Fwd: [Aust-NZ] Where to now?

Tue Nov 24 17:51:50 PST 2009

Hi Yvonne,

Great to have you on the list!

Thanks for the offer re: future meetings. That is a good idea. If we get a
few people doing that, we can spread the burden.

Your comments on presentation content make good sense.

All,

Keep the comments coming please.

Bruce

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Yvonne Thompson <Yvonne.Thompson at esta.vic.gov.au>
Date: Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Subject: RE: [Aust-NZ] Fwd: Where to now?
To: Bruce Bannerman <bruce.bannerman.osgeo at gmail.com>

Re Meetings: Sorry to miss the last meetup, but my schedule clashed
unfortunately. Would willingly attend or host at my workplace meetups/
discussions/ demos and also invite others.

Also, just some thoughts

-         I agree with benefit of demonstrating solutions to problems up to
a point, but for some audiences* less is more:* easy to overly baffle or
confuse them to the point where NOTHING gets started (they might be
impressed but also overwhelmed  but walk away because there is no small
achievable thing they can go away and do right away.

-         So, in some cases it’s better to pull the demo back a few notches,
into some mundane data and very simple hands on demos to show even non GIS
people what they can already do themselves.  Why? For one thing, most still
find all this vastly intimidating and in many cases don’t want to hand
control of their data and processes to the GIS geeks, who they fear will
then control the data and access.

-         Ideally, find a way to get some of their own data to do something
with for the demo.

*Yvonne Thompson*
Strategic Data Development Manager
*Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA)** *
 <http://www.esta.vic.gov.au>

  6/215 Spring Street
<http://maps.google.com/maps?q=6/215+Spring+Street%2CMelbourne%2CVIC+3000%2CAustralia&hl=en>
Melbourne,
VIC 3000 Australia

 ------------------------------

*From:* aust-nz-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:
aust-nz-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] *On Behalf Of *Bruce Bannerman
*Sent:* Tuesday, 24 November 2009 1:47 PM

*To:* Aust-NZ at lists.osgeo.org
*Subject:* [Aust-NZ] Fwd: Where to now?

We have around 120 members on the list.

I've sent this around again, because I'd like to hear some thoughts from
some of our other list members who normally passively receive email
distributed to the list.

OSGeo AustNZ is your community too.

What directions would you like to see OSGeo AustNZ go in?

Bruce

 ---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: *Bruce Bannerman* <bruce.bannerman.osgeo at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 5:20 PM
Subject: Where to now?
To: Aust-NZ at lists.osgeo.org

Now that FOSS4G-2009 is finished and has been well received, it may be time
to start thinking about which directions we want to take OSGeo-AustNZ.

There appears to be a definite desire for information and workshops on OSGeo
projects in our region.

Perhaps Shaun Kolomeitz and Simon Hope have hit on a good way of building
the Australian and New Zealand communities by targeting local groups?
However I feel we should keep the AustNZ focus to keep the overall momentum
going (as per Open Source Industry Australia).

Alternate between informal sessions at the pub and info sessions hosted by
kind benefactors?

Borrowing from a successful format that I saw in the early 1990's (G.T.),
for info sessions, it may be good to focus on demonstrating solutions to
problems and finishing with "oh and by the way, we used these OSGeo projects
to do this". This could be followed by dedicated "under to hood" [1]
sessions for more detail if required.

For 2010, a few of us have volunteered to help Ben Searle with
Spatial at Gov.We will probably have an OSGeo presence and workshops
there.

Lets get some thoughts going...

On another note, at FOSS4G, Arnulf Christl suggested that we may wish to
consider running another regional FOSS4G event in two years time.

I canvased a few people at FOSS4G and believe that we'd get a few key
Developers / Vendors back here if we did.

I think that if we were to do this, running it in New Zealand this time
would be ideal.

Is there any interest in this? This could become a regular event if there is
sufficient interest.

Bruce

[1] I hope you don't mind my using the term Ian and Ben J
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