The Debian Web team held a sprint for the first time, in Madrid (Spain) from March 15th to March 17th, 2019.

We discussed the status of the Debian website in general, review several important pages/sections and agreed on many things how to improve them.

For the sections we want to reorganise (mainly the homepage and a new section "download" which will group our current "CD" and "distrib" sections), we have designed this workflow:

• Create branches in the webwml repo,
• Agreed on the new or modified content (started already during the sprint), and work on them further after the sprint
• Review a lot of related open bugs to see if we can address them with the new content (done during the sprint)
• Create bug reports for the things that cannot be solved quickly to keep them tracked (started during the sprint)
• We agreed we should get further help from web designers/information architects (pending)
• Once the English version is more or less settled, call for translations on the branch (pending)
• If we have English and the main translations ready, merging into the master branch (pending)
• We will try to have at least the homepage and the download section ready for the Buster release.

We also agreed that the press delegates should decide what new News entry is worth to be posted in the homepage instead of showing the last 6 entries.

For some other pages or areas (e.g. doc/books, misc/merchandise, /users) we found that the content is outdated and the team can not maintain it, we agreed in issuing a call for help (request for adoption) and if we cannot find volunteers for those pages/areas, we'll remove the content or move it to wiki.debian.org at the end of 2019.

We have agreed that we'll need to reduce the size (number of pages) of the website (*see some numbers about statistics at bottom) so it's more sustainable to keep the whole website up-to-date (content wise), so we'll remove some pages having content already covered in other pages, having content that currently is easy discoverable with a web search engine, can be maintained better in the wiki, etc.

We have talked a bit about certain other aspects like point release workflow, the build time of the website, team memberships and governance. In general the sprint has shown that for most of the discussed topics the migration to git as VCS and the existence of Salsa is a huge step forward for the usability and attractiveness for contributors of the webwml repository.

The core webteam is happy that the sprint has also attracted new people to jump in and which are also members of the webteam now. We welcome Thomas Lange and Carsten Schoenert in our team!

Finally, we have passed time together to socialize and knowing each other better, and got very motivated to continue working on the web.

Left to right: Rhonda D'Vine, Laura Arjona Reina, Thomas Lange, Carsten Schoenert, Steve McIntyre

A more detailed report has been sent to the debian-www mailing list.

The participants would like to thank all donors to the Debian project who helped to cover a large part of our expenses.

If you intend to apply for a DebConf19 bursary and have not yet done so, please proceed as soon as possible!

Bursary applications for DebConf19 will be accepted until April 15th at 23:59 UTC. Applications submitted after this deadline will not be considered.

You can apply for a bursary when you register for the conference.

Remember that giving a talk or organising an event is considered towards your bursary; if you have a submission to make, submit it even if it is only sketched-out. You will be able to detail it later. DebCamp plans can be entered in the usual Sprints page at the Debian wiki.

Please make sure to double-check your accommodation choices (dates and venue). Details about accommodation arrangements can be found on the accommodation page.

See you in Curitiba!

Debian is dedicated to increasing the diversity of contributors to the project and improving the inclusivity of the project. We strongly believe working towards these goals provides benefits both for people from backgrounds that are currently under-represented in free software, and for the wider movement, by increasing the range of skills, experiences and viewpoints contributing to it.

As part of this outreach effort, Debian is participating in the next round of Outreachy.

The application period for the May 2019 to August 2019 round has been extended until April 2, and Debian offers the following projects:

• Continuous Integration for biological applications inside Debian
• Debian Continuous Integration: user experience improvements
• Reproducible Builds

Outreachy invites applicants who are women (both cis and trans), trans men, and genderqueer people to apply. Anyone who faces systemic bias or discrimination in the technology industry of their country is also invited to apply.

Don't wait up! You can learn more details on how to submit your application or get help in our wiki page for Outreachy and the Outreachy website.

Debian is also participating in the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) with eight projects, and the student application period is open until April 9.

You can learn more details on how to submit your GSoC application or get help for in our wiki page for GSoC and the Google Summer of Code website.

We encourage people who are elegible for Outreachy and GSoC to submit their application to both programs.

The DebConf Content team would like to call for proposals in the DebConf 19 conference, which will take place in Curitiba, Brazil, between July 21th and 28th. It will be preceded by DebCamp from July 14th to 19th, and Open Day on the 20th.

You can find this Call for Proposals, in its latest form, online:

https://debconf19.debconf.org/cfp/

Please refer to this URL for updates on the present information.

Submitting an Event

You can now submit an event proposal. Events are not limited to traditional presentations or informal sessions (BoFs): we welcome submissions of tutorials, performances, art installations, debates, or any other format of event that you think would be of interest to the Debian community.

Regular sessions may either be 20 or 45 minutes long (including time for questions), other kinds of sessions (workshops, demos, lightning talks, ...) could have different durations. Please choose the most suitable duration for your event and explain any special requests.

You will need to create an account on the site, to submit a talk. We suggest that Debian account holders (including DDs and DMs) to use Debian SSO when creating an account. However, this isn't required, as you can sign up with an e-mail address and password.

Timeline

If you depend on having your proposal accepted in order to attend the conference, please submit it in a timely fashion so that it can be considered (and potentially accepted) as soon as possible.

All proposals must be submitted before Sunday April 28th, 2019 to be evaluated for the official schedule.

Topics and Tracks

Though we invite proposals on any Debian or FLOSS related subject, we have some broad topics on which we encourage people to submit proposals, including but not limited to:

• Cloud and containers
• Debian Blends
• Debian in Science
• Embedded
• Introduction to Free Software & Debian
• Packaging, policy, and Debian infrastructure
• Security
• Social context
• Systems administration, automation and orchestration

You are welcome to either suggest more tracks, or to become a coordinator for any of them. For more information, see the Content team wiki.

Open Day

This call for proposals also targets Open Day, a day of activities targeted at the general public on July 20th. Topics of interest range from topics specific to Debian to the greater Free Software community and maker movement. The idea of Open Day is to bring the general public closer to Debian and vice-versa, so activity proposals that go in that direction are more than welcome.

If you are interested in presenting on Open Day, let us know in the "Notes" field of your submission. We might also invite proponents that are not specifically targeting Open Day to present in it if we find that the topic fits the above goals.

The Open Day will host activities in multiple languages. We expect to have activities in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

If your talk will be in portuguese, you can write the Abstract field in portuguese too.

Talk proposal help on IRC

This year we will be holding holding office hours on IRC. Those will be designated times where the DebConf content team will be available to help potential speakers prepare their talk proposals for DebConf.

Dates and times for those will be announced later.

Code of Conduct

Our event is covered by a Code of Conduct designed to ensure everyone’s safety and comfort. The code applies to all attendees, including speakers and the content of their presentations. Do not hesitate to contact us at content@debconf.org if you have any questions or are unsure about certain content you’d like to present.

Video Coverage

Providing video is one of the conference goals, as it makes the content accessible to a wider audience. Unless speakers opt-out, scheduled talks may be streamed live over the Internet to promote remote participation, and recordings will be published later under the DebConf license (MIT/Expat), as well as presentation slides and papers whenever available.

Closing note

DebConf 19 is still accepting sponsors; if you are interested, or think you know of others who would be willing to help, please get in touch with sponsors@debconf.org.

In case of any questions, or if you wanted to bounce some ideas off us first, please do not hesitate to reach out to the content team at content@debconf.org.

We hope to see you in Curitiba!

The DebConf team

We are very pleased to announce that Google has committed to support DebConf19 as a Platinum sponsor.

"The annual DebConf is an important part of the Debian development ecosystem and Google is delighted to return as a sponsor in support of the work of the global community of volunteers who make Debian and DebConf a reality" said Cat Allman, Program Manager in the Open Source Programs and Making & Science teams at Google.

Google is one of the largest technology companies in the world, providing a wide range of Internet-related services and products as online advertising technologies, search, cloud computing, software, and hardware.

Google has been supporting Debian by sponsoring DebConf since more than ten years, and is also a Debian partner sponsoring parts of Salsa's continuous integration infrastructure within Google Cloud Platform.

With this additional commitment as Platinum Sponsor for DebConf19, Google contributes to make possible our annual conference, and directly supports the progress of Debian and Free Software helping to strengthen the community that continues to collaborate on Debian projects throughout the rest of the year.

Thank you very much Google, for your support of DebConf19!

Become a sponsor too!

DebConf19 is still accepting sponsors. Interested companies and organizations may contact the DebConf team through sponsors@debconf.org, and visit the DebConf19 website at https://debconf19.debconf.org.