A Glimpse Into Accessibility

When we build applications for the modern world, we think of our users as much as possible. But what about those who are on the fringes, outside of the average.

This talk will take a look at accessibility, how to design applications with users with disabilities in mind.

The Pony Express and How Technology Moves Fast

It's been said many times - technology moves fast. As do the philosophies behind it. This isn't new - the Pony Express lasted only 18 months before being replaced by telegraph. Why is turnover so fast? What are the benefits and pitfalls to this turnover? Where is the value in what we do?

The Ethics of Open Source

Every part of Open Source is meant to be for the community, but often the question comes up about how best to use and support it. Do we give money to Open Source projects and languages? Do we Open Source our non-business critical code? Do we take it all because it's free? Let's look at the right, and less right ways of interacting with Open Source projects.

This talk will look at how best to use, interact with, and create Open Source projects. The focus will be on what value we bring to the communities we work in, not in what Open Source does for ourselves or the organizations we work for.

Proactive Programming

The feedback loop is one of the most important parts of programming. We write tests and try to mitigate all possible problems, but until we deploy our code, it's hard to tell what "works" and what doesn't. In this talk, we'll discuss methods used to ensure everything works the way it should before deploying to production.

Pop Songs and Programming for Fun and Profit

Ever wonder what it takes to live in the world of an open source developer? What if everything you can learn comes from the world of pop songs?

We can learn a lot of from music, but in this talk, let's listen and see how we can be better developers.

Coding and the Mozart Effect

Most developers code to music...some are even musicians themselves. Is it possible to streamline workflow by adjusting how we listen to music and what music we listen to?

Studies have shown that exposure to certain kinds of music can help to develop cognitive strength and improve performance of tasks. This talk will explore those studies and show what sort of things can be done to improve the listeners environment and help people to create better code.