Talks and Presentations

I often give talks at conferences and meetings around the world. This page is always incomplete and usually out of date but offers an idea of the types of things I often talk about. I am always interested in speaking to new audiences. Please don't hesitate to get in contact with me if you are interested in having me talk at a conference.

Academic Talks

Although all of my conference papers (both archival and non-archival) were also presented, I have not included them again here.

  • [Panel] “Wikipedia @ 20 Panel.” Wikipedia Weekly Network Podcast, January 15, 2021. [Video (Youtube)]
  • [Panel] “Wikipedia Research Conversation.” Wiki Workshop 2020, The Web Conference, April 21, 2020. [Workshop Homepage]
  • [Round Table] Round Table on Academic Careers. MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 7, 2019.
  • [Lightning Talk] “Igniting a TON (Technology, Organizing, and Networks) of Insights: Recognizing the Contributions of Janet Fulk and Peter Monge in Shaping the Future of Communication Research.” Organizational Communication Division, International Communication Association Annual Meeting (ICA 2019), Washington, DC, May 28, 2018. [Video (Youtube)] [Video (WebM)] [Blog Post] [Slides (PDF)] [Slide Notes (PDF)]
  • [Lecture] “The Growth and Decline of Digital Knowledge Commons.” HCI Lunch Seminar Series, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, April 10, 2019.
  • [Tutorial] “Conducting Research with Amazon Mechanical Turk.” Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, March 8, 2019.
  • [Lecture and Discussion] “Democratizing Data Science.” Seminar Series, Department of Communication, University of California at Davis, Davis, California, February 22, 2019.
  • [Lecture] “The Growth and Decline of Digital Knowledge Commons.” Seminar Series, Department of Communication, University of California at Davis, Davis, California, February 21, 2019. [Announcement]
  • [Lecture and Q&A] “The Growth and Decline of Digital Knowledge Commons.” Fellow Presentation, Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, January 30, 2019.
  • [Lecture] “Democratizing Data Science.” Information Technology Outlook Seminar, Department of Informatics, Universitá degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy, November 20, 2018. [HTML Slides] [PDF Announcement]
  • [Response] Respondent to for Charlton McIlwain's “Controlling the Means of Disruption.” The Shifting Landscape of Public Communication Conference, University of Washington, October 26, 2018.
  • [Lecture and Discussion] “Whither Peer Production?” Digital Commons Research Group, Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, June 4, 2018.
  • [Lecture and Discussion] “Democratizing Data Science.” University of Washington Alumni Hall of Fame Reception, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, February 28, 2018.
  • [Discussion Facilitation] “Will Wikipedia exist in 20 years?” With Katherine Maher. Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 17, 2017.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Democratizing Data Science: Perspectives from the Community Data Science Workshop and Software Carpentry.” With Dharma Dailey and Jonathan T. Morgan. Data Science Studies Group, eScience Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, March 6, 2017.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Critical Data Literacies.” With Sayamindu Dasgupta. Data Science Studies Group, eScience Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, February 8, 2017.
  • [Paper Presentation] “The Hidden Costs of Requiring Account Creation: Evidence from Peer Production.” Colloquium, Department of Communication, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, November 30, 2016.
  • [Paper Presentation] “The Hidden Costs of Requiring Account Creation: Evidence from Peer Production.” With Aaron Shaw. Workshop and Lecture Series on the Law & Economics of Innovation, ETH Zurich, Center for Law & Economics, Department of Humanities, Social and Political Science, November 15, 2016.
  • [Paper Presentation] “The Wikipedia Adventure: Field Evaluation of an Interactive Tutorial for New Users.” With Aaron Shaw. Workshop and Lecture Series on the Law & Economics of Innovation, ETH Zurich, Center for Law & Economics, Department of Humanities, Social and Political Science, November 14, 2016.
  • [Workshop] “Scratch Community Blocks Workshop.” With Sayamindu Dasgupta. Scratch Conference, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 5, 2016.
  • [Lecture] “Charting Pathways to Community Success.” Big Social Data Day, eScience Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, May 31, 2016.
  • [Lecture] “Using High Performance Computing for Social Computing Research.” University of Washington HPC Club, Data Science Studio, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, May 12, 2016.
  • [Paper Presentation] “The Hidden Costs of Requiring Account Creation: Evidence from Peer Production.” Voice, Technology & Impact Workshop, Department of Communication, University of Washington, Seattle, May 6, 2016.
  • [Debate] “Does the Net Work? Analyzing the Social Implications of the World Wide Web.“ International Affairs Conference, Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon, April 4, 2016. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture and Q&A] “Celebrate Aaron Swartz and Book Release.” Department of Communication, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, January 13, 2016. [Abstract]
  • [Paper Presentation] “Reflecting on Empirical Peer Production Research.” With Aaron Shaw. 7th International Workshop on Network Theory: Peer Production Networks (ANN-SONIC-NICO 2015). Department of Communication, Northwestern University. Evanston, Illinois, October 30, 2015. [Video]
  • [Paper Presentation] “`Accounting' for Transaction Costs in Online Collective Action.” Wikia Inc., San Francisco, California, October 18, 2015.
  • [Paper Presentation] “`Accounting' for Transaction Costs in Online Collective Action.” Wikimania 2015. Mexico City, Mexico, July 18, 2015.
  • [Lecture and Discussion Facilitation] “Missing Voices on Wikipedia.” With Monika Sengul-Jones. Center on Communication, Difference, and Equity, University of Washington, April 22, 2015.
  • [Lecture] “Volunteer Mobilization in Peer Production.” Department of Computer Science, University of California Santa Barbara, April 16, 2015.
  • [Lecture] “Volunteer Mobilization in Peer Production.” University of Milan, Milan, Italy, March 28, 2015.
  • [Lecture and Q&A] Discussion of The Internet’s Own Boy. Workshop on Privacy, Surveillance, and Activism, Erasmus Research Centre for Media, Communication and Culture, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, March 24, 2015.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Access Without Empowerment.” Workshop on Privacy, Surveillance, and Activism. Erasmus Research Centre for Media, Communication and Culture, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, March 24, 2015.
  • [Panel] Discussion of The Internet's Own Boy. Information & Society Center, Information School, University of Washington, November 24, 2014.
  • [Lecture] “Understanding Collaborative Creativity in Scratch.” Center for Data Science, University of Washington, Tacoma, November 19, 2014.
  • [Lecture, Q&A, Event Organization] “Introduction to Free Software.” Open Source Comes to Campus. University of Washington. November 16, 2014.
  • [Lecture] “Creativity Without Law in Remixing.” Creativity Without Law Conference, Case Western University School of Law, November 7, 2014.
  • [Workshop Organization & Lecture] “Open Source Comes to Campus.” University of Washington, November 16, 2014
  • [Paper Presentation] “Access Without Empowerment.” Wikimania 2014, London, UK. August 9, 2014.
  • [Invited Expert Participant] Data and Digital Methods BarCamp, ENSCI & Medialab, Science Po, Paris, France, June 27, 2014.
  • [Lecture] “Volunteer Mobilization in Peer Production.” Medialab, Sciences Po, Paris, France. June 25, 2014.
  • [Lecture and Workshop Facilitation] “Remixing Research and Scratch Data.” With Andrés Monroy-Hernández. Scratch Data Summit, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 21, 2014.
  • [Lecture] “Volunteer Mobilization in Peer Production.” DUB Seminar, University of Washington, January 8, 2014.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Laboratories of Oligarchy? How the Iron Law Extends to Peer Production.” ZEW/KMRC Workshop: User behavior and content generation on Wikipedia, ZEW, Mannheim, Germany, November 9, 2013.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Laboratories of Oligarchy? How the Iron Law Extends to Peer Production.” MIT Economic Sociology Working Group, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 8, 2013.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Laboratories of Oligarchy? How the Iron Law Extends to Peer Production.” Harvard Cooperation Group, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 16, 2013.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Laboratories of Oligarchy? How the Iron Law Extends to Peer Production.” Center for Information Technology Policy, Princeton, April 11, 2013.
  • [Lecture] “Failures of Collective Action.” Cognitive Science Colloquium, School of Cognitive Science, Hampshire College, April 10, 2013.
  • [Lecture] “Failures of Collective Action.” Department of Communication, University of Washington, October 26, 2012.
  • [Lecture] “Failures of Collective Action.” The Future of Security: Ethical Hacking, Big Data, and the Crowd, Parsons Institute for Information Mapping, The New School, New York, New York, October 24, 2012.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Almost Wikipedia: What Eight Early Online Collaborative Encyclopedia Projects Reveal About the Mechanisms Of Collective Action.” Microsoft Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 13, 2012.
  • [Keynote Lecture] “When Peer Production Works: Learning from Failures to Improve Collaboration.” Wikipedia Academy 2012, Freie Universität, Berlin, June 29, 2012.
  • [Lecture] “Communication Technology and Social Change Activism.” Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, June 9, 2012. [Slides (ODP)] [Slides (PDF)]
  • [Paper Presentation] “Is Volunteer Labor a Fixed and Finite Resource? Evidence from Peer Production.” With Aaron Shaw. MIT Economic Sociology Working Group, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 24, 2012.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Almost Wikipedia: What Eight Early Online Collaborative Encyclopedia Projects Reveal About the Mechanisms Of Collective Action.” Conference on Digital Commons, Barcelona, Spain, December 29, 2011.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Almost Wikipedia: What Eight Early Online Collaborative Encyclopedia Projects Reveal About the Mechanisms Of Collective Action.” MIT Economic Sociology Working Group, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 17, 2010.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Status, Social Signaling and Collective Action in a Peer Production Community.” With Aaron Shaw. Laboratory for Social Research Seminar, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California, October 28, 2011.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Almost Wikipedia: What Eight Early Online Collaborative Encyclopedia Projects Reveal About the Mechanisms Of Collective Action.” Luncheon Series, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 11, 2011. [Abstract & Presentation Video]
  • [Paper Presentation] “Almost Wikipedia: What Eight Early Online Collaborative Encyclopedia Projects Reveal About the Mechanisms Of Collective Action.” MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 20, 2011.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Status, Social Signaling and Collective Action in a Peer Production Community.” MIT Economic Sociology Working Group, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 18, 2011.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Almost Wikipedia: What Eight Early Online Collaborative Encyclopedia Projects Reveal About the Mechanisms Of Collective Action.” Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategy Seminar, MIT Sloan, Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 22, 2010.
  • [Lecture] “Wikipedia as a Platform.” MIT Innovation Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 4, 2010.
  • [Panel] “Reviewing And Challenging Socio-Political Approaches in the Analysis of Open Collaboration and Collective Action Online.” With Mayo Fuster Morell. WikiSym 2010, Gdansk, Poland, June 10, 2010. [Abstract PDF]
  • [Lecture] “Antifeatures.” NEU ACM Chapter, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, November 18, 2009. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture] “Free/Libre Open Source Software 101.” Knight Foundation News Conference, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 16, 2009.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Causal Effects of a Reputation-Based Incentive in a Peer Production Community.” MIT Economic Sociology Working Group, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 9, 2010.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Causal Effects of a Reputation-Based Incentive in a Peer Production Community.” Harvard Cooperation Group, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 26, 2010.
  • [Lecture] “The State of FLOSS Research.” Department of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, November 20, 2009.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Revealing Errors.” Internet and Society Project, Yale Law School, New Haven, Connecticut, March 24, 2009.
  • [Paper Presentation] “Revealing Errors.” Harvard-MIT-Yale Cyberscholar Working Group, Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 21, 2008.
  • [Lecture] “Voting Machinery for the Masses.” Future of Civic Media Conference, MIT Center for Future Civic Media, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 13, 2008.
  • [Panel] “Renaissance Panel: The Roles of Creative Synthesis in Innovation.” CHI 2008, Florence, Italy, April 7, 2008. [Refereed Abstract ] [Video]
  • [Lecture] “Disasters and Free Software.” Zones of Emergency series, Center for Advanced Visual Studies, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 3, 2008. [Video] [Show Description]
    Following artist Mark Tribe I have a short talk introducing free software and its role in emergencies and disaster situations that focused on the wonderful Sahana project.
  • [Lecture] “Laptop Liberation: One Laptop per Child and Free/Open Source Software.” Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, March 12, 2008. Slides (PDF)] [Slides (ODP)] Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    This first half of this talk introduced the One Laptop per Child Project and the XO-1 laptop. In this introduction, I focused on the published principles and stated goals of the project and tried to draw connections between the software and hardware design and development model and these goals. In the second half of the talk, I focused on the reasons behind OLPC's stated commitment to free and open source software and argued for free software in Constructionist education projects and in education and development work more generally.
  • [Lecture] “Laptop Liberation: One Laptop per Child and Free/Open Source Software.” Nara Institute of Technology (NAIST), Nara, Japan, January 8, 2008. [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (ODP)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST))
  • [Lecture] “Laptop Liberation: One Laptop per Child and Free/Open Source Software.” Cornell University Code Review, Ithaca, New York, November 16, 2007. [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (ODP)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    This first half of this talk introduced the One Laptop per Child Project and the XO-1 laptop. In this introduction, I focused on the published principles and stated goals of the project and tried to draw connections between the software and hardware design and development model and these goals. In the second half of the talk, I focused on the reasons behind OLPC's stated commitment to free and open source software and argued for free software in Constructionist education projects and in education and development work more generally.
  • [Keynote Lecture] “Free Software and Education.” K-12 Open Minds Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, October 9, 2007. [Show Description]
    This talk built on personal experience and work with the One Laptop per Child program to make a strong case for the use of free and open source software in education.
  • [Panel] “Clouding Computing and Free and Open Source Software.” Computing in the Cloud Workshop, Center for Information Technology Policy, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, January 22, 2008.
  • [Lecture] “Reflections on Decoding Liberation.” Book Launch for Decoding Liberation, Brooklyn College, November 15, 2007.
  • [Lecture] “Parallel Document Development.” Open and User Innovation Conference, Copenhagen Business School, June 27, 2007.
  • [Lecture] “Examination of Wiki Process.” MIT Innovation Lab meeting, MIT Faculty Club, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 7, 2007. [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    Most people have used Wikipedia and understand that it is contributed by many people. In fact, each Wikipedia is the product of a long and complicated process. This talk walks to the process that led to the creation of a large article and some of the policies, peoples, tools, and venues that lie hidden below the surface of many Wikipedia articles.
  • [Lecture] “Reflections on the War on Share.” With Elizabeth Stark. Media in Transition 5, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 27, 2007.
  • [Keynote Lecture] “Defining Moments.” Conference on Engaging in Open Source (CEOS), Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 2, 2006. [Slides PDF]
  • [Lecture and Panel] “Information Freedom.” Center for Advanced Visual Studies, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 28, 2006. [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies held a gathering with nine short talks under the title Come Together on social change, social responsibility, technology, and activism. I was honored to give one of these talks; the final talk was given by Noam Chomsky. In my talk, I tried to give an overview of the world of social movements and projects trying to protect "information freedom." I have only a very rough set of notes.
  • [Lecture] “Participatory Collaboration: The Debian Model.” University of Turin, Turin, Italy, April 21, 2004. [Slides ] [Slides (Docbook XML)] [Show Description]
    This talk briefly introduces Debian and gives a brief overview of its organizational model. It argues that Debian has succeeded because it's employed a more participatory/democratic model for decision making than most propriety software products and more than many other Free Software projects. It presents Debian as a compelling model for the production of better software in a better way.
  • [Lecture] “Control, Collaboration and Creativity in Literature.” University of Milan, Milan, Italy, April 19, 2004. [Slides] [Slides (DocBook XML)] [Show Description]
    As part of the event, Modelli Liberi Come L'Aira (Free Models: Like the Air), I presented a piece on the role that control plays in the production of collaborative literature. The talk was heavily based heavily off some of the other talks I've given as part of my collaborative literature project.
  • [Undergraduate Research Presentation] “Literary Collaboration and Control.” School of Cognitive Science, Hampshire College, May 5, 2003. [Talk Notes]
  • [Undergraduate Research Presentation] “Literary Collaboration and Control.” Division III Presentation, Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, May 16, 2003. [Slides]

Academic Workshops

This section includes invitation or application-only workshops. When I give a lecture or present a paper, I will not list it again here.

Talks to Non-Academic Audiences

  • [Talk] “Cocktails and Mocktails Evening Social (a How-To Session!).” Seattle GNU/Linux Conference (SeaGL), Novemer 13, 2020. [Program Entry with Ingredients and Recipes]
  • [Workshop Participation] Sustain Summit, Sint-Gilles, Belgium, January 30, 2020.
  • [Keynote Lecture] “How Markets Co-opted Free Software’s most Valuable Weapon.” SeaGL, Seattle, Washington, November, 16, 2019.
  • [Lecture] “All Talk? The effects of easier communication interfaces (than user talk pages) on collaborative production.” With Sneha Narayan, Nathan TeBlunthuis, Wm Salt Hale, and Aaron Shaw. Wikimania 2020 Research Track, Stockholm, Sweden, August 17, 2019. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture] “The Growth and Decline of Digital Knowledge Commons.” Github, San Francisco, California, June 13, 2019.
  • [Lecture] “Social and Communicative Dynamics in Wikis.” Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, California, June 5, 2019.
  • [Lecture] “The Growth and Decline of Digital Knowledge Commons.” Knight Foundation Retreat, Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, May 30, 2019.
  • [Lecture] “The Growth and Decline of Digital Knowledge Commons.” Bloomberg Beta Dinner Gathering, Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, May 7, 2019.
  • [Lecture] “State of Wikimedia Research 2017-2018.” With Tilman Bayer, Reem Al-Kashif, and Mohammed Sadat Abdulai. Wikimania 2018, Cape Town, South Africa, July 21, 2018. [Abstract] [Slides with speaker notes (PDF)]
  • [Lecture and Q&A] “Whither Peer Production?.” Vall de Can Masdeu, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, June 3, 2018.
  • [Lecture] “Free Software Needs Free Tools.” OpenDev Summit, OpenStack Conference, Vancouver Convention Center, Vancouver, BC, Canada, May 22, 2018. [Official Link] [YouTube Video] [Press Summary (Superuser)]
  • [Keynote Lecture] “Whither Peer Production? Free software and the shifting landscape of online cooperation.” LibrePlanet 2018, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 25, 2018.
  • [Panel] “Software Freedom Challenges Ahead.” Swatantra '17, Trivandrum, Kerala, India, December 21, 2017.
  • [Lecture] “Access Without Empowerment.” Swatantra '17, Trivandrum, Kerala, India, December 21, 2017.
  • [Lecture] “State of Wikimedia Research 2016-2017.” With Tilman Bayer and Reem Al-Kashif. Wikimania 2017, Montréal, Québec, Canada, August 11, 2017. [Abstract] [Slides with speaker notes (PDF)] [Etherpad Notes for Session]
  • [Lecture] “State of Wikimedia Research 2015-2016.” With Tilman Bayer. Wikimania 2016, Esino Lario, Italy, June 24, 2016. [Abstract] [Video]
  • [Lecture and Q&A] “Celebrate Aaron Swartz and Book Release.” Thoughtworks, San Francisco, California, January 11, 2016. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture] “Access Without Empowerment.” SeaGL, Seattle, Washington, October 23, 2015. [Abstract]
  • [Keynote Lecture] “Access Without Empowerment.” FrOSCon, Sankt Augustin, Germany, August 23, 2015. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture] “Democratizing Data Science.” With Tommy Guy PyData Seattle 2015, Redmond, Washington, July 25, 2015. [Abstract] [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (Google Docs)]
  • [Lecture] “Assignment 1: Become A Wikipedian.” Wikimania 2015, Mexico City, Mexico, July 18, 2015. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture] “The Effect of Blocking IP Editing: Evidence from Wikia.” With Aaron Shaw Wikimania 2015, Mexico City, Mexico, July 18, 2015. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture] “The State of Wikimedia Scholarship 2014-2015.” With Aaron Shaw and Tilman Bayer Wikimania 2015, Mexico City, Mexico, July 17, 2015. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture] “Democratizing Data Science.” With Tommy Guy Puget Sound Programming Python Meetup (PuPPy), Seattle, Washington, June 10, 2015. [Abstract]
  • [Keynote Lecture] “User Innovation Communities.” Industrial Research Institute Annual Meeting. Seattle, Washington, April 27, 2015.
  • [Keynote Lecture] “Access Without Empowerment.” LibrePlanet 2015, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 21, 2015. [Blog Post and Video]
  • [Lecture] “When Free Software Isn't Better.” SeaGL, Seattle, Washington, October 25, 2014.
  • [Lecture] “Revealing Errors.” Technology Activism 3rd Monday, Seattle, Washington, September 15, 2014.
  • [Lecture] “Informed But Unempowered: Why Our Movement Only Fulfills Half Its Mission.” Wikimania 2014, London, UK, August 9, 2014.
  • [Lecture] “The State of Wikimedia Scholarship 2013-2014.” With Tilman Bayer and Aaron Shaw Wikimania 2014, London, UK, August 8, 2014. [Abstract]
  • [Q&A] “Aaron Swartz.” Wikimania 2014, London, UK, August 8, 2014. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture] “The State of Wikimedia Scholarship 2012-2013.” With Tilman Bayer Wikimania 2013, Hong Kong, August 9, 2013. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture] “Wiki Ecology.” Wikimania 2013, Hong Kong, August 9, 2013. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture] “Antifeatures.” LinuxTag, Berlin, Germany, May 25, 2013. [Abstract] [Audio Recording (OGG)] [Audio Recording (MP3)]
  • [Lecture] “When Peer Production Succeeds.” Free Software User Group, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 1, 2013.
  • [Keynote] “From Free Software to Free Culture.” Students for Free Culture Meeting (FCX2013), New York Law School, New York, New York, April 20, 2013.
  • [Lecture] “When Free Software Isn't Better.” LibrePlanet, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 23, 2013.
  • [Recorded Reflections] “Thoughts on Aaron Swartz.” Memorial Service, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 12, 2013. [Video] [Transcript]
  • [Lecture] “From Free Software to Free Culture.” Creative Commons All Staff Meeting, Mountain View, California, February 6, 2013.
  • [Lecture] “Designing for Cooperation with Social Incentives.” WikiHow, Palo Alto, California, September 14, 2012.
  • [Lecture] “When Wikis Work: Learning from Failures to Build Online Communities.” Wikia Inc, San Francisco, California, September 13, 2012.
  • [Lecture] “From Free Software to Free Culture.” Wikimedia Foundation All Staff Meeting, San Francisco, California, September 13, 2012.
  • [Lecture] “Open Brands.” Awesome Foundation Summit, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 23, 2012. [Talk Notes]
  • [Lecture] “Almost Wikipedia: A What Eight Collaborative Encyclopedia Projects Reveal About Mechanisms of Collective Action.” Wikimania 2012, George Washington University, Washington, DC, July 13, 2012.
  • [Lecture] “The State of Wikimedia Scholarship (2011-2012).” With Jodi Schneider Wikimania 2012, George Washington University, Washington, DC, July 12, 2012.
  • [Lecture] “Can Social Awards Create Better Wikis?With Aaron Shaw Wikimania 2012, George Washington University, Washington, DC, July 12, 2012.
  • [Keynote Lecture] “When Peer Production Works: Learning from Failures to Improve Peer Production.” Wikipedia Academy, Berlin, Germany, July 30, 2012.
  • [Lecture & Workshop] “How To Release Your Project as Free Software.” Festival of Learning, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 27, 2012.
  • [Lecture] “Almost Wikipedia: What Eight Early Online Collaborative Encyclopedia Projects Reveal About the Mechanisms Of Collective Action.” Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, California, November 2, 2011. [Slides (ODP)] [Slides (PDF)] [Talk Notes]
  • [Lecture] “Getting Involved in Debian.” Software Freedom Day, Cambridge College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 16, 2011. [Slides (ODP)] [Slides (PDF)] [Talk Notes]
  • [Lecture] “When Free Software Isn't Better.” The Open Knowledge Conference, Berlin, Germany, July 1, 2011. [Slides (ODP)] [Slides (PDF))
  • [Panel] “Wikipedia Research.” The Open Knowledge Conference, Berlin, Germany, July 1, 2011.
  • [Keynote Lecture] “When Free Software Isn't Better.” Free Software and Linux Days, Istanbul, Turkey, April 2, 2011. [Slides (ODP)] [Slides (PDF)] [Show Description]
    Long talk roughly based on my 2010 essay of the same title.
  • [Lecture] “Contributing to Wikipedia.” General Assembly, Cambridge School of Weston, Weston, Massachusetts, February 16, 2011. [Slides (ODP)] [Slides (PDF)] [Talk Notes] [Show Description]
    A talk given to a middle school and high school trying to interest students in becoming Wikipedia editors and giving them pointers to resources that would allow them to do so.
  • [Online Lecture] “Antifeatures.” Free Technology Academy, February 10, 2011.
  • [Lecture] “Antifeatures.” FrOSCon, Sankt Augustin, Germany, August 22, 2010.
  • [Lecture and Discussion] “Piracy and Free Software.” Inlaws and Outlaws, Nothing Will Happen (Nista Se Nece Dogoditi), August 19, 2010. Split, Croatia [Essay]
  • [Lightning Talk] “Lightning Photography with Free Software.” Debconf, Columbia University, New York, New York, August 7, 2010.
  • [Lecture] “Antifeatures.” Debconf, Columbia University, New York, New York, August 5, 2010.
  • [Lecture] “The State of Wikimedia Scholarship 2009-2010: WikiSym and Beyond.” Wikimania 2010, Gdańsk, Poland, July 10, 2010. [Abstract] [Talk Notes] [Slides (PDF)]
  • [Panel] “Free Network Services.” The Free Software Foundation's Libre Planet, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 21, 2010.
  • [Lecture] “Antifeatures.” Students for Free Culture Conference, George Washington University, Washington DC, February 14, 2010.
  • [Keynote Lecture] “Antifeatures.” Linux Conf Australia 2010, Wellington, New Zealand, January 17, 2010. [Video (OGV)] [Video (Other)] [Audio (Vorbis)] [Audio (Other)] [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (ODP)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)]
  • [Lecture] “Antifeatures.” Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, November 20, 2009.
  • [Lecture] “The State of Wikimedia Scholarship: 2008-2009.” Wikimania 2009, San Jose, California, July 22, 2009. [Abstract] [Notes]
  • [Panel] “With Software as a Service, Is Only the Network Luddite Free?.” O'Reilly OSCON, San Jose, California, July 22, 2009. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture] “Antifeatures.” O'Reilly OSCON, San Jose, California, July 22, 2009. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture] “Free Network Services.” The Free Software Foundation's Libre Planet, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 21, 2009.
  • [Lecture] “Revealing Errors.” Razmajena Vjestina, MAMA, Zagreb, Croatia., January 6, 2009.
  • [Lecture and Demo] “Voting Machinery for the Masses.” IEEE Boston Section, Society on Social Implications of Technology, MIT Lincoln Labs, Lexington, Massachusetts, October 20, 2008.
  • [Lecture] “Free Software In Your Pocket.” With John Sullivan Software Freedom Day Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, September 20, 2008. [Show Description]
    This talk, delivered with John Sullivan, discussed and shows free software on a variety of mobile devices. This included CHDK, RockBox, and OpenMoko.
  • [Lightning Talk] “Advocating Software Freedom by Revealing Errors.” O'Reilly Ignite Boston 4, Boston, Massachusetts, September 11, 2008.
  • [Lecture] “Voting Machinery for the Masses.” O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON), Portland, Oregon, July 25, 2008. [Abstract] [Show Description]
    This talk that explores my thinking about and work on Selectricity and on related free and open source voting work aimed at groups other than governments.
  • [Keynote Lecture] “Advocating Software Freedom by Revealing Errors.” O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON), Portland, Oregon, July 25, 2008. [Abstract] [Video) [Show Description]
    A short talk (15 minutes) that built on my work on Revealing Errors and summarized my thinking in regards to that project to date.
  • [Panel] “Creative Commons.” Wikimania 2008, Bibliotecha Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt, July 19, 2008.
  • [Lecture] “Free Network Services.” Wikimania 2008, Bibliotecha Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt, July 19, 2008. [Abstract]
  • [Lecture] “Zotero for Wikimaniacs.” Wikimania 2008, Bibliotecha Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt, July 17, 2008. [Abstract] [Show Description]
    I filled in for a friend who could not make the conference and gave a short demonstration of and introduction to Zotero focused on Wikipedians.
  • [Lecture] “Revealing Errors.” Boston Linux Unix, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 18, 2008. [Slides, Slides (ODP)] [HTML, Talk Notes] [Show Description]
    This talk presented the arguments in my Revealing Errors article published in Media/Culture and some of the work and examples that I've been posting on the Revealing Errors blog.
  • [Lightning Talk] “Voting Machinery for the Masses.” O'Reilly's Ignite Boston 3, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 29, 2008.
  • [Lecture] “Advancing a Definition of Free Culture.” Sun's Community One, Moscone Center, San Francisco, California, May 5, 2008.
  • [Lecture] “Liberating Network Services.” Sun's Community One, Moscone Center, San Francisco, California, May 5, 2008. [Show Description]
    An updated version of the talk I gave at the FSF Members Meeting.
  • [Lecture] “Revealing Errors.” Penguicon, Troy, Michigan, April 20, 2008. [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (ODP)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (Source)] [Show Description]
    This talk presented the arguments in my Revealing Errors article published in Media/Culture and some of the work and examples that I've been posting on the Revealing Errors blog.
  • [Lecture] “Laptop Liberation: One Laptop per Child and Free/Open Source Software.” Penguicon, Troy, Michigan, April 19, 2008. Slides (PDF)] [Slides (ODP)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    This first half of this talk introduced the One Laptop per Child Project and the XO-1 laptop. In this introduction, I focused on the published principles and stated goals of the project and tried to draw connections between the software and hardware design and development model and these goals. In the second half of the talk, I focused on the reasons behind OLPC's stated commitment to free and open source software and argued for free software in Constructionist education projects and in education and development work more generally.
  • [Lecture] “Revealing Errors.” LUG Radio Live USA 2008, Moscone Center, San Francisco, California, April 13, 2008. [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (ODP)] Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    This talk presented the arguments in my Revealing Errors article published in Media/Culture and some of the work and examples that I've been posting on the Revealing Errors blog.
  • [Lecture] “Liberating Network Services.” FSF Associate Members Meeting, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 15, 2008. [Show Description]
    I discussed issues related to free software and network services and introduced upcoming meeting on the topic to be held the next day at the FSF.
  • [Show Description]
    This first half of this talk introduced the One Laptop per Child Project and the XO-1 laptop. In this introduction, I focused on the published principles and stated goals of the project and tried to draw connections between the software and hardware design and development model and these goals. In the second half of the talk, I focused on the reasons behind OLPC's stated commitment to free and open source software and argued for free software in Constructionist education projects and in education and development work more generally.
  • [Lecture] “Geek Diagnosis from a Diagnosed Geek.” G33koSkop Lecture Series, MAMA, Zagreb, Croatia., December 3, 2007. [Audio Recording (OGG)] [Audio Recording (MP3)] [Show Description]
    This largely autobiographical talk that built heavily off my Story of Unlearning.
  • [Lecture] “Cooperation in Parallel: Lessons from Ubuntu and Debian.” Kiberpipa, Ljubljana, Slovenia, November 26, 2007. [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (ODP)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    This talk revisited (and was closely based on) my To Fork or Not To Fork lecture given several times in 2005.
  • [Lecture] “Hacker Culture.” B92's Cinema Rex, Belgrade, Serbia, November 23, 2007. [Show Description]
    In addition to several lengthy media interviews, I gave a redux of the panel and talk given at CK13 at the television station.
  • [Lecture] “Hacker Culture.” CK13, Novi Sad, Serbia, November 20, 2007. [Show Description]
    I worked with my friends from mi2 in Zagreb, Croatia to give a talk on a panel discussing hacker culture and geared toward a general audience. The panel was framed by the System.hack() — an exhibition that mi2 was traveling with and presenting throughout the Balkans and which I helped write material for. On the panel, I talked about why hacking (both the transgressive and wholly constructive forms) is essential to society and to non-hackers.
  • [Lecture and Workshop] “Debian Packaging for System Administrators.” SIPB Clue Dump, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 12, 2007.
  • [Lecture] “Free Software and Radical Non-Discrimination.” Software Freedom Day 2007, Boston, Massachusetts, September 15, 2007.
  • [Lecture] “Resonant Divergence: Collaboration in Diverged Branches.” Wikimania 2007, Taipei, Taiwan, August 5, 2007. [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (ODP)] [Show Description]
    An early presentation of my MIT Media Lab thesis work on a wiki for collaborative authorship of branched articles.
  • [Lecture] “Freedom's Standard Advanced.” Wikimania 2007, Taipei, Taiwan, August 3, 2007. [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    A reprise of the free culture speech I had been giving frequently over the summer.
  • [Panel] “Debian Derivatives Round Table 2007.” Debconf 7, Edinburgh, Scotland, June 22, 2007. [Show Description]
    I organized and moderated a round table discussion on issues and problems related to derivative distributions. The discuss involved representatives of all of the major derivative distributions present at Debconf.
  • [Lecture] “Debian: A Force To Be Reckoned With.” Debconf 7, Edinburgh, Scotland, June 21, 2007. [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (ODP)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    This talk offers a "Debian Themed" quick tour through the academic, legal, and business worlds. It overs insight into what everyone outside of Debian is saying about, doing with, and learning from the Debian project. In doing so, it hopes to give Debian participants some insight into fields and areas that they are largely unfamiliar with (e.g., management, sociology, anthropology, economics, computer supported collaborative work, etc.). It illuminates what others — especially academics — find useful or inspiring about the project and to facilitate self-reflection and self-improvement within Debian. It reflects on the impact that Debian has had in the world beyond the Debian project and, in particular, in those areas that many Debian developers may not be familiar with.
  • [Lecture] “Advancing a Definition of Free Culture.” iCommons iSummit, Dubrovnik, Croatia, June 16, 2007. [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    Another version of the free culture stump speech. It was given as part of a panel on philosophy of free culture and the commons.
  • [Lecture] “Freedom Defined.” Annual National Meeting of Free Culture Student Groups, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 26, 2007. [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
  • [Lecture] “Advancing Free Culture.” FSF Annual Associate Members Meeting, March 24, 2007. [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST) | [Talk Recording (Vorbis)] [Talk Recording (MP3)] [Q&A Recording (Vorbis)] [Q&A Recording (MP3)] [Show Description]
    This talk was another version of my call for free software building off of Toward a Standard of Freedom and Definition of Free Cultural Works. The talk was tailored toward FSF members and more closely drawing analogies between the free software and free culture movements.
  • [Lecture] “Contribute To Ubuntu.” The Ubucon NY 2007, Google, New York, New York, February 16, 2007. [Show Description]
    I introduced people to the various ways that they might contribute to Ubuntu by walking through the large wiki page on the subject in the Ubuntu wiki.
  • [Lecture] “Debian/Ubuntu Packaging Essentials.” The Ubucon NY 2007, Google, New York, New York, February 16, 2007. [Show Description]
    In the afternoon, I ran a workshop on packaging essentials where I walked participants through the creation of a Debian/Ubuntu package.
  • [Debate] “Creative Commons Workshop & Debate.” Wizards of OS 4, Berlin, Germany, September 16, 2006. [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    Focusing on the argument made in Toward a Standard of Freedom, I discussed the and debated the issues at stake with Creative Common's Lawrence Lessig. I delivered a short prepared talk and then discussed the issues with Lessig and the crowd.
  • [Lecture] “Toward a Definition of Freedom.” Wikimedia 2006, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 4, 2006. [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (PDF)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    This talk aimed to introduce the argument made in Toward a Standard of Freedom about Creative Commons and the free software movement and to argue for the adoption of the Definition of Free Cultural Works.
  • [Lecture] “Software, Freedom, and the World Beyond Computer Programs.” Darklight Film Festival's annual symposium, Dublin, Ireland, October 28, 2005. [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (ODP)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    Aimed a non-technical audience, this talk begins by introducing intellectual property and tries to describe the history of the current problems created by modern IP policy. It continues by offering a rough classification of the types of "solutions" being offered and then goes into some depth on the Free/Open Source Software model. I discuss the reasons Free Software has succeeded and try to describe some of the benefits and limitations of applying its model to the production of other types of creative works.
  • [Lecture] “The Ubuntu Project: Overview and Development Model.” Boston Linux Unix, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 19, 2005. [Slides] [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (SXI)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    At the monthly meeting of the famous Boston-based Boston Linux Unix, I gave an Ubuntu talk that pulled from both my introductory Ubuntu talks and the To Fork or Not to Fork. It was a two hour talk to a very mixed audience.
  • [Lecture] “To Fork or Not To Fork: Lessons from Ubuntu and Debian.” What The Hack, Boxtel, The Netherlands, July 28, 2005. [Show Description]
    I gave another version of the talk I gave at LinuxTag and Libre Software Meeting on Ubuntu, Debian, and derivation. See the notes and slides below which were nearly identical again.
  • [Lecture] “To Fork or Not To Fork: Lessons from Ubuntu and Debian.” Libre Software Meeting, Dijon, France, July 6, 2005. [Show Description]
    I gave a version of the talk I gave at LinuxTag several weeks before on the process of building Ubuntu. See the notes and slides below which were nearly identical.
  • [Lecture] “Broadly Defined Freedom: Radical Nondiscrimination in Free Software.” Libre Software Meeting, Dijon, France, July 5, 2005. [Slides] [Slides PDF] [Slides (SXI)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    The Libre Software Meeting organizers asked me to return to LSM again in 2005 and give a talk that went into depth on a topic I touched on at LSM in 2003 in Lessons from Libre Software Political and Ethical Practice. This talk describes one way of understanding the concept of freedom and its importance in free software without falling into reductionist analyses. It pulled heavily from the essay How Free Became Open and Everything Else Under the Sun which I published with Biella Coleman last year.
  • [Lecture] “To Fork or Not To Fork: Lessons from Ubuntu and Debian.” LinuxTag, Karlsruhe, Germany, June 25, 2005. [Slides] [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (SXI)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    This talk is based on my essay of the same title and is aimed at technically oriented free software developers. It describes the Ubuntu development process and some of the lessons that have been learned while building the distribution as a derivation of Debian. It tries to be an Ubuntu talk that is more technical than the standard "introduction to Ubuntu" and that is also not limited in appeal to only current or prospective Ubuntu developers. Since I gave this talk several times, the slides and notes here are the version from the third presentation.
  • [Lecture] “Financing Volunteer Free Software Projects.” LinuxTag, Karlsruhe, Germany, June 24, 2005. [Slides] [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (SXI)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    This talk is based off of my paper on Problems and Strategies in Financing Voluntary Free Software Projects. I wrote and presented the paper for Linuxtag 2005. These slides and notes are quite heavily on the pre-paper version of the talk I gave at FISL 5 in Porto Alegre, Brazil a bit more than a year ago.
  • [Workshop] “Ubuntu Down Under.” Sydney, Australia, April 24-30, 2005. [Conference Wiki] [Show Description]
    Ubuntu Down Under (UDU) was a one-week developer conference to plan Ubuntu's Breezy Badger release. I coordinated the community track: one of four major themed tracks at the conference. I also ran or helped run more than two dozen sessions — mostly on community related issues. The sessions were small, usually comprising only a few people, and ended with the creation of a specification to work toward completing in the next six months.
  • [Lecture] “Customizing Debian.” Linux Conference Australia 2005, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, April 18, 2005. [Slides] [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (SXI)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    As part of the Debian mini-conf at Linux Conference Australia 2005, I delivered a talk on CDDs and the process of customizing Debian more generally. It was heavily based off talks I'd given in the past.
  • [Workshop and Q&A] “Ubuntu.” Northern New Jersey Linux Meet-up, Fort Lee, New Jersey, April 11, 2005. [Show Description]
    I met with the Northern New Jersey Linux Meet-up to hand some Ubuntu CDs to show people a few things about making Debian/Ubuntu packages, and to answer any questions that people had.
  • [Lecture] “Ubuntu and Debian: Balancing Forking and Collaboration.” Southern Connecticut Open Source User Group, New Haven, Connecticut, April 10, 2005. [Show Description]
    I gave a version of the talk I gave in Manizales on Ubuntu and the process of customization Debian that has gotten it to where it is today. The talk was given to the the Southern Connecticut Open Source User Group. I did not prepare additional slides or notes for this talk (simply recycling the notes from my Manizales talk.
  • [Keynote Lecture] “Ubuntu and Debian: Balancing Forking and Collaboration.” Manizales, Colombia, March 17, 2005. [English Slides] [English Slides (PDF)] [English Slides (SXI)] [Colombian Spanish Slides] [Colombian Spanish Slides (PDF)] [Colombian Spanish Slides (SXI)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    This talk centered on Ubuntu and its relationship to Debian and the process of derivation and the difficult process of balancing forking and collaboration. This talk ended up being more of an introduction to Ubuntu and to Debian and Debian derivation and I didn't really get to dig my teeth into the key issues that the title might imply to the degree that I'd hoped. The talk was mostly a combination of my talks Customizing Debian given at NYLUG and BaDoPi and Introducing Ubuntu given at GULEV. The talk was given in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish.
  • [Lecture] “Customizing Debian.” Grupo de usuarios de Software Libre de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, December 14, 2004. [Slides] [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (SXI)] [Show Description]
    While visiting Mataró during the Ubuntu Conference I was invited to give a talk in Barcelona at the Grupo de usuarios de Software Libre de Barcelona, more commonly known as Badopi. This talk was a short (45 minutes) version of the "Customizing Debian" I gave the NYLUG user group and uses slides derived from that talk. The talk was given in English (without translation).
  • [Lecture] “Ubuntu (A GNU/Linux Operating System): Past Present and Future.” Congreso GULEV, World Trade Center, Veracruz, Mexico, November 27, 2004. [Slides] [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (SXI)] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Show Description]
    This talk is a two hour introduction to Ubuntu — the concept, history, current status and future. The talk was an invited keynote presentation at the Congreso GULEV. Other keynotes were given by Randall Schwartz, Jon "Maddog" Hall, and Richard Stallman. The presentation was given in English and simultaneously translated into Spanish.
  • [Lecture] “Customizing Debian: Fork Yours With Debian GNU/Linux.” New York Linux User Group (NYLUG), New York, New York, November 17, 2004. [Announcement] [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Slides] [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (SXI)] [Show Description]
    This two hour talk focused on the goals and techniques used by those customizing Debian. It introduced Debian and gave an overview of the universe of Debian customizers. It then broke down the idea of customizing into a number of logical pieces and, using the examples of UserLinux, Ubuntu, and Debian-NP or Skolelinux (the internal "CDD" groups), walked the audience through the nitty gritty of customization using in depth descriptions and code samples. The talk was given to the New York Linux User Group meeting in the IBM Building in New York City.
  • [Lecture] “Debian and Ubuntu: Philosophy and Technology.” New York GNU/Linux Beginners group Gnubies, October 13, 2004. [Talk Notes] [Talk Notes (ReST)] [Screenshots] [Screenshots (ReST)] [Show Description]
    I presented a talk at the New York GNU/Linux Beginners group Gnubies that covered Debian and Ubuntu. The month before the group had seen a talk by Sun. To provide a contrast with this talk and at the request of the group's leader, my talk aimed to introduce the principles behind Free Software first. After this, I described the way that Free Software philosophy is put into practice in Debian along with an overview of the project and distribution — its strengths and weaknesses. Finally, I introduced Ubuntu, a project that is both technically and philosophically inspired and linked to Debian and that, for a number of reasons, may be a good choice for many beginners. The talk was given at the IBM building in New York City.
  • [Workshop Organization] “Werkleitz School of Common Property.” Halle Volkspark, Halle, Germany, August 27 - September 1, 2004. [Program Notes (EN)] [Program Notes (DE)] [Show Description]
    With Alan Toner and Jamie King, I represented Mute Magazine and help teach a 5 day course to a group of students — primarily artists — on issues of intellectual property and different methods of organized resistance to an expansionist model of IP. The published description of the session read, "With the increasing centrality of 'social labour' to capital economies, the popular notion of the Commons is drawn radically into question. What can be the status of 'free' resources in an economy which has brought the exploitation of unpaid co-operation and affect to its very core? Can 'free' really mean free 'as-in-libre'? Can a Commons also be contestational? And if so, how do we set about producing it? Jamie King (Mute, London), Alan Toner (Autonomedia, Rome) and Benjamin Mako Hill (Debian, Seattle) will host these five days of structured discussions, followed by a presentation during the main festival." Our session, part of the Werkleitz School of Common Property was held in Halle, Germany on August 27 - 31, 2004 preceding the Halle Biennale.
  • [Lecture] “Financing Volunteer Free Software Projects: Problems and Strategies.” Fifth International Free Software Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil, June 4, 2004. [Talk Notes] [Slides (PDF)] [Slides (SXI)] [Talk Proposal] [Show Description]
    Paying developers has been shown to carry unintended negative consequences. This talk explores problems and benefits of paying developers in volunteer projects and surveys strategies that projects like Debian have used to successfully finance development while maintaining their volunteer nature. The talk was given, with live translation into Spanish and Portuguese.
  • [Workshop] “Software in the Public Interest, Inc.” Debconf4, Porto Alegre, Brazil, May 30, 2004. [Slides] [Slides (DocBook XML) |] [Talk Notes] [Whiteboard Feedback/Results] [Whiteboard (JPEG)] [Show Description]
    After the success of last year's SPI workshop, the Debconf organizers invited me to give a second workshop on Software in the Public Interest, Inc. I gave a talk to the group to introduce SPI and then facilitated a discussion where people listed things that SPI has done well and things they would like to see it do, or do better, in the future. The results were submitted to the SPI board and membership.
  • [Lecture] “Custom Debian Distribution are the Ultimate Last Step to Total World Domination.” Debconf4, Porto Alegre, Brazil, May 31, 2004. [Outline] [Proposal] [Show Description]
    This talk, delivered jointly with Enrico Zini, represented the work of more than a dozen Debconf participants and several BOFs. I spoke last summarizing what was said before and laying out the methods for future collaboration and work on Custom Debian Distributions.
  • [Lecture] “Debian-NP and NP Bagunça Review.” Debconf4, Porto Alegre, Brazil, June 2, 2004. [Slides] [Slides (DocBook XML)] [Show Description]
    At the end of Debconf, Debian-NP presented its project, and the progress that it had made during the week, to other Debian developers interested in Debian-NP. The talk was a basic introduction to Debian-NP. I gave the talk using the slides from Debian-NP: Free Software in Civil Society.
  • [Workshop] “Debian-NP Bagunça.” Debconf4, Porto Alegre, Brazil, May 26 - April 2, 2004. [Description & Schedule: link] [Show Description]
    I helped plan, organize, facilitate, and participate in a Debian-NP mini-conference within Debconf. Dubbed “Debian-NP Bagunça,” a Brazilian Portuguese term for “mess” with positive connotations, the mini-conference provided a venue for planning, specification writing, and intensive development.
  • [Lecture] “Introduction to Debian-NP.” LinuxClub, Rome, Italy, April 27, 2004. [Slides] [Slides (DocBook XML)] [Show Description]
    This talk was another introduction to and description of Debian-NP. I reused the slides from Debian-NP: Free Software in Civil Society. The talk was translated live by Claudio Bantaloukas and featured and extensive discussion.
  • [Lecture Tour] “Freedom Week (Liberamente - Settimana delle Libertà).” Siena, Florence, Milan, Turin, and Rome Italy, April 16-22, 2004. [Show Description]
    This series of talks across Italy was organized by Hipatia, and FSF Europe and by local universities and organization in each of the locales. While each local event invited additional local speakers, the speakers that were flown in for the entire series included myself, Richard Stallman (FSF), Sergio Amadeu (Brazilian Government) and Diego Saravia (Argentina/Hipatia). While I spoke on a number of different issues, I served mostly in the capacity of a representative of the Debian project.
  • Debian-NP: Free Software in Civil Society.” Siena, Italy, April 17, 2004. [Slides] [Slides (DocBook XML)] [Show Description]
    This talk was a formal presentation of Debian-NP history, philosophy, goals, and a description of our success so far. It was given as part of Freedom Week.
  • [Lecture] “Penguin Day.” N-TEN's 2004 Nonprofit Technology Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 28, 2004. [Conference Description] [Show Description]
    I engaged in session planning and group facilitation in addition to leading short meetings on public key encryption and Debian-NP at this one-day conference on Free and Open Source software in Nonprofit Organizations. The conference was organized by NOSI.
  • [Conference Organization] “WSIS? We Seize!.” Geneva, Switzerland, December 7-13, 2003. [Show Description]
    The World Summit on the Information Society was a conference organized by the United Nations. In addition to attending the conference as a delegate of CPSR, I took part in the organization and execution of the counter/co-summit, WSIS? We Seize!, that was a gathering of free software developers, tactical and independent media activists, P2P advocates, and many others.
  • [Lecture] “Information Politics 101.” We Seize!, Geneva, Switzerland, December 9, 2003. [Show Description]
    This session asked: What are the major issues in the emerging information politics movement? While developing our understanding of the inequities of IP policy-making and law, should we also develop a strategy and attitude for dealing with it? Speakers included: myself, Christine Treguier (la FIL and Big Brother Awards France), Stefan Merten (Oekonux), Alan Toner (Autonomedia), Robin Gross (IP Justice).
  • [Lecture] “Making Custom Debian Bootable/Live CDs.” We Seize!, Geneva, Switzerland, December 11, 2003. [Show Description]
    Working from Debian-Nonprofit as an example, I demonstrated how with only a list of Debian packages, developers could create their own customized bootable Linux distribution on a CD similar to Knoppix.
  • [Lecture and Q&A] “Debian-NP.” We Seize!, Geneva, Switzerland, December 11, 2003. [Show Description]
    During a joint presentation with Jamie Love who was presenting the film Dying for Drugs I gave an introduction to Debian-Nonprofit and Custom Debian Distributions and then facilitated a discussion. I passed out newly pressed Debian-NP CDs to all attendees.
  • [Lecture] “Making the Case for Free/Open Source Software in Non-Profit Organizations.” NTEN, Boston, Massachusetts, November 6, 2003. [Slides] [Slides (Docbook XML)] [Show Description]
    Delivered at an NTEN (the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network) conference, this talk introduced a panel on FOSS in the non-profit sector by defining the important terms in a discussion of free and open source software and by covering the basic advocacy points for non-profits.
  • [Panel] “Digital Standards and the Public Domain: Consequences and Current Strategies for an Independent Public Sphere.” Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria, September 9, 2003. [Conference Description] [Show Description]
    Linz's Radio FRO sponsored this two panel sub-conference of the Ars Electronica Festival 2003. I made a guest appearance on this panel (Panel B) to represent the position of Free and Open Software and to field questions.
  • [Workshop Participation] “Summer Source: Software Camp for NGOs.” Vis, Croatia, August 26-September 6, 2003. [Session Descriptions] [German Indymedia Article (German w/ images)] [Germany Indymedia Article (English)] [Linux Magazine Article (PDF) (Issue 36, November 2003)] [Debian-Nonprofit Article] [Show Description]
    The conference was organized by the Amsterdam based Tactical Tech Collective and funded by a number of groups including George Soros' Open Society Institute. As one of the conferences facilitators, I was active in many of the conference events and activities. In particular, I helped organize, present, and facilitate discussion in the following sessions:
    • Making the Case for F/OSS & NGO's
    • Deploying GNU/Linux
    • Inter-Developer Collaboration
    • Free Software Funding Models
  • [Workshop] “Software in the Public Interest, Inc.” Debconf 3, Oslo, Norway., July 18, 2003. [Slides] [Slides (DocBook XML)] [Discussion Notes] [Show Description]
    I facilitated the opening workshop at the 3rd annual Debian conference on the topic of Software in the Public Interest, Inc. The workshop included an introduction to SPI and discussion about where SPI has been and where it might go.
  • [Lecture] “Lessons from Libre Software Political and Ethical Practice.” Libre Software Meeting, Metz, France, July 9, 2003. [Slides] [Slides (DocBook XML)] [Talk Recording (Vorbis)] [Discussion Recording (Vorbis)] [Show Description]
    This talks draws from and summarizes some of the research and writing that I've done recently with Biella Coleman. The Talk was delivered at the the 2003 Libre Software Meeting in Metz, France as part of the theme on extending Libre Software Beyond the IT Sphere.
  • [Lecture] “Social Networking and Free Software.” Planetwork Conference, San Francisco, California, June 7, 2003. [Slides] [Slides (DocBook XML)] [Show Description]
    This talk was part introduction to Free/Open Source Software and part introduction to Free Software Business models. The was, in part, given on behalf of Sammondano and Partecs.
  • [Show Description]
    This talk was given as part of the Division III Presentation schedule to parents and visitors on day before Hampshire College's 2003 Commencement. It lasted approximate 45 minutes.
  • [Lecture] “Managing a Free Software Project.” Five College Free Software Series, Amherst, Massachusetts, December 5, 2002. [Slides]