We are thrilled to announce Karen M. Sandler as the first keynote speaker for the 2017 edition of Berlin Buzzwords!

Karen is the executive director of the Software Freedom Conservancy, a non-profit organization that provides home for free and open source software projects, such as git, samba, QEMU, selenium, inkscape and more. Karen is a professional lawyer and is known for her advocacy for free software, particularly in relation to the software on medical devices. Prior to joining Conservancy, Karen served as an executive director of the GNOME Foundation. Before that, she was general counsel of the Software Freedom Law Center.

Karen co-organizes Outreachy, the award-winning outreach program to draw more women and people of color into Free and Open source software. In addition to her work at the Software Freedom Conservancy, she is also a pro bono counsel to the FSF and GNOME. Karen is a recipient of the O’Reilly Open Source Award and co-host of the oggcast ''Free as in Freedom''.

In her keynote speech Karen will focus on Free and Open Source software today. Viewed in a broader social construct, is free software a movement or should it be? Using free software means making a political and social choice. However, that is not always a choice that is available for everyone. Karen analyzes the role of free software and questions if it is just a convenience for the privileged or an essentiality.

We are very happy to welcome Karen on board!

Photo: Karen M. Sandler