freEtech 2007 March 25, 2007

Community. Free Software. Openness. All of the values of the Free Software movement are totally violated by O’Reilly publishing’s conferences. These same values are what has made internet culture exciting and vibrant and an important social force, and they are also the words that O’Reilly uses to market its $1500 per seat ETech conference.

If you care about creating and sustaining a technological culture that is accessible to everyone, instead of being accessible to those who have $1500 to blow on a 4 day conference, then help us create freEtech, a free and open unconference in San Diego on March 25th, the day before eTech begins. There are reasons why the list of presenters is overwhelmingly white men, we’ll talk about why.

If you are interested in presenting at or coming to freEtech 2007, sign up here with a blurb about what you would like to talk about. This unconference won’t happen without you. If you do sign up, well if some people do sign up to participate in an open space not controlled by the same corporate interests we’ve seen in previous years (with massive presentations by Microsoft and IBM at Etech 2006), if people do sign up, its a chance to engage with the community of San Diego directly. As people who live in San Diego and care about making technology accessible and who care about supporting DIY culture, our group and the collectives we work with will provide the space, projectors, power and net access.

We feel that emerging technology comes from rich cultural exchange, community and passion, not from corporations. If you agree, then come hang out with us and lets share ideas and eat some pizza.

Official Website: http://publish.sandiego.indymedia.org/wiki/sdshacklab/show/FreeTechUnconference