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There have been some passionate views against rating projects.<br>
<br>
Maybe I should start by explaining the drivers which led to the
proposal for a 5 star rating.<br>
<br>
Previously only OSGeo graduated and incubation projects were promoted
by OSGeo at conferences and the like, however, with the OSGeo LiveDVD,
we are packaging and hence promoting many non-graduated projects. How
do we credit that a project has gone through the extensive graduation
process in our marketing material in a manner that will be understood
by the target audience?<br>
<br>
Unfortunately, putting "OSGeo Graduated" against a project is
meaningless because the target audience usually hasn't heard of OSGeo
and is even less likely to know what "Graduated" means.<br>
<br>
We could write a paragrah explaining what OSGeo and Graduation are on
each Project Overview flier, but that wastes valuable marketing
real-estate.<br>
<br>
Note: I'm basing our target audience on the typical profile of people
who drop by the OSGeo booth at conferences. They pick up a LiveDVD and
fliers which have "Open Source" on the cover. They are typically GIS
users, have heard of Open Source and want to know what Open Source
packages are available to replace their existing XXXX, but usually
haven't heard of OSGeo and almost certainly don't know about the
graduation process. They want to know about the best 2 or 3 packakges
they should consider, and they definitely don't want to have to trawl
through 350 software packages on <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://freegis.org">http://freegis.org</a> . They spend 5 to
20 minutes talking at the OSGeo stand, then walk onto the other 50
exhibition booths at the conference.<br>
Visitors to the OSGeo website are probably similar in profile, but we
don't get such a good opportunity to meet them face to face as we do at
conferences.<br>
<br>
So the challenge is:<br>
* How do we credit OSGeo Graduated projects in a manner understandable
to GIS users new to Open Source?<br>
* How can we credit other stable Open Source projects, while still
acknowledging the extra kudos of passing graduation?<br>
* How can we provide this message distinctly on marketing material so
that it doesn't waste valuable marketing real-estate?<br>
<br>
<br>
On 08/06/10 02:30, Michael P. Gerlek wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:C55473998E248B4DAEC5342D698DFE85E4A0FD4D@sea-srv-mail.lizardtech.com"
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">[foolishly
stepping in where I should fear to tread…]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">This
has been asked for before, but historically some projects have
not step up to the plate for providing such materials – for a variety
of
reasons, some good and some not so good.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">OSGeo
should simply put a link to the project’s “marketing”
section, and if the project owners provide content on the other end,
then good –
if not, then so be it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">I’m
all about providing quality user experiences, but anything
more than that is likely not worth the effort required. Our users are,
for the
most part, a very savvy and discriminating bunch. And for apps that
are explicitly
targeting users outside of the normal open source types, it should be
up to
them to provide the “marketing” materials they deem appropriate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">-mpg<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div
style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color blue; border-width: medium medium medium 1.5pt; padding: 0in 0in 0in 4pt;">
<div>
<div
style="border-style: solid none none; border-color: rgb(181, 196, 223) -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 1pt medium medium; padding: 3pt 0in 0in;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif";">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif";">
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org">discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org</a>
[<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org">mailto:discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Bob
Basques<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, June 07, 2010 9:24 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> OSGeo Discussions<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] 5 Star OSGeo project maturity
rating<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">All,</span> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Did anyone else hear
that thunder
in the distance? :c)</span> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">That's what I've been
trying to
say, let the projects handle this sort of thing themselves, but OSGEO
CAN (and
SHOULD in my mind) coordinate a standardized look and feel to such
things.</span>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">bobb</span> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p><br>
<br>
>>> Howard Butler <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:hobu.inc@gmail.com"><hobu.inc@gmail.com></a> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p
style="background: rgb(243, 243, 243) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;"><br>
On Jun 7, 2010, at 11:03 AM, Bob Basques wrote:<br>
<br>
> Wouldn't it seem prudent to classify the projects before trying to
compare
them?<br>
<br>
/me screams into a room that no one can hear. Stop it!<br>
<br>
This whole exercise is quite frankly, masturbatory, and does nothing to
help
the projects who would be rated, provides very little to those
"users" of said ratings, and calls into question our credibility by
having the arrogance to rate *our own* projects in any way. OSGeo is
doing enough by providing visibility for the projects, and it is up to
them to
pull them in as users with the quality of their software, the quality
of their
documentation, and the quality of their community. A silly sticker
by us or anyone else isn't going to sway that process in any way.<br>
<br>
It would be more valuable to collate a series of "elevator
pitch"-type material from each project who wishes to participate to
make
their case to the envisioned users of this rating. Projects who do
not participate in this for whatever reason implicitly make a statement
about
their quality. That's going to be far more useful to both the projects
and the
users than an elongating graphic.<br>
<br>
Howard_______________________________________________<br>
Discuss mailing list<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Discuss@lists.osgeo.org">Discuss@lists.osgeo.org</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss">http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Discuss@lists.osgeo.org">Discuss@lists.osgeo.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss">http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a>
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<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Director
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.lisasoft.com">http://www.lisasoft.com</a>
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