We are proud to introduce you to our keynote speakers Marie Gutbub and Patricia Leu!
They are co-directors of Prototype Fund, a funding program for open source software at the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany.
In their keynote Patricia and Marie will discuss alternatives to public open source funding – How do we build sustainable open source projects, that don’t rely on proprietary code and selling user data, and how do we prevent small projects from dying out in the shadow of big companies with seemingly limitless resources?
In their experience, the hardest part in the life of an small FOSS project is not the initial phase, where a small team or single person with a great idea translates their vision into code, but rather the following time, where a project struggles for continued funding that may eventually dry out.
Drawing from lessons learned at Prototype Fund, Patricia and Marie will explore how to build sustainable open source projects and give an overview of what works, what doesn’t, and where to look for inspiring examples.
We are very much looking forward to hearing their thoughts! If you want to hear from them as well, make sure to get your ticket here.
Patricia is a communications expert who has worked in the campaign and communication teams of various NGOs and was responsible for the press and public relations of an association. Before that she studied religion and culture in Berlin and researched on medial discourse hegemony.
Marie is an open source and privacy advocate, campaigner, event organizer and information security trainer. She studied cultural journalism and researched new models for online journalism platforms. Since then, she has worked as a freelance journalist, campaigner, communications officer, infosec trainer and event organizer for various projects in journalism, privacy and open source.