Khaos

Not Only Perl

I worry that I live in a Perl Monger bubble.  That the only things I hear about Perl come from a small group of people that I often refer to as the Perl Community.  To try to change this I have started to attend conferences that cover other topics along with Perl.

In November I will be attending OSDC Australia.  I am giving a modified version of the talk I presented at YAPC::EU.  I had always planned to change some of the words but today I realised that I also need to change some of the pictures.  The talk is about volunteers.  It’s a topic that’s relevant to most Open Source projects.  But the images I use are more suited to the Perl community than they would be to any other.  When I attend a Perl conference I expect nearly everyone in the room to recognise a picture of Larry Wall.  I can put up pictures of Jesse, Ingy, and Matt, and people understand my point.  That’s not going to happen at a general Open Source conference.

I’m certainly not planning on cutting out all references to Perl but I need to spend some time thinking about the audience.

3 Responses to “Not Only Perl”

  1. Jessica Marie Says:

    Actually, I have a LOT to say about Perl, but nobody ever asks me…*sigh* 🙂

  2. Matt S Trout Says:

    Jessica – don’t wait to be asked, tell. Iron Man signup is

    http://ironman.enlightenedperl.org/signup/new_feed

    and you’re welcome to sign up even if you haven’t decided if you want to take part in the weekly challenge.

    You say you have a lot to say? Ok. I want to hear it. I read the entire feed every day, even if I don’t comment as often as I might. Say it, and we’ll hear you. Or I will at least, and I give you my word I’ll pay attention to your entries.

    So consider yourself asked. I look forward to seeing you on the planet.

    — mst, out

  3. karen Says:

    I’ll remember to do that the next time I see you 🙂