Last year around this time I was the fortunate beneficiary of many friends who donated funds for a trip to Tampere, Finland. The goal was to speak at the inaugural Devaamo Summit, a very grassroots production held at the extremely cool New Factory. Although I was disappointed in my own talk, I enjoyed everything else… especially the company of great friends. That singular event, in fact, changed my life.
Even though the bulk of my post-MeeGo activities take me deep into closed-source waters, I try to stay involved in open source endeavors. The community-fed collaborative experience at Devaamo Summit 2012 inspired me to launch a local Maker movement in Fort Worth, Texas. After endless meetups, emails and phone calls, I have managed to helped build up a local Maker community over the past year. I have Devaamo Summit 2012 to thank for that, as I was highly motivated by their can-do example to quit complaining about the lack of a Maker community here and BUILD one. We’re still some way off of creating something as amazing as New Factory, but by pulling a community together and holding events for innovative members, we hope to someday get there.
Due to schedule conflicts I was unable to attend Devaamo Summit this year, but I definitely and regrettably admired the second stage from a distance. Many similar efforts often fail to sustain a follow-up, so I’m encouraged to see this open-focused event repeat.
It’s too difficult to decently report on an event I didn’t attend, but fortunately speaker Juho Vepsäläinen provided an outstanding write-up of the proceedings. I highly recommend that every reader of this article take some time to check it out.
My good friend Jarkko Moilanen shared a link full of pictures also. I have included a few above but the link is here if you wish to check out the rest.
It would be great to hear from others who have been inspired by Devaamo Summits (or similar) to start a new project, especially one the promotes open resources and collaboration. Feel free to share examples in the comments below!
As for me, even though I missed out this year, I’m still buzzing from last year’s energy and continually fired up to share the gospel of openness here in the United States. Thanks for the nudge, Devaamo! I can’t wait to see who is inspired by this year’s event, and what they accomplish.
