[Aust-NZ] Finding a way forward - GeoNetwork as platform tosupport ANZLIC Profile of ISO 19115/19139 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Roppola, Antti - BRS]

Hi Bruce,

Some personal opinion...

Personally, I have found that working with FOSS is a very different way
of
doing business, and it has taken us time to work out how these
collaborative
efforts fits into traditional business and procurement. That is, I feel
that participation (and thus progress) will be slow until people are
comfortable about how they participate. However this is something that
can
be actively tackled on both ends, by participants and by the project.

This is a pretty encouraging discussion. Having thought about the
history of
other projects, this sort of growth is typical when people agree on the
importance of a project. Perhaps we should be looking to other FOSS
projects
for ideas on how to create structures that make it easy for people to
participate.
For example, Samba seems to have a very mature and effective structure
that
encourages participation & frequent, orderly releases (without
alienating or
side lining the trail blazers).

Like GeoNetwork, Samba has grown from the efforts of a single person to
something
far bigger. I note that Samba now uses an external foundation to handle
financial
and administrative matters so that developers can concentrate on
developing software.
The foundation also provides corporate necessities like liability
coverage.

My initial thought would be that that sort of independent oversight
would be a
good way of ensuring that best use is made of the many willing hands.

Regards,

Antti

________________________________
Bruce weote:

I'm writing this email as a member of the Australia - New Zealand
Chapter of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo-AustNZ). This
chapter is currently in the final stages of formation.

I'm concerned at how ANZLIC's adoption of the GeoNetwork open source
application as our spatial metadata tool is being handled and also at a
perceived lack of progress in getting a production version of this
application out.

Please note: This email is not about trying to apportion blame, but
about ***trying to find a way forward that benefits us all***.

...


_Where to from here_

I'd like to see this issue debated openly on the OSGeo-AustNZ list and
using tried and tested Open Source methodology to find an effective way
forward.

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