[Aust-NZ] meetups or other activates for the new year? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Bruce Bannerman]

Cameron,

I'm inclined to agree.

I see greater benefit from a 'virtual' community, particularly considering the broad geographic region the we cover.

We don't necessarily need an 'entity' as the 'go to' body for the Local Chapter. The mailing list and Wiki could perhaps suffice.

As I see it we have a reasonably robust community as it is (if rather quiet at present).

We'd perhaps just need to formalise our processes similar to those used by an open source project and do a bit of house keeping as per the guidelines at [1].

I do not see a requirement to incorporate in these guidelines.

@Jody, the incorporation, insurance etc was left on hold. I was left holding the baby with little assistance in taking it forward. Starting a new job at the time, together with helping to organise FOSS4G 2009 left me with little time (or appetite) to further this task.

@Simon,

Looking through the email archives, I'm struggling to find the bureaucracy that you're referring to (perhaps that's because I work in Government ;-) ). What I do see are some very good technical discussions, community building and very effective FOSS4G advocacy that brought wide attention to our area of interest (including at our State and National (Aust and NZ) leadership).

As I've said before, I dislike the formation of splinter groups, as it weakens the community and the value of the message that we're trying to deliver. We'd do a much better job speaking with one voice under the OSGeo-AustNZ banner. That does not preclude local interest groups operating under this banner. This is a lesson that the Spatial Industry learned from the Spatial Action Agenda that the then ASIBA (now SIBA) launched with the federal government in around 2001. We need to stay united and speak with one voice.

Bruce



[1] http://www.osgeo.org/content/chapters/guidelines.html


On 6/01/12 6:51 AM, "Cameron Shorter" <cameron.shorter at gmail.com> wrote:

  Right, so osgeo aust-nz would change from unofficial to official in the eyes of osgeo. I see very little benefit from that. I don't think we will attract any more osgeo converts from such a title. (If we need an official title, we can always call upon the greater OSGeo organisation).

 However, I do see a large drain on volunteer time. As soon as we require money to run, we need to worry about chasing people or organisations for membership fees, which is an unpleasant task which sucks up lots of valuable volunteer times.

 On 05/01/12 11:06, Jody Garnett wrote:

 The benefit would be an OSGeo local chapter; right now we have not "formed" as I understand it and are still listed as under construction on the OSGeo wiki.




While I don't mind speaking as a OSGeo charter member at functions; it would be nice to have a local chapter in the region.




My understanding is that OSGeo seems to be taking a real turn for getting out of the way and letting local chapters do the work. I expect the  formation of a "north american" local chapter to be the final step in this process.




--
 Jody Garnett






On Wednesday, 4 January 2012 at 6:14 AM, Cameron Shorter wrote:




On 03/01/12 13:12, Jody Garnett wrote:



Where did we get to on this Aust-NZ local chapter stuff? As I recall

we still need to register as a non profit; have a meeting with

minuets, and set up a back account. Pretty sure that should be in

reverse order.






Before registering, setting up accounts etc, I question what value we

gain by setting up such official structures.




Registering, collecting minutes, running a bank account all suck a large

amount of volunteer time, with no net gain.




I see our primary goals being the promotion of OSGeo values in a local

context - like the meetups you mentioned. This can be achieved without a

bank account.

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