<div dir="auto"><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto">Hi,</div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto"><br></div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto">Adam has pointed out a couple of the changes, which sound positive to me. But there is another significant change I'd like to bring up, which might not be obvious.</div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto"><br></div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto">In the "Communication" section, the new proposed Terms of Reference says:</div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto"></div><blockquote style="font-family:sans-serif;margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><i>The Board aims to operate transparently.<br>Board discussions are held in a dedicated mailing list (<a href="mailto:oceania-board@lists.osgeo.org">oceania-board@lists.osgeo.org</a>). In some cases it<br>may be appropriate to hold a discussion in a private space, for example if it relates to specific individuals<br>or commercial-in-confidence matters. In these cases, the person beginning a thread should state why it<br>should be kept private.</i></div></blockquote><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto"><br></div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto">This is fairly similar wording to before, but this:<br></div><blockquote style="font-family:sans-serif;margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><i>The board will establish a new public mailing list, where discussion and decision making will occur.</i></div></blockquote><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto">has changed to:<br></div><blockquote style="font-family:sans-serif;margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><i>Board discussions are held in a dedicated mailing list (<a href="mailto:oceania-board@lists.osgeo.org">oceania-board@lists.osgeo.org</a>).</i></div></blockquote><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto"><br></div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto">It isn't immediately obvious that the oceania-board list is a <u>private</u> list, not available to the community. The prior commitment was to discuss and decide in public by default, but it appears this has been dropped.</div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto"><br></div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto">I find the proposed new text to be somewhat unclear in its meaning. The use of "<i>In some cases it may be appropriate to hold a discussion in a private space...</i>" sounds like it's intended to identify exceptions to the use of a public list, but as a qualifier to the use of a <i>private</i> channel, it doesn't really make sense.<br></div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto"><br></div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto">I would dearly love to see OSGeo Oceania reaffirm its commitment to operating transparently by using a public list for discussion. In my opinion, it's an effective and efficient way for community members to stay up to date and find ways to participate, and it works passively, requiring little or no extra volunteer effort. It's a commonly used practice in OSGeo and OSM communities, we've done it successfully before, and as a community based on principles of openness, I feel it powerfully demonstrates commitment to these principles at all levels.<br></div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto"><br></div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto">But if that's not possible, the text should be modified to make it clear that board discussions are held in a private space, so there can be no misunderstanding about the change.<br></div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto"><br></div><div style="font-family:sans-serif" dir="auto">Thanks</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, 28 Aug 2020, 10:02 am Martin Tomko, <<a href="mailto:tomkom@unimelb.edu.au">tomkom@unimelb.edu.au</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Hi all,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I would like this discussion to not be lost, too.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I believe Trish has been looking at the update of the ToRs, cc-ing here.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Martin <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">From: </span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">Oceania <<a href="mailto:oceania-bounces@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">oceania-bounces@lists.osgeo.org</a>> on behalf of Adam Steer <<a href="mailto:adam.d.steer@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">adam.d.steer@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b>Date: </b>Monday, 24 August 2020 at 6:27 pm<br>
<b>To: </b>John Bryant <<a href="mailto:johnwbryant@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">johnwbryant@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b>Cc: </b>"<a href="mailto:oceania@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">oceania@lists.osgeo.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:oceania@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">oceania@lists.osgeo.org</a>><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [OSGeo Oceania] Fwd: OSGeo Oceania Board Terms of Reference Update for Review<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">Hi John<br>
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Responding as an individual board member, mainly because these requests should never sit idle for more than a few days:<br>
<br>
Thanks for sparking a fresh ToR discussion among the board. My feeling about the changes between v1 and proposed v2 are driven by a move from 'we are setting up...' to 'we are operating...'.<br>
<br>
I think the most important addition is a reference to a specific code of conduct we apply to operations of both the board and things we support (the Berlin Code of Conduct [1]). Another key change is a lot less proscription about the mechanics of how conference
LOCs work ( we no longer say how an LOC should organise, just that we will support...)<br>
<br>
Personally, I could and should have definitely paid more attention to TOR alterations this past 6 months. It's nearly coming time for an election, which will put a burner under us to get over a fire-and-covid-induced languor and make sure a few things get packaged
up.<br>
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Regards<br>
<br>
Adam<br>
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[1] <a href="https://berlincodeofconduct.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">https://berlincodeofconduct.org/</a><br>
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