As mentioned at the end of today's Open Source WG Session, I would like to discuss and get some thoughts from the community on this topic.

Recap for the ones which missed the session:

The last 2 RIPE meetings were virtual without the usual hallway talks.

Our current charter states: "The aim of the Open Source Working Group is to foster discussion among developers, Internet Service Providers and the rest of the RIPE community about open source projects related to the RIPE community​"

With virtual meetings, the "discussion" outside of the short WG session is much more difficult. RIPE is doing a good job trying to keep the RIPE as a "meeting" and not turning it into a "conference", but the lack of the physical meeting changes many things. Probably much easier to attend, but then some Open Source contributors prefer to meet with the community and get a 2-way exchange.

I don't necessarily think we need to change anything, but I would like to have this discussion here on the list to see if there are ways to improve on how we function as a WG. If you have any good ideas, then go ahead and mention them here.

Please keep in mind that this is not a discussion of virtual vs physical meetings. That decision is up to RIPE, not the WG.

This is just on how we, as a WG, could potentially work better on virtual meetings.

Let's discuss. Any cool ideas?

Martin Winter

Open Source WG Co-Chair