Last year we discussed a lot in the GNOME marketing list (or was foundation-list?) about diversity and visible presence in Asia. As far as I remember we got stuck in the East-West cultural differences and other cafe-lounge sociological arguments.

I'm so happy that we are starting getting in the right track by having next GUADEC in Istanbul, a historical bridge between Asia and Europe. A gorgeous city where we visitors have so much to learn and enjoy (and eat, yum yum).

2 practical and very feasible proposals to Do More:

1. Talk to the FOSS.in organizers in order to get a GNOME day in Bangalore. There are at least 3 Indian developers in GUADEC, let's ask them to be the seed of this initiative and facilitate the contacts. Several GNOME advisory board companies have offices and partners there, they can mobilize people and funds to bring international delegates. And let's not forget the translation teams. All the pieces are in place.
2. Ask the GNOME Desktop team at Sun to be the seed and facilitators of a GNOME event in Beijing next year, if not before (i.e. 150 people, 3 days). In fact I have done this already: there are 5 developers in Birmingham and we had a great lunch together. Several advisory board companies have offices and partners in Beijing and other Chinese cities. We can pool efforts with the university, where there is a clear interest in GNOME. Would any public institution be interested in additional support i.e. inviting international delegates? To be analyzed if this event could attract developers from Japan and Korea, where many companies are using GNOME components. And let's not forget the translation teams. It shouldn't be difficult to put the right pieces in place.

Interested? It is not difficult to distinguish Indian and Chinese developers in GUADEC: meet them and share your thoughts.