The RubyKaigi 2010 Prospectus
RubyKaigi, held annually in Japan since 2006, is a world-class conference for the object-oriented scripting language Ruby. Last year's RubyKaigi 2009, held in central Tokyo, had over 2,000 visitors over three days.
RubyKaigi 2010, the 5th annual RubyKaigi, will be held over 3 days, from Friday, August 27th until Sunday, August 29th, 2010. The venue for RubyKaigi 2010 is Tsukuba International Congress Center in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Tsukuba is located 45 minutes from Tokyo by public transport. With a much larger venue than 2009, we expect RubyKaigi 2010 to be our biggest Kaigi yet.
Each year, we pick a new theme for RubyKaigi. We began with "See and Meet Ruby in 2007" for RubyKaigi 2007, followed by "Diversity" for RubyKaigi 2008, and "Change" for RubyKaigi 2009. With these successive themes, we began by examining the current state of Ruby, sought to understand the many facets of Ruby as it grew in popularity, and explored the changes that followed.
In 2010, the theme of RubyKaigi is "Conflicts and Resolutions". While we accept the many facets of Ruby as a positive, we also see a risk of diversity splintering into division. If every fork goes its own way and never merges back upstream, perhaps we will lose any reason to share the name "Ruby". It would be a shame if that also entailed losing an opportunity to further the evolution and development of Ruby.
With differing platforms, differing needs, and differing positions, it is hard not for a feeling of distance to develop, or perhaps even an urge to create distance. For the sake of a better future of Ruby, however, we must overcome this distance. Although we may at times face severe conflicts, we must work to close the distance and resolve our differences face on.
To be a place where, while not denying but accepting our diversity, we can seek friction, cross signals, and be mutually influenced. As one of the largest events to be held under the multi-faceted banner of "Ruby", we see it as the duty of RubyKaigi to be such a place.
RubyKaigi 2010 aims to be the place where we look beyond the many "Rubies" of today, and explore the possibilities of "Ruby" as a whole.
Masayoshi Takahashi, The RubyKaigi 2010 Team