From Events to Relationships: Building Connections Across Asian Open Source Communities

In Asian open source communities, conferences and regional events play an important role in creating personal connections across countries and projects. However, maintaining collaboration after events is often much more difficult than starting it.

In regions using CJK languages, communities share practical challenges such as localization, typography, and translation workflows, creating strong opportunities for regional collaboration.

This presentation shares practical experiences from LibreOffice Asia Conference, Wikimedia ESEAP activities, COSCUP, and GNOME Asia Summit. Using examples primarily from LibreOffice and Wikimedia communities, the talk covers what worked and what did not in practice, including co-hosting with other communities, social events, and post-event online communication.

The talk also discusses common challenges such as language barriers, limited volunteer capacity, and sustaining collaboration after events.

This session offers practical observations on what makes cross-community events effective, and why sustaining connections afterward remains a challenge across Asian open source communities.