PyCon Nigeria Annual Conference

Until we can invent, we imitate

speaker-foto

Dawn Wages

Dawn (she/her) is the Chair for the PSF, previous Sponsor chair for several DjangoCons, Wagtail Core Team Member, Python Community Advocate at Microsoft and Django software engineer. She lives in Philadelphia, USA with her partner and dogs watching Star Trek and noodling about inclusive tech.

Description

Software and open source, like carpentry, are trades that can draw from resilience, passion, honing of skills or an investment in a career and culminate to creating something that has never existed before. In a field of makers, we start with only the mission without much direction or instinct; but we eventually recognize how to break down complex forms into simple shapes.

Abstract

Software and open source, like carpentry, are trades that can draw from resilience, passion, honing of skills or an investment in a career and culminate to creating something that has never existed before. In a field of makers, we start with only the mission without much direction or instinct; but we eventually recognize how to break down complex forms into simple shapes, learn from references, study theory, values and ethics. First we imitate then we invent.

Let's dive into what it takes to imitate together. Imitation is a process that sometimes feels instinctual, but requires practice and dedication where we can learn from impersonators and voice actors, babies and animals. We will then cover what it takes to invent, starting from creating a digital workspace conducive for learning, safety and curiosity backed by scientific research on innovation.

Audience level: Not Applicable