[Belgium] Official expression of interest forming a Belgian Chapter - DRAFT

Thu Jun 11 08:36:27 PDT 2015

Moritz,

No not a specific reason. I agree with you.
I can't explain why I cross-posted :-;

Thank you for your amendments and corrections.

About:
> FOSDEM2014 - booth 1 & 2 Februari 2014 [3]

Comment:

AFAIK, there was no specific OSGeo activity at FOSDEM2014, so this
should be left out.

My2c: Johan, Ann Ghisla and I where representing OSGeo on a booth during
the whole weekend. This was decided and discussed on OSGeo-discuss.
It is during this occasion we decided to organize a devroom in 2015, so
I think we can leave it?
Or do you think this does not count as an activity?

Dirk

On 11-06-15 14:54, Moritz Lennert wrote:
> Hi Dirk,
> 
> [Any reason this was also sent to the GeoMajas developers list ? I think
> we should keep this on this list only.]
> 
> My amendments below.
> 
> Moritz
> 
> On 11/06/15 12:12, Dirk Frigne wrote:
>> Dear OSGeo Board,
>>
>> Reason for my mail is to officially express our interest to form a
>> Belgium local chapter of OSGeo.
>>
>> 1. self-organise
>>
>> During the last FOSDem Geospatial devroom[1] OSGeo was represented. It
>> was a great opportunity for Belgium OSGeo members to meet each other and
>> start talking about organizing ourselves a bit more, so actions in
>> Belgium can be better supported. Belgium is, as a country divided in at
>> least 3 speaking languages and 3 official languages. The active OSGeo
>> community members today are either active in the OSGeo.nl, the OSGeo.fr
>> or in several OSGeo communities.
> 
> Porposed addition:
> 
> However, OSGeo-nl and OSGeo-fr are language-oriented communities with
> their geographical weight centered in respectively Netherlands and
> France, and the separation by language has impeded on any specific
> Belgian activities, notably networking and lobbying with administrations
> that are bilingual on some levels of governance. Thus the need arose to
> provide a specific Belgian forum.
> 
> 
>>
>> In the past there where already some OSGeo local activities:
>> OSGeoGhent - 13 June 2013 [2]
>> FOSDEM2014 - booth 1 & 2 Februari 2014 [3]
> 
> Comment:
> 
> AFAIK, there was no specific OSGeo activity at FOSDEM2014, so this
> should be left out.
> 
>> Be-OpenGIS-Fr - 6 November 2014  [4]
>> FOSDEM2015 - devroom - 31 Jan; 1 Februari 2015 [1]
>>
>> This year we (OSGeoBE) have the ambition to organise a first FOSS4G-BE
>> on 29 October 2015 in Brussels. This event will also be used to announce
>> the birth of our Chapter (if the Board supports this).
>>
>> In preparation for this official express, a couple of meetings have
> 
> s/express/expression of interest/
> 
>> already taken place, one physical, most of them trough digital
>> communication (skype/IRC). The meeting minutes can be found on the OSGeo
>> wiki [5]
>>
>> 2. mission objectives
>>
>> After discussion amongst the active local chapter members we come to the
>> following list of mission objectives:
>>
>> * Community-building and networking
> 
> Proposed amendment:
> 
> Community-building and networking around specific Belgian themes and
> within Belgian fora.
> 
>> * Organisation of events
>>     
>> These two mission statements are working together. We believe it is
>> important to meet people face2face.
>> To help them to start open source initiatives, to start using open
>> source solutions, to establish an eco-system that benefits from the
>> cooperation, the sharing and the co-creation open source delivers.
>>
>> * Lobbying
>>
>> We think it is important to speak as one voice, and to get involved with
>> other organisations: administrations, industries, user groups, ...
>> OSGeo. Be will actively speak as an organisation to defend the OSGeo
>> open source spirit in the broader Belgium community (government,
>> academic, industry, other open initiatives).
>>
>>
>> * Networking with other OSGeos (notably OSGeo-fr and OSGeo.nl)
>>
>> OSGeo Belgium will focus on local activities (Belgium based). OSGeo
>> Belgium will advertise and promote other OSGeo initiatives and invite
>> members of the other OSGeo chapters on the Belgium events or meetings.
>> We think that OSGeo Belgium can act as a bridge between several language
>> communities and cultures, because of it's unique composition.
>>
>> * Support to higher levels of OSGeo
>>
>> We believe that OSGeo only can grow if supported from the base. So OSGeo
>> Belgium is willing to help OSGeo where necessary, to leverage idea's or
>> act as an advisor if appreciated.
>>
>> * Point of contact for EU related OSGeo activities (INSPIRE, H2020,...),
>> support the Lobby for the Open source industry in relation to the EU
>> commision
> 
> Proposed replacement:
> 
> Support to OSGeo in lobbying European Union Institutions (Commission,
> Parliament, etc) related to specific EU-Themes (INSPIRE, H2020,
> Procurement policy, ...)
> 
>> 3. The Belgium OSGeo Chapter proposes Dirk Frigne, Member of OSGeo since
>> 2007, Charter member of OSGeo since 2013 to liaise with the OSGeo Board.
>>
>> 4. List of initial members:
>>
>> The Belgium OSGeo Chapter has the support of the following initial
>> founding members (alphabetic - first name):
>>
>> Ben Abelhausen [6] - liason with OSM - Belgium community
>> Dirk Frigne [7] - founding member of the Geomajas community
>> Gaël Kruwialis [8] - active memmber of the local FOSS momement in the
>> Brussels area - contact with the Brussels administration
>> Johan Van de Wauw [9] - OSGeo Advocate,
>> Maëlle VERCAUTEREN [10] - Coordinatrice du stage SIG Libres ARES
>> Marc Ducobu [11] - liason with OSGeo.fr
>> Moritz Lennert [12] - OSGeo Charter member, member (role) of the Grass
>> community
> 
> Replace by:
> 
> Moritz Lennert [12] - GRASS GIS PSC Member, contact with academic world
> 
>> Pieter Colpaert [13] - link with the open knowledge foundation
>> Ruben Capelle [14] - please add
>> Tommy Ozeer [15] - OSGeo (charter?) member
>>
>> Please add your name and link with OSGeo or FOSSGIS or open
>> organisations if I should forget someone
>>
>> 5. May I kindly ask the OSGeo Board to consider passing a motion forming
>> the Belgium chapter, and designating Dirk Frigne as the liason officer.
>>
>> [Please Add your link to the list - if any]
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> [1] http://www.osgeo.org/node/1488
>> [2] http://www.geomajas.org/osgeogent2013
>> [3] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSDEM2014
>> [4] http://www.osgeo.org/node/1468
>> [5] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Belgium
>> [6]
>> [7] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Dirkf
>> [8]
>> [9]  http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Johanvdw
>> [10]
>> [11]
>> [12]  http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Mlennert
>> [13]
>> [14]
>> [15]
>>
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Belgium mailing list
> Belgium at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/belgium

-- 
Yours sincerely,

ir. Dirk Frigne
CEO

Geosparc n.v.
Brugsesteenweg 587
B-9030 Ghent
Tel: +32 9 236 60 18
GSM: +32 495 508 799

http://www.geomajas.org
http://www.geosparc.com