[OSGeo-Board] Re: OSGeo-Board Local Chapters, Translation, etc

[Gary Lang]

Arnulf,

We all like the Wiki. I think we as a group need to understand exactly
what you are saying in your other email about motion and visibility -
every link to the site adds to it and the foundation's' brand equity,
which impacts a number of things, not the least of which is how much
money we will  raise.

So putting more of the social aspects of the foundation on another site
is counterproductive to this. For the exact reasons you cite below, I
suggest we use the Wiki for collaborative document editing but keep
conversations in mailing lists that get archived and indexed on the
osgeo site. Otherwise the value of the site is greatly diminished.

I can tell we're not super-thrilled with the technical aspects of the CN
architecture and some other things, but it works and it's paid for. If
we have nothing but announcements on it, and discussions all over the
place, the foundation's site loses its focus and value. Otherwise our
visibility will be diffused, as per your other email.

Motion: I propose that the FOSS Wiki be the document editing environment
of choice but that we stick with the lists and the CN infrastructure for
other social activities, otherwise, the foundation won't have a focus.

BTW I said FOSS and didn't think of Frank Zappa. After a day at the OSBC
where this term was widely used (it was not a year ago BTW), I guess I'm
getting used to it!

Gary 

-----Original Message-----
From: Arnulf Christl (CCGIS) [mailto:arnulf.christl at ccgis.de] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 6:12 AM
To: board at board.osgeo.org
Subject: [OSGeo-Board] Re: OSGeo-Board Local Chapters, Translation, etc


> Folks,
>
> What do you think of starting a mailing list for those interested in 
> translation of foundation pages (ie. PR), setting up local sites (ie. 
> Toru), or establishing connections with regional organizations (ie. 
> FOSSGIS, Geolivre, etc)?
>
> I am thinking of something like international-discuss at board.osgeo.org.

Doing this is cool, but why not in the Wiki? I am really swamped with
emails already and I don't need yet another one. The ColabNet
infrastructure will spawn email lists like hell anyway. In most of our
work groups we have managed to reduce use of emails to manage
catastrophies. Everything else is done way better in the Wiki. Please
just have a look at this simple diagram again:
http://www.socialtext.com/images/email-vs-socialtext-20050320.gif


It helps. Really!

> I am seeing alot of interest in setting addressing the international
> outreach issue.   However, I don't think we as a board can do this
topic
> justice in the near term with everything else going on.  What I would 
> like is to have a venue where folks interested in this area could 
> discuss and do some planning, perhaps coming back to the board with 
> recommendations.
>
> Addressing questions like:
>   o Organizing translation of foundation pages.
>   o Addressing local "chapters" or resources (ie. ja.osgeo.org?)
>   o Addressing what sort of affiliation or outreach to regional 
> organizations
>     makes sense.
>   o Raising issues with the internationalization support in foundation
>     software projects.
>
> If we want to do this we could either designated it properly as a 
> "committee"
> or just set it up as a mailing list with no special designation.  If 
> we establish it as a proper committee I think we would need to provide

> it with some sort of mandate and it would be expected to come up with 
> somewhat formal recommendations to the board.
>
> If you guys are supportive, I'll write up a motion in the wiki based 
> on the above, and similar to web masters group.

Cool, do that. And wrap it in square brackets and make each one a link
to a separate page. No need for initializing mailing lists. If they are
neede we can still set them up.

Arnulf.


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