<div dir="ltr">GeoData folks --<div><br></div><div>With FOSS4G coming up next week, there is no GeoData Committee presence planned. If there is anybody from this list attending that could throw something together for the OSGeo general meeting or for a Birds of a Feather session, I believe there is still time (I will not be attending this year). Even if we do not engage in either of these activities -- everybody on this list who is attending, your homework is to really keep your eyes and ears open to opportunities that may present themselves.</div>
<div><br></div><div>With that being said, it was round about this time last year that I agreed to take the helm of this committee. Early on I had a lot of ambition to really formulate a mission for this group and to really have a strong working entity. Through that process there was very little excitement or input from the group at large. That combined with the fact that the data activities at Telascience seemed very independent and while willing to report their activities to the group, they didn't seem to gain any value from our participation -- or at least this is how things came across to me. Without any driving activities or clear excitement from the group, this group has been fairly latent over the better part of this year. I do not see this changing unless there are either champions for specific initiatives or someone to step forward with enough energy, initiative, and spare cycles to really push this group forward.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Even as latent as this group has been, there is a lot of value in just having an open forum for the discussion of data issues as they come up within the OSGeo community as has been the case several times. I am very happy to maintain my position monitoring these activities. I would also be very excited if there were individual initiatives that anyone on this list wanted to bring up to do whatever I can to help enable them.</div>
<div><br></div><div>That being said, if there is anyone out there who feels like they have a direction and the energy to make something more of this group, I would be more than happy to turn the reigns over. I would really love to see this group, and I believe it is possible, become a serious player in the GeoData world. I don't think that I have the energy to push us there without some help. If nobody would be excited to take on the whole committee, I would love to even see some folks step up as vice-chairs. Jo has essentially worked in this capacity on the metadata side of the house since she stepped down as our chair.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Now is the time for anyone who wants to step into a leadership role (at any level) in this group to step forward.</div><div><br></div><div>Have a great time in South Africa all those lucky enough to be out there!</div>
<div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div><br></div><div>David<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>************************************<br>David William Bitner<br>
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