LugRadio (LUG stands for Linux User Group) brings their “rock-conference” to San Francisco April 12-13. Registration is only $10:

LugRadio Live USA 2008 brings together over 30 speakers across three stages, 30+ exhibitors, a range of BOF sessions, debate panels, lightbulb talk sessions, demos and much more, all wrapped up in the unique event that the UK incarnation has become known for, combining an incredibly loose, social, inclusive, and amusing atmosphere — if you are new to LugRadio Live, it is nothing you will have seen before.

The show will also see a large number of exhibitors, which will be announced in the coming weeks, with plenty to see and do. In addition to this, the LugRadio team will be recording a live performance of their cult-hit podcast, which has over 20,000 listeners, in front of the LugRadio Live USA 2008 audience – like the UK event, this is always quite a spectacle, and excellent fun for all involved.

Here’s the abstract of the talk I’m slated to give:

Free culture: how many years behind free software?
Where is free culture/open content c.2008 in its development relative to free software/open source? 1983, 1989, 1991, 1998, 2004? Do users of culture require the same freedoms as users of software? How free software people can aid and abet free culture and vice versa.

Incidentally, the LugRadio podcast has been working to effect a switch from the most restrictive CC license (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives) to one of the most liberal (Attribution-ShareAlike) and this month made the announcement in the form of an essay, well worth reading. Excerpt:

After four years of glorious LugRadio goodness, it become apparent that this occasionally caused complications. People have asked us: can I chop out just the bit where you read my email out and put that on my website? or, can I cut out this interview and show that to people involved with the project I was talking about without them having to listen to the rest of the show? Can I put an episode on the cover CD for my computer magazine? We’ve always said yes to requests like these — we’ve never refused a request to do something different with the show — but after some chatting away in the orbiting LugRadio Command Satellite, it became apparent that this process would be rather easier if people who wanted to do creative things with the show could do so without asking for permission first.

Jono Bacon, one of the people behind LugRadio and LugRadio Live, has made previous appearances on this blog.