[North America] Re: [Northamerica] North America Region Chapter motion to OSGeo BOD

[Mark Lucas]

On Nov 10, 2011, at 5:17 PM, Tyler Mitchell wrote:

> Hi Mark and all, 
> 
> Since the motion didn't get through at the BOD meeting today we have a chance to further tweak things.
> 
> A couple questions that came up earlier...
> 
> = Focus =
> 
> Some see this effort as being exclusively focused on DOD or US-specific interests.  I don't think that's Mark's intent though.  It's just worth confirming on this list.  I think the wiki page is general enough already in this respect. 

This is certainly not my intent and we can add more material around this on the wiki.  Part of this is understandable because I am focused on DoD opportunities for OSGeo projects in my professional life.  I would really like to see us expand into more support for education, humanitarian efforts, support for open source business models.  In my mind, replicating what was done in Denver this year would be a great start.


> 
> Similar to Mark's close connection with defence, I'm hoping we can also make some inroads with the various other industry associations and with academia - there is certainly a regional need here.  I've added GITA to the list of relevant orgs to help show that - though the list could be 10 times as long if add in the CA/US/MX ASPRS chapters, cartographic associations, federal SDI initiatives, open gov, etc.
> 
> A cross-industry chapter, with a focus on industry event outreach could be quite powerful if we have good representation in the chapter for those various industries.

Agree, better to join forces with similar interests than try to reinvent the wheel.  Our strength is bringing the leading open source geospatial solutions to the table.

> 
> = Organization = 
> 
> Wiki stated the intent was to organize as a 501c3, I don't think it's a bad idea, but suspect it's not necessary to commit to it at this time.  It may just cause more concern than benefit.  Some other existing related orgs have 501c3 status and could potentially take us under their wing to simplify the administrative side for us.  I'm thinking specifically of GITA or USGIF.  I can't think of any Canadian groups that I'd recommend up here, but it would be cool to build on existing efforts by becoming their open source focused wing.
> 
> Some other OSGeo local chapters have come from wings of existing nonprofit societies/organisations, so this is not a new idea.
> 
> We might even think of a unique name for the effort if desired…

That was just a suggestion.  We should discuss other options.  We will be driven into decisions as we become successful and raise money or take on obligations.  In the near term we will have to organize for the conference.


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