[OSGeo-Discuss] FOSS4G as revenue stream for OSGeo
Dirk Frigne
dirk.frigne at geosparc.com
Wed Sep 17 06:33:05 PDT 2014
To act on the suggestion of Gert-Jan, I want to start a new thread about
the discussion about collaboration of FOSS4G.
I made the topic clear:
" FOSS4G as revenue stream for OSGeo"
First I want to mention that the past FOSS4G event in Portland was well
organized. I was not personally there, but this is what I picked up here
and there, so I think this worth-full to mention.
Until now, the best bid was able to organise the 'global' FOSS4G
conference, and this mechanism is in place since I think 2006 or 2007.
Recently local events are organized in almost every continent of the
world, using the same name as umbrella. To organise such an event there
are income and costs. OSGeo was always prepared to take the financial
risk, as an organisation.
The goal is to have a profitable event, and until now a part of the
profit is returned to OSGeo.org and a part to the organising committee.
(correct me If I'm wrong, because I don't know the details).
What I know is that this revenue stream is very important to support the
working costs of the OSGeo organisation, and that discussions about how
to maintain this and how to cope with this are going on.
I think (and this is how the European LOC is evolving to) a bid process
where the best wins is the way to go in the future. This bid can then be
implemented.
I don't think for the event in March 2015 there should be any problem,
and I think the board should decide if there is a problem for 2016, but
from 2017 on, the process should be clear for everybody how to organize
a (local) FOSS4G conference. What are the aspects it makes it a foss4g
conference, and how sponsors and supporting organisations can represent
themselves.
My 2c
On 17-09-14 14:18, Gert-Jan van der Weijden wrote:
>
> Jeff, Andrew, Bart, Jürgen, All,
>
>
>
>
>
> My 2 cents:
>
> - Give this discussion a fresh restart under a new threadname, since
> "hacking OSGeo" is a bit biased ;-)
>
> - Especially to Jeff: try to make distinction between your personal
> opinion and your role as OSGeo president
>
> - In the Netherlands we have some discussion on the topic of
> collaboration with other (both general and commercial-oriented)
> organisations as well.
>
> Despite different feelings on this (both within the Dutch board, as
> well as in the comunity) we still manage to turn this into a frank and
> constructive discussion.
>
>
>
> I bet you all can do this on the topic as well!
>
>
>
>
>
> greeting from the lowlands,
>
>
>
>
>
> Gert-Jan
>
> Chairman of the dutch local chapter OSGeo.nl
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Van:*discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
> [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] *Namens *Andrew Ross
> *Verzonden:* woensdag 17 september 2014 13:46
> *Aan:* discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> *Onderwerp:* Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Hacking OSGeo
>
>
>
> Dear Bart, Jürgen, All
>
> Here's a few thoughts that are probably a good place to start. We
> started to get into them at Saturday's board meeting. Feedback here is
> very welcome.
>
> 1) The FOSS4G North America 2015 <https://2015.foss4g-na.org/> site
> mentions the event is a collaborative event by OSGeo & LocationTech.
> Is this acceptable? Yes/No
>
> For what it's worth, our committees felt the above was totally fine.
>
> Just in case not everyone was aware, the Eclipse Foundation's (aka
> LocationTech's) role in the event is to finance/underwrite, organize
> logistics like catering/Audio & Visual/etc, develop the web sites,
> handle registration, handle all the on-site details during the event,
> and business development/ working with sponsors throughout.
>
> Our committees (Organizing & Program) are made up of people from the
> FOSS4G community which transcends OSGeo, LocationTech, & beyond. They
> decide the program content at arm's length and have heavy influence
> over how the conference looks/feels and any special programs we're
> doing such as diversity, outreach, and social events/aspects of the
> conference.
>
> 2) For future global events where the Eclipse Foundation (aka.
> LocationTech) provides organizing logistics as described in #1, would
> the same representation on the website as #1 be acceptable? Yes/No
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Andrew
>
>
> On 17/09/14 02:29, Bart van den Eijnden wrote:
>
> Hi Jurgen,
>
>
>
> some of the discussions started on the conference e-mail list a while back (http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/) but only recently this discussion moved to the discuss list. That might explain some of the confusion.
>
>
>
> I don’t think there is any information which is not out in the open as yet.
>
>
>
> Andrew is best to comment on your other question, but I personally was mostly interested to see how conference organising could benefit from LocationTech’s offer to help.
>
>
>
> No board decision has happened as yet. Normally after discussion settles in the community, the board might vote on specific motions that are brought to the table, but this step of the process has not yet been reached.
>
>
>
> Hope this clarifies a bit, and sorry for the unsettling irritation all this has caused.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Bart
>
>
>
> On 17 Sep 2014, at 10:21, Jürgen E. Fischer <jef at norbit.de> <mailto:jef at norbit.de> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi Bart,
>
>
>
> On Wed, 17. Sep 2014 at 09:49:51 +0200, Bart van den Eijnden wrote:
>
> can you please at least give the board a chance to form an opinion on this?
>
> If it ever gets to the point that a motion is on the table and you have not
>
> been persuaded, you can always vote -1.
>
>
>
> Did an essential piece of information not get into the open yet, did I merely
>
> miss it or just missed to see it's importance?
>
>
>
> Is it "just" the FOSS4G event organisation that LocationTech apparently wants
>
> to help (more?) with or is there more?
>
>
>
> What pending board decision is causing all this (rather unsettling) irritation?
>
>
>
>
>
> Jürgen
>
>
>
> --
>
> Jürgen E. Fischer norBIT GmbH Tel. +49-4931-918175-31
>
> Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Rheinstraße 13 Fax. +49-4931-918175-50
>
> Software Engineer D-26506 Norden http://www.norbit.de
>
> QGIS release manager (PSC) Germany IRC: jef on FreeNode
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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--
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
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