Shimane Prefecture holds a special place for people involved in open-source software in Japan. The reason is that Yukihiro Matsumoto, also known as “Matz,” the creator of the globally popular programming language “Ruby,” resides there, and the city is actively promoting open-source development through collaborations between government, academia, and industry.
In Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, an open-source conference is held annually (except for a period during the COVID-19 pandemic). Upon checking the event history, it was found that the first conference was held in 2008, indicating that it has been held quite a number of times.
The Open Source Conference Shimane was held again this year on June 21st at Matsue Terrsa in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture.
The venue was set up similarly to the Open Source Conference 2025 Shirahama, which Enoki-san recently attended and reported on. It featured a large exhibition hall with booths for exhibitors and seminar rooms, creating a cohesive and integrated venue.
The center of the exhibition booth space featured a booth for a robot contest planned by students from Matsue National College of Technology, which is located in the area, and there were also booths showcasing projects by college students, giving the event a strong local feel.
This seminar was scheduled for only 30 minutes, so instead of providing a detailed explanation of Wikidata, which I had presented at previous OSC events, I conducted a seminar that provided an overview of the various Wikimedia projects. While introducing the Wikimedia projects, and specifically the Wikimedia Incubator, I explained the efforts being made for minority languages, and I was surprised to find that someone in the audience was aware of the existence of the Gothic language Wikipedia.
The scale of the event wasn’t particularly large, given the regional context, and unlike typical OSC events, the exhibition booths and seminar venues were separated into two distinct areas within a large exhibition hall. This allowed us to reach people who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to attend our seminars at the exhibition booths, which I believe is a unique advantage of this venue format.
This time, due to a combination of various circumstances, I was able to visit Shimane and hold an exhibition. We will do our best to ensure that we can continue to participate in the future.
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