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<TITLE>Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] FOSS4G North America - Blind voting [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'>Cameron,<BR>
<BR>
Agreed.<BR>
<BR>
As has been discussed in similar threads, and as we found for Sydney, it helps the LOC determine relative popularity of presentations for room allocation.<BR>
<BR>
However, perhaps the actual final results do not need to be published.<BR>
<BR>
Presenters are either accepted or they’re not, after deliberation by the LOC. <BR>
<BR>
There is no need to establish a popularity contest.<BR>
<BR>
Bruce<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
On 18/01/13 6:24 AM, "Cameron Shorter" <<a href="cameron.shorter@gmail.com">cameron.shorter@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<BR>
<BR>
</SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12pt'>On 17/01/13 03:58, David William Bitner wrote:<BR>
> Additionally following advice from other events as well as many<BR>
> members of our community, we are making the community review process<BR>
> for presentation submission author anonymous as a concern with how we<BR>
> have done this in the past has been the fear that many folks have of<BR>
> feeling publicly shamed with critique and voting of their proposals.<BR>
> These are only two small steps that we are taking to addressing an<BR>
> environment in the overall open source world that by the numbers is<BR>
> very unwelcome to women and other groups (while there have not been<BR>
> any overt issues that I know of as part of any FOSS4G, if you look at<BR>
> the percentage of female conference goers or developers in our<BR>
> community, we do have a long ways to go).<BR>
<BR>
David,<BR>
If I understand you correctly, you are suggesting blind voting on<BR>
abstracts without knowing who will be presenting it?<BR>
I've heard that blind auditions has been successfully applied to<BR>
recruitment for orchestras, (which makes sense), however I don't think<BR>
it is applicable for Open Source communities.<BR>
<BR>
You see, in selecting Open Source presentations, I think it is very<BR>
important to know who will be presenting, almost as important as the<BR>
presentation content itself. This is because the presenters who will<BR>
have the most insightful content, and who will attract the most audience<BR>
are usually those who have built up a large, very public reputation, (as<BR>
leaders of open source communities, usually with a long history of<BR>
insightful emails, blogs, and IRC trails).<BR>
<BR>
I appreciate the importance of being welcoming to all communities. In<BR>
fact, I think that successful Open Source communities are naturally<BR>
welcoming as they have managed to attract developers and community.<BR>
However, I don't think that blind voting is right for us.<BR>
<BR>
--<BR>
Cameron Shorter<BR>
Geospatial Solutions Manager<BR>
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050<BR>
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254<BR>
<BR>
Think Globally, Fix Locally<BR>
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source<BR>
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<BR>
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