Day 2 Recap of the 2023 Nextcloud Conference

Just like that, the Nextcloud Conference has come to a close. It’s been an exciting weekend and we can’t wait to share it with you!

Today was the second and final day of the conference and we hope it was a great experience for all who attended. If you missed it, sit back and relax for an overview of day 2 with all the highlights from our 2 keynote speakers, 14 lightning talks, 3 panelists and much more.

Katrin Fritsch morning keynote: A just and green internet for all

To kick off the 2nd day of the Nextcloud Conference, we welcomed Katrin Fritsch to the stage. Katrin is a tech and climate researcher and consultant who advocates for an open internet that’s sustainable yet embraces human creativity.

In her talk, she examined the increasing amount of CO2 emissions that come from worldwide Internet usage and what that means for us today. In order to counteract this, she brought up the Consumption, Intensity and Direction model: Consumption – reduce how much tech we use; Intensity- make tech in a less harmful way and; Direction worldview is accelerating. We need to start asking ourselves questions about which direction we want to take in the future, as efficiency ultimately impacts usage and thus affects the climate.

She also described the Internet today as becoming a brittle monoculture, fit of just seven companies that dominate the industry. She exclaimed the need for people to first focus on changing this dynamic of power.

Katrin encouraged the audience to check out thegreenwebfoundation.org to learn more.

A morning of Lightning Talks!

The morning of Day 2, we had a whopping 14 Lightning Talks!

These 5 minute talks are speedy yet insightful bursts of information on a wide range of topics. From getting inspired by Robert Mizen’s talk about FOSS and the future to Kate Döen’s talk on using OpenAPI for API documentation, there was lots to learn this year.

Keynote with Simon Phipps

It was such a privilege to have Simon Phipps speak at the Nextcloud Conference this year. His wealth of knowledge in open source and experience as a consultant to companies and governments including the European Commission make him an excellent advocate and inspiration to us all.

In his talk, Simon discusses the emerging Fourth Sector. Being involved in the Open Source Initiative (OCS) as its president for the last 15 years has helped in his awareness of the Fourth Sector as it pertains to the direction and future of this piece of society.

Learn more about Simon and a more detailed explanation on his opinion of the Fourth Sector here.

Panel session: How to contribute?

Do you want to get involved in open source but don’t know where to start? Take the advice from our panelists: Marcel Scherello – Sales Engineer at Nextcloud, James Sunquist – avid Nextcloud contributor and Nimisha Vijay – UX Designer at Nextcloud. This afternoon, they engaged in an insightful discussion based on their own contribution journey’s.

All our panelists got involved with open source and Nextcloud in different ways, but what remains the same is that it all started with a personal need. For instance, Marcel was looking for an audio system for his children that worked for their family. James needed a way to stay in touch with his family who is living far away, and open source opened doors for them. Overall, they recommend to ask yourself what you need, or what others around you need, and just get started. You can’t get involved without just pressing go, so whatever passions you may have, then bring them to the open source world.

That’s a wrap!

We’d like to thank all our speakers and participants who joined us at this event and made it the success that it was.

Our conference was live all day Saturday and Sunday, and now you can skip to any part you’d like to see on video.