We want to warmly invite you to the first feminist linux meetup of 2026. lorb will be giving a talk about FLOSS and Linux. This is the first of our 6 sessions in 2026, check out the announcement for the whole cycle here https://feminist-linux.diebin.at/2025/12/20/save-the-dates-meetup-cycle-2026/

About the talk

Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) and Linux are often celebrated as technical successes and as proof that collaborative, decentralized development can outperform proprietary models. This talk explores why FLOSS has been so successful and looks at the political and societal values and ideas that are at the foundation of this way to develop software. As part of this it also offers a feminist critique of the less welcoming aspects. We will see how the movement enforces its values, both the good and the bad and how the movement can evolve and overcome structural problems of the past.

Schedule

• 17:30 : Arrival and open chatting
• 18:00 : General intro to the Feminist Linux Meetup and intro of participants
• 18:10 : Talk and open space for discussion afterwards

Location information

 at Vordere Zollamtstraße 7, in the room Flux1 on the 3rd floor. The room is in a building of the
University of Applied Arts next to Wien Mitte / The Mall, here on the map: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/176477793

(*) Invitation policy and social conduct

The meetup (and workshop) is open to all women*, non-binary*, inter*, and trans* people, who are interested to talk about Linux and related topics. In this case, non-binary does mean that you neither fully identify as „woman“ or „man“. It does not mean, that you only programme in fuzzy-logic and don’t use binary numbers. This would of course be fantasticly queer, but believe us, our computers also work with binary code most of the time.

With the * we mark certain words to point to the fact, that all these categories are socially constructed. That means, that they do not exist „in nature“, but that we humans interpret nature in this specific way. Therefore it is also legitimate, that people choose these categories for themselves in a way that best fits them. If that unsettles you or you want to know more about it, take a look at our article on invitation policy: https://feminist-linux.diebin.at/invitation-policy/

Beyond that, we want to create an atmosphere and environment that is encouraging everyone. To do so, we created a Code of Conduct, that describes what we all can do, that no one has to be uncomfortable: https://feminist-linux.diebin.at/code-of-conduct/

In order for everyone to feel really welcome and accepted though, we want to be actively aware and foster a social environment that we describe here: https://feminist-linux.diebin.at/social-framework/

To smoothen out the organization work behind this meetup, there will be a few differences in how the meetup is run in 2026! Instead of agreeing on a date each month, we have decided to host the meetup every first Wednesday of the month at 6pm. This i

In the past, the meetup was primarily held in German as the meetup initially attracted a more German-speaking crowd. This does not hold true now for the regular members of the meetup, so we have decided to do most of the communication in English but in case you feel more comfortable asking questions in German, that will also be possible. We will announce the language of each session’s talk separately.

Our goal is to make the meetup accessible to as many people as possible and have concluded that universities tend to have the most wheelchair accessible facilities. The meetups will be hosted at the Angewandte art university in Vordere Zollamtstraße 7. Due to room availability, the exact room will vary per session, but all locations will be wheelchair accessible.

We realize that an (art) academy may not be the most inviting space if you have not navigated this type of environment before. Our meetup is not tied to the university or any set curriculum and there are no knowledge prerequisites. We believe that people who don’t program (yet) also have a say in how digital spaces and software should be developed and recognize that everyone has a technical background of some kind, even if it isn’t of the „straightforward“ or institutionally legible type. Please let us know if there is any way we can make you feel more comfortable in this space.

We have planned a six-month cycle for January to June of 2026. This is an outline of the planned schedule (that might still be subject to change).

• 7.1.2026 – Free Software and Linux
• 4.2.2026 – Text wrangling with Vim
• 4.3.2026 – LaTeX hangout
• 1.4.2026 – Alternative input sources for computing
• 6.5.2026 – Intro to Cryptography
• 3.6.2026 – Soldering Workshop

We will start off by thinking about the political and societal values that form the basis for Free/Libre and Open Source Software. The talk will also offer a feminist critique of the less welcoming aspects of the movement. We will have a session about text editing and manipulating: how can we get tedious, routine tasks done more quickly so we can make time for more fun? The session will focus on Vim, a text editor with various modes, which is almost a glitch in the history of software. We will also have a laid-back LaTeX meetup to explore what typesetting opportunities lie outside of the closed ecosystems of Microsoft Word and Adobe tools and their exorbitant licensing fees. Another session will focus on the sensory side of computing. Well-established ways of interfacing with computers, such as keyboards and trackpads, have effectively become naturalized. We will try to examine these as a historically contingent techniques and explore alternative input sources. We will also have a session on cryptography, the theoretical foundation supporting encrypted online communication, among other things. To bring things back into the physical realm, we will finish with an introduction to soldering workshop.

Our lives are mediated by software in exceedingly confounding ways. We hope this space can be a way to explore different, more emancipatory approaches to technology. We hope to see you at some of the sessions!