[OSGeodata] Committee member

Jo Walsh jo at frot.org
Fri Jul 21 16:59:11 EDT 2006


dear Dave,

On Fri, Jul 21, 2006 at 12:24:09PM -0400, Sampson, David wrote:
> Is it alright form if I just ADD my name to the Committee name list on
> the wiki or do I have to apply in some manner?

Okay, my short answer is that not being on the formal committee is not
a barrier to participation: for me, participation is the important
indicator of 'membership' please at least add yourself to 
http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Public_Geospatial_Data_Project#People_interested_in_participating 

The longer answer is this:

OSGeo software projects have PSCs (Project Steering Committees). 
Other non-software projects (promotion and visibility, website
production, incubation oversigh) have quite formalised committees
because they need to take decisions that really impact what OSGeo is
doing as an organisation - spending money, representing the public
face, making decisions about project governance. For these committees,
formalised membership is important because it denotes accountability
and oversight. 

But the Geodata Committee is somewhat different - as Markus said when
this activity started, "we're really working out how a non-software
project is run as we go", or words to that effect. This is a public-facing
outreach "project" and not an internal one.

So when OSGeo started, Markus created the page at 
http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Public_Geospatial_Data_Projec as an
illustration of what a Geodata Committee would have in its scope. Once
it was decided that it would probably be a good idea, the page
http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Public_Geospatial_Data_Committee was
started as a more formal description of what we'd try to do. 

Some people signed their names to the latter page; most to the former. 
Then the list of people on the Committee page became the 'official
committee' rather by fiat/default. So there are some people who are
participating actively who aren't on the committee, nor necessarily
want to be; there are others on the committee who aren't really active
in what the group is doing (for reasons of their own time
committments, or that what we're working on doesn't quite fit their
interests... i'd be curious to know!) If you really want the process 
details, then http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Committee_Guidelines says:
  
[[
 While input from all is welcome, a committee is an official body of
 the foundation, and should keep good track of it's own voting members.
 Committee members can be added to and removed from the committee by
 motion in a duely established meeting.

 Generally speaking folks with skills and interest should be welcomed
 to join a committee. A large committee that isn't having problems
 reaching consensus is generally a good thing, especially if all or
 most members are actually contributing to the work of the committee
 and the "cost" of inactive members is not high.

 Anyone can become a committee member. 
]]

So yes, if you want to "officially" join, this would be fine, add this 
as an agenda item when we have another IRC meeting. But don't feel that
you are not a "fully entitled participant" either way... 

I hope this makes sense! (Others may see this differently)

your reclining chair,


jo




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