Hi Arnulf,<div><br></div><div>No contentious propositions in this email, eh :) ?!</div><div><br></div><div>I would just point out that there is no specific plan for a FOSS4G North America yet, in 2012 or any other year. There is strong interest in having one I think, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. It's a lot of work to put on as I know too well :), so that's a big commitment for someone to sign up to.</div>
<div><br></div><div>And you are the first one to propose, as far as I've seen, that Beijing should not be the primary worldwide event for 2012. I think it still should be, regardless of whether there is a North American event or not. </div>
<div><br></div><div>As we've seen, there are differing views on the impact a North American event would have on the Beijing event. I still don't think it would be that great as I said in my earlier email, but others differ, and obviously none of us can really know for sure. But based both on history and our survey, I wouldn't expect more than 50 or so North Americans to make it to Beijing regardless, and I think most of those people would still go even if there was a North American event (I aim to go in either scenario, as do several others I've talked to). </div>
<div><br></div><div>However, from our survey, there are probably 500 or so North Americans who would attend a North American event if there was one, but who would definitely not make it to China, which is the primary argument for having a North American event, to serve the clear demand for a FOSS4G event for those who aren't able to easily justify traveling abroad for it (which is the case for most people).</div>
<div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div> Peter.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 10:10 AM, Seven (aka Arnulf) <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:seven@arnulf.us">seven@arnulf.us</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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All,<br>
long post, sorry about this.<br>
<br>
- From all that I can tell now FOSS4G Beijing will become a local<br>
conference with support from "OSGeo international". This and no more. It<br>
will not be the Global or World conference that FOSS4G was before<br>
becasue we will have a FOSS4G CEE and FOSS4G North America event (plus<br>
the regular local ones) in the same year. There is no chance at all that<br>
Beijing can attract the same vibrant global participation that we had at<br>
the last global FOSS4G conferences.<br>
<br>
The question is not whether we will have a FOSS4G in Beijing or CEE or<br>
North America. From all that I can tell we will have them all. There is<br>
no reason (and probably no way) to stop the North American or CEE<br>
initiative or both. Instead it is great to see so much interest and<br>
momentum - and we would be stupid to stifle it.<br>
<br>
This means that we will not have a single meeting of the tribes in 2012.<br>
So we need to identify which bits of the global conference cannot be<br>
substituted in several editions around the globe. These include:<br>
1. The OSGeo AGM<br>
2. Board F2F meeting<br>
3. Committee F2F meetings<br>
4. and the all important Inter Project communication and collaboration.<br>
<br>
When looking at it this way we do not loose a lot. Just off the top of<br>
my head some of these issues can be readily addressed, here goes:<br>
<br>
1. Have more interaction between the Local Chapters and OSGeo<br>
Committees. This does not necessairly need to be done face to face and<br>
will remove the visa and travel cost issue. I will miss the physical<br>
AGM, but that is just me.<br>
2. The Board F2F meetings IMO are very important and we need to have<br>
more of them anyway. So now we can choose between several events a year<br>
and have the meetings in locations where a number of directors goes<br>
anyway - plus more contact to local chaps.<br>
3. Not sure how important these are. There was an EduCom BoF at the last<br>
FOSS4G in Denver and a few SAC folks talked things through at the code<br>
sprint. Nothing much that couldn't be done at a regiponal event or<br>
online. Or did I miss anything?<br>
4. This can and will happen during code sprints. Supporting these is one<br>
of OSGeo's new or reinforced goals for the next year so spending some<br>
more thought and funding on these will probably be better for the<br>
projects than the single code sprint day after an exhausting conference.<br>
<br>
Next step is to inform Beijing of this change in strategy and then start<br>
a great competition bewteen at least three major FOSS4G events (plus<br>
2*1/2 in Japan). My travel plans for 2012 will surely include all of<br>
them. As a result the next FOSS4G will be spread around the globe<br>
instead of focusing on one location and excluding all who cannot go<br>
there. So numbers will rise again and our venture capitalists will be<br>
happy. Diversity wins - yet again. Sounds great to me.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Arnulf<br>
<br>
- --<br>
Exploring Space, Time and Mind<br>
<a href="http://arnulf.us" target="_blank">http://arnulf.us</a><br>
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