[Belgium] Official expression of interest forming a Belgian Chapter - DRAFT

[Moritz Lennert]

Hi Dirk,

[Any reason this was also sent to the GeoMajas developers list ? I think 
we should keep this on this list only.]

My amendments below.

Moritz

On 11/06/15 12:12, Dirk Frigne wrote:
> Dear OSGeo Board,
>
> Reason for my mail is to officially express our interest to form a
> Belgium local chapter of OSGeo.
>
> 1. self-organise
>
> During the last FOSDem Geospatial devroom[1] OSGeo was represented. It
> was a great opportunity for Belgium OSGeo members to meet each other and
> start talking about organizing ourselves a bit more, so actions in
> Belgium can be better supported. Belgium is, as a country divided in at
> least 3 speaking languages and 3 official languages. The active OSGeo
> community members today are either active in the OSGeo.nl, the OSGeo.fr
> or in several OSGeo communities.

Porposed addition:

However, OSGeo-nl and OSGeo-fr are language-oriented communities with 
their geographical weight centered in respectively Netherlands and 
France, and the separation by language has impeded on any specific 
Belgian activities, notably networking and lobbying with administrations 
that are bilingual on some levels of governance. Thus the need arose to 
provide a specific Belgian forum.


>
> In the past there where already some OSGeo local activities:
> OSGeoGhent - 13 June 2013 [2]
> FOSDEM2014 - booth 1 & 2 Februari 2014 [3]

Comment:

AFAIK, there was no specific OSGeo activity at FOSDEM2014, so this 
should be left out.

> Be-OpenGIS-Fr - 6 November 2014  [4]
> FOSDEM2015 - devroom - 31 Jan; 1 Februari 2015 [1]
>
> This year we (OSGeoBE) have the ambition to organise a first FOSS4G-BE
> on 29 October 2015 in Brussels. This event will also be used to announce
> the birth of our Chapter (if the Board supports this).
>
> In preparation for this official express, a couple of meetings have

s/express/expression of interest/

> already taken place, one physical, most of them trough digital
> communication (skype/IRC). The meeting minutes can be found on the OSGeo
> wiki [5]
>
> 2. mission objectives
>
> After discussion amongst the active local chapter members we come to the
> following list of mission objectives:
>
> * Community-building and networking

Proposed amendment:

Community-building and networking around specific Belgian themes and 
within Belgian fora.

> * Organisation of events
> 	
> These two mission statements are working together. We believe it is
> important to meet people face2face.
> To help them to start open source initiatives, to start using open
> source solutions, to establish an eco-system that benefits from the
> cooperation, the sharing and the co-creation open source delivers.
>
> * Lobbying
>
> We think it is important to speak as one voice, and to get involved with
> other organisations: administrations, industries, user groups, ...
> OSGeo. Be will actively speak as an organisation to defend the OSGeo
> open source spirit in the broader Belgium community (government,
> academic, industry, other open initiatives).
>
>
> * Networking with other OSGeos (notably OSGeo-fr and OSGeo.nl)
>
> OSGeo Belgium will focus on local activities (Belgium based). OSGeo
> Belgium will advertise and promote other OSGeo initiatives and invite
> members of the other OSGeo chapters on the Belgium events or meetings.
> We think that OSGeo Belgium can act as a bridge between several language
> communities and cultures, because of it's unique composition.
>
> * Support to higher levels of OSGeo
>
> We believe that OSGeo only can grow if supported from the base. So OSGeo
> Belgium is willing to help OSGeo where necessary, to leverage idea's or
> act as an advisor if appreciated.
>
> * Point of contact for EU related OSGeo activities (INSPIRE, H2020,...),
> support the Lobby for the Open source industry in relation to the EU
> commision

Proposed replacement:

Support to OSGeo in lobbying European Union Institutions (Commission, 
Parliament, etc) related to specific EU-Themes (INSPIRE, H2020, 
Procurement policy, ...)

> 3. The Belgium OSGeo Chapter proposes Dirk Frigne, Member of OSGeo since
> 2007, Charter member of OSGeo since 2013 to liaise with the OSGeo Board.
>
> 4. List of initial members:
>
> The Belgium OSGeo Chapter has the support of the following initial
> founding members (alphabetic - first name):
>
> Ben Abelhausen [6] - liason with OSM - Belgium community
> Dirk Frigne [7] - founding member of the Geomajas community
> Gaël Kruwialis [8] - active memmber of the local FOSS momement in the
> Brussels area - contact with the Brussels administration
> Johan Van de Wauw [9] - OSGeo Advocate,
> Maëlle VERCAUTEREN [10] - Coordinatrice du stage SIG Libres ARES
> Marc Ducobu [11] - liason with OSGeo.fr
> Moritz Lennert [12] - OSGeo Charter member, member (role) of the Grass
> community

Replace by:

Moritz Lennert [12] - GRASS GIS PSC Member, contact with academic world

> Pieter Colpaert [13] - link with the open knowledge foundation
> Ruben Capelle [14] - please add
> Tommy Ozeer [15] - OSGeo (charter?) member
>
> Please add your name and link with OSGeo or FOSSGIS or open
> organisations if I should forget someone
>
> 5. May I kindly ask the OSGeo Board to consider passing a motion forming
> the Belgium chapter, and designating Dirk Frigne as the liason officer.
>
> [Please Add your link to the list - if any]
>
>
>
>
> [1] http://www.osgeo.org/node/1488
> [2] http://www.geomajas.org/osgeogent2013
> [3] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSDEM2014
> [4] http://www.osgeo.org/node/1468
> [5] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Belgium
> [6]
> [7] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Dirkf
> [8]
> [9]  http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Johanvdw
> [10]
> [11]
> [12]  http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Mlennert
> [13]
> [14]
> [15]
>