-on, that makes it convenient to edit, evaluate, and manage embedded code, output, and data all from inside GNU Emacs. We'll also show how these literate documents can be exported to LaTeX and ultimately PDF format to create professional looking output that looks stunning when printed or viewed. **Note**: _This is an updated version of the talk I gave at SeaGL 2019 that features new techniques and workflow improvements I've developed over the intervening years_. You can find all the source materials used in this presentation at my [GitLab repository](https://gitlab.com/spudlyo/orgdemo2). false Mike Hamrick 2023-11-04T09:40:00-07:00 16:40 00:50 Room 2 50-Minute Talk 985-flossing-your-way-to-success Harnessing Your Open Source Experience for Career Growth Open-Source Careers Discover the power of Free, Libre, Open Source Software (FLOSS) participation in boosting your career. This talk will illuminate how involvement in open source communities enhances not only technical prowess but also critical people and leadership skills. We'll explore how to translate these competencies into compelling narratives for potential employers, positioning you as a strong contender in today's competitive job market. From the budding open-source enthusiast to the seasoned contributor, this presentation offers a succinct roadmap to leveraging FLOSS participation for career growth. Join us to unravel how you can 'FLOSS' your way to professional success. Discover the power of Free, Libre, Open Source Software (FLOSS) participation in boosting your career. This talk will illuminate how involvement in open source communities enhances not only technical prowess but also critical people and leadership skills. We'll explore how to translate these competencies into compelling narratives for potential employers, positioning you as a strong contender in today's competitive job market. From the budding open-source enthusiast to the seasoned contributor, this presentation offers a succinct roadmap to leveraging FLOSS participation for career growth. Join us to unravel how you can 'FLOSS' your way to professional success. false Bryna Kirzner 2023-11-04T03:30:00-07:00 10:30 00:20 Room 4 20-Minute Talk 957-effective-git-code-review-make-their-job-easier-and-you-look-smarter Languages and Tools Code is better when its gone through more eyes. There's a sweet spot between "showing all your (awful) work" and collapsing everything into a single huge unmanageable commit. We'll discuss how to make it easy to see the evolution while hiding your head ends and mistakes. We'll cover theory and style, nitty-gritty command-line options like rebasing and history editing, as well as review-side with open source gitlab core. Code is better when its gone through more eyes. There's a sweet spot between "showing all your (awful) work" and collapsing everything into a single huge unmanageable commit. We'll discuss how to make it easy to see the evolution while hiding your head ends and mistakes. We'll cover theory and style, nitty-gritty command-line options like rebasing and history editing, as well as review-side with open source gitlab core. false Bri Hatch 2023-11-04T04:00:00-07:00 11:00 00:20 Room 4 20-Minute Talk 936-what-s-the-ideal-give-away-computer Hardware, Software, and... People? Community and Culture Humans use Internet-connected computers as a daily part of their work, school, and play experiences, but the computers they use for work and school are usually locked down by policies, and many of the computers offered for play are either app appliances or single-purpose game machines, leaving most people bereft of a low-stakes machine to tinker or experiment with that they have full control over. Mud-spattered teens and tweens, curious adults, and seniors seeking revenge for their descendants dumping a device on them and claiming "it's so intuitive you don't need my help or any training" all need tinkering devices. If you're a funder with millions and a desire to spread computing resources all over, what is the ideal computer to give someone for the purpose of getting them to join the community of tinkerers, hackers, and programmers? (Spoiler: There isn't a single answer.) We'll talk about how to combine hardware, software, and people support to produce a computer and an environment that will give a learner the opportunity to succeed at making the leap from "there's an app for that" to "My computer can do that, and a few other things, too." Humans use Internet-connected computers as a daily part of their work, school, and play experiences, but the computers they use for work and school are usually locked down by policies, and many of the computers offered for play are either app appliances or single-purpose game machines, leaving most people bereft of a low-stakes machine to tinker or experiment with that they have full control over. Mud-spattered teens and tweens, curious adults, and seniors seeking revenge for their descendants dumping a device on them and claiming "it's so intuitive you don't need my help or any training" all need tinkering devices. If you're a funder with millions and a desire to spread computing resources all over, what is the ideal computer to give someone for the purpose of getting them to join the community of tinkerers, hackers, and programmers? (Spoiler: There isn't a single answer.) We'll talk about how to combine hardware, software, and people support to produce a computer and an environment that will give a learner the opportunity to succeed at making the leap from "there's an app for that" to "My computer can do that, and a few other things, too." false Alex Byrne 2023-11-04T04:30:00-07:00 11:30 00:20 Room 4 20-Minute Talk 942-diagrams-as-code An Intro to Mermaid Languages and Tools Clear documentation is an important step to encouraging contributions to your open source project. For the visual learners, a diagram can be worth a thousand words. Mermaid is an open source library for generating diagrams from human-readable markdown-style text that can be easily maintained and updated. In this hands-on demonstration, I will discuss potential benefits of diagrams in your documentation, introduce Mermaid, and code a few example diagrams. Attendees of this demonstration should expect to learn basic Mermaid syntax and usage to add visual diagrams to their markdown documentation and how to find resources for further learning. Clear documentation is an important step to encouraging contributions to your open source project. For the visual learners, a diagram can be worth a thousand words. Mermaid is an open source library for generating diagrams from human-readable markdown-style text that can be easily maintained and updated. In this hands-on demonstration, I will discuss potential benefits of diagrams in your documentation, introduce Mermaid, and code a few example diagrams. Attendees of this demonstration should expect to learn basic Mermaid syntax and usage to add visual diagrams to their markdown documentation and how to find resources for further learning. false Cameron Bielstein 2023-11-04T05:00:00-07:00 12:00 00:20 Room 4 20-Minute Talk 939-beyond-trusting-foss Verifying with Reproducible Builds Security and Privacy Software released under a FOSS license and developed using an FOSS model come with many benefits, allowing the ability to use, study, change, and share not only the software itself, but similarly engage with a community around the software in a transparent manner. One of the strongest assertions of open-source software is that it is more secure, as many parties are able to independently inspect the code... Most code in the modern day is distributed as precompiled binary code, indistinguishable from gibberish to even very savvy humans; this makes the binary code largely impractical to audit. Blind trust is a frightening security model! Reproducible Builds provides a way to build trust that the binaries produced are the intended result of the source code, by making it possible for independent third-party verification of binaries to produce bit-for-bit identical binaries. This talk will introduce the concepts of Reproducible Builds, including best practices for developing and releasing software, the tools available to help diagnose issues, and touch on progress towards solving decades-old deeply pervasive fundamental security issues... Learn how to verify and demonstrate trust, rather than simply hoping everything is OK! https://reproducible-builds.org Software released under a FOSS license and developed using an FOSS model come with many benefits, allowing the ability to use, study, change, and share not only the software itself, but similarly engage with a community around the software in a transparent manner. One of the strongest assertions of open-source software is that it is more secure, as many parties are able to independently inspect the code... Most code in the modern day is distributed as precompiled binary code, indistinguishable from gibberish to even very savvy humans; this makes the binary code largely impractical to audit. Blind trust is a frightening security model! Reproducible Builds provides a way to build trust that the binaries produced are the intended result of the source code, by making it possible for independent third-party verification of binaries to produce bit-for-bit identical binaries. This talk will introduce the concepts of Reproducible Builds, including best practices for developing and releasing software, the tools available to help diagnose issues, and touch on progress towards solving decades-old deeply pervasive fundamental security issues... Learn how to verify and demonstrate trust, rather than simply hoping everything is OK! https://reproducible-builds.org false Vagrant Cascadian 2023-11-04T06:50:00-07:00 13:50 00:20 Room 4 20-Minute Talk 941-programming-an-os-distribution Developer's approach for managing Operating Systems Systems and Platforms Have you ever found yourself in a situation, when you forgot what you did to your OS a few years ago and wondering how to repeat this configuration/fix on the new installation? Ever wanted to manage your Operating System as a simple programming project, just a repository with the source code of a declarative description of your whole OS and its components? It's quite possible with [GNU Guix](https://guix.gnu.org/) functional package manager and [rde](https://trop.in/rde) distribution on top of it. The whole GNU Linux OS built from a Lisp (Scheme) source: no need for any manual actions, no more half-working config files or hacky bash scripts, just write the code in a general puprpose functional programming language and get your complete and always working Operating System for free :) If something doesn't work as you expect, rollback with CLI or pick a previous generation from a bootloader menu. If you forgot what change you've made, check out the source code or version control system's log. Want to deploy the OS over SSH to remote host? Want deploy it to the cluster using containers instead of real hardware? - it's all doable. This is already huge, but it's only a fraction of what is possible when you program OS distribution with a good functional programming language. Have you ever found yourself in a situation, when you forgot what you did to your OS a few years ago and wondering how to repeat this configuration/fix on the new installation? Ever wanted to manage your Operating System as a simple programming project, just a repository with the source code of a declarative description of your whole OS and its components? It's quite possible with [GNU Guix](https://guix.gnu.org/) functional package manager and [rde](https://trop.in/rde) distribution on top of it. The whole GNU Linux OS built from a Lisp (Scheme) source: no need for any manual actions, no more half-working config files or hacky bash scripts, just write the code in a general puprpose functional programming language and get your complete and always working Operating System for free :) If something doesn't work as you expect, rollback with CLI or pick a previous generation from a bootloader menu. If you forgot what change you've made, check out the source code or version control system's log. Want to deploy the OS over SSH to remote host? Want deploy it to the cluster using containers instead of real hardware? - it's all doable. This is already huge, but it's only a fraction of what is possible when you program OS distribution with a good functional programming language. false Andrew Tropin 2023-11-04T07:20:00-07:00 14:20 00:20 Room 4 20-Minute Talk 994-open-source-observability-with-the-opentelemetry-collector A practical demonstration Systems and Platforms Observability tends to be the second most expensive part of a large team's cloud bill. With open source tools, it's possible to both cut those bills and send data in a format that can be interpreted by multiple endpoints. Nica will show you how to add Observability to your microservice architecture using OpenTelemetry Observability tends to be the second most expensive part of a large team's cloud bill. With open source tools, it's possible to both cut those bills and send data in a format that can be interpreted by multiple endpoints. Nica will show you how to add Observability to your microservice architecture using OpenTelemetry false Nočnica Mellifera 2023-11-04T07:50:00-07:00 14:50 00:20 Room 4 20-Minute Talk 931-the-future-of-webassembly-revolutionalizing-computing-across-platforms-and-industries From Web Development to the Next Generation of Computing Languages and Tools WebAssembly is a cutting-edge technology that promises to revolutionize computing as we know it. Initially designed for web development, it has quickly expanded to other computing contexts and offers many advantages over traditional programming languages and platforms. In this talk, we will explore the many potential use cases and advantages of WebAssembly across different platforms and industries. From desktop and mobile applications to gaming and multimedia, scientific computing and data analysis, edge and cloud computing, embedded systems and the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and decentralized applications, and artificial intelligence and machine learning, WebAssembly has the potential to disrupt and innovate a wide range of industries and use cases. We will discuss how WebAssembly is poised to transform not just the web, but also the broader computing landscape, and contribute to a more efficient and streamlined computing experience overall. Join us as we delve into the future of WebAssembly and its potential to revolutionize computing across platforms and industries. WebAssembly is a cutting-edge technology that promises to revolutionize computing as we know it. Initially designed for web development, it has quickly expanded to other computing contexts and offers many advantages over traditional programming languages and platforms. In this talk, we will explore the many potential use cases and advantages of WebAssembly across different platforms and industries. From desktop and mobile applications to gaming and multimedia, scientific computing and data analysis, edge and cloud computing, embedded systems and the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and decentralized applications, and artificial intelligence and machine learning, WebAssembly has the potential to disrupt and innovate a wide range of industries and use cases. We will discuss how WebAssembly is poised to transform not just the web, but also the broader computing landscape, and contribute to a more efficient and streamlined computing experience overall. Join us as we delve into the future of WebAssembly and its potential to revolutionize computing across platforms and industries. false Desmond Obisi 2023-11-04T08:20:00-07:00 15:20 00:20 Room 4 20-Minute Talk 984-trust-in-an-open-source-community Developing and evaluating trust via human and technical factors Community and Culture Trust is a crucial aspect of any open source project, as it affects the adoption, collaboration, and sustainability of the project. However, trust is not a simple concept, and it can be influenced by various factors, both community-related and technical. In this talk, we will explore the different dimensions of trust in the open source community, and how they can be assessed and improved. We will discuss how the governance, culture, and communication of a project can affect the trust of its contributors and users, as well as how the quality, reliability, and compatibility of its code can affect the trust of its dependents and integrators. We will also provide some practical guidelines on how to evaluate the trustworthiness of a project based on your own needs and expectations, and how to leverage existing resources such as Linux distributions and popular ecosystems to reduce the burden of trust evaluation. We will conclude by highlighting the importance of building and maintaining trust in the open source community, and how it can benefit both the project and its stakeholders. Trust is a crucial aspect of any open source project, as it affects the adoption, collaboration, and sustainability of the project. However, trust is not a simple concept, and it can be influenced by various factors, both community-related and technical. In this talk, we will explore the different dimensions of trust in the open source community, and how they can be assessed and improved. We will discuss how the governance, culture, and communication of a project can affect the trust of its contributors and users, as well as how the quality, reliability, and compatibility of its code can affect the trust of its dependents and integrators. We will also provide some practical guidelines on how to evaluate the trustworthiness of a project based on your own needs and expectations, and how to leverage existing resources such as Linux distributions and popular ecosystems to reduce the burden of trust evaluation. We will conclude by highlighting the importance of building and maintaining trust in the open source community, and how it can benefit both the project and its stakeholders. false Jay Faulkner 2023-11-04T09:40:00-07:00 16:40 00:20 Room 4 20-Minute Talk 997-orchestration-with-choria Systems and Platforms Introduction to using the open source tool, Choria, to handle your orchestration needs. Choria is secure platform using mTLS and handles AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and Auditing) for you so you can focus on the automation. It uses NATS middleware for massive scale and geographically distributed networks. Besides learning about Choria we will also more generally cover orchestration and message brokers. Introduction to using the open source tool, Choria, to handle your orchestration needs. Choria is secure platform using mTLS and handles AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and Auditing) for you so you can focus on the automation. It uses NATS middleware for massive scale and geographically distributed networks. Besides learning about Choria we will also more generally cover orchestration and message brokers. false garrett honeycutt 2023-11-04T10:10:00-07:00 17:10 00:20 Room 4 20-Minute Talk 971-how-do-you-build-legos-for-code Making code have that satisfying "snap" with Protoflow Languages and Tools gRPC is as close as we have come to having LEGOs as code. A battle tested type system with a focus on simplicity and scalability. By not having focus on a market outside of the needs of large technology companies, it has been unable to make a meaningful impact for smaller teams or individuals. Countless hours are spent in whiteboard sessions determining what language to use, what libraries to use for connecting a third party REST API, etc. All of this effort distracts from the true goal of modeling data and transforming it. Inefficiency in standardization of interprocess communication costs much more than inefficiency in compute and storage for most common tasks. By building tools which make it easy to see how one block connects to the other, this opens the door for other people in an org to become developers. Platforms such as [IFTTT](https://ifttt.com/) and [Zapier](https://zapier.com/) have demonstrated the desire for people in a company to harness the power of effective primitives to construct their own workflows. Yet there is still exists a gap for developers to contribute their own extensions using a language and environment they are familiar with. Protoflow is built on open source technology that has scaled Google and Uber, and provides the much needed tooling for developers to harness this power. Having taught a number of high school students, it is amazing what they can do so quickly. If Protoflow lives up to really embracing what Heroku had with the [twelve-factor app](https://12factor.net/) and can truly deliver on “composable code”, the creativity kids are spending on Minecraft and Roblox could be channeled into building code that provides actual value. If a person with an idea for an app can build their entire app and start it out being hosted for free (just like Heroku did) even with minimal resources it could change their life. gRPC is as close as we have come to having LEGOs as code. A battle tested type system with a focus on simplicity and scalability. By not having focus on a market outside of the needs of large technology companies, it has been unable to make a meaningful impact for smaller teams or individuals. Countless hours are spent in whiteboard sessions determining what language to use, what libraries to use for connecting a third party REST API, etc. All of this effort distracts from the true goal of modeling data and transforming it. Inefficiency in standardization of interprocess communication costs much more than inefficiency in compute and storage for most common tasks. By building tools which make it easy to see how one block connects to the other, this opens the door for other people in an org to become developers. Platforms such as [IFTTT](https://ifttt.com/) and [Zapier](https://zapier.com/) have demonstrated the desire for people in a company to harness the power of effective primitives to construct their own workflows. Yet there is still exists a gap for developers to contribute their own extensions using a language and environment they are familiar with. Protoflow is built on open source technology that has scaled Google and Uber, and provides the much needed tooling for developers to harness this power. Having taught a number of high school students, it is amazing what they can do so quickly. If Protoflow lives up to really embracing what Heroku had with the [twelve-factor app](https://12factor.net/) and can truly deliver on “composable code”, the creativity kids are spending on Minecraft and Roblox could be channeled into building code that provides actual value. If a person with an idea for an app can build their entire app and start it out being hosted for free (just like Heroku did) even with minimal resources it could change their life. false Chris Thompson