[VisCom] Press Release Process

[Dave McIlhagga]

Peter,

Good work - both docs look good to me.

We'll need to work on a template, and then i think we'll be ready (once 
approved) to give this a shot with some real content.

Dave


Peter Moran wrote:
> Great input Frank.  All reflected at
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Press_Release_Process
> 
> To answer your questions:
> 
>  - Yes, we will designate a czar to drive the process, while cc:ing the
> initiator on all traffic.
> 
>  - Yes, we have a chunk of text on OSGeo at
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/OSGeo_Description
> taken from previously vetted text.  THIS IS EVERYONE'S LAST CALL to
> review and comment on the wiki page above.
> 
>  - Press releases get posted to newswire services as Word docs. They
> then get munged into text or html based on distribution format.
> 
> Rich - are you on the board alias?  I can't tell from alias.
> 
> All for now,
> 
> Peter
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Frank Warmerdam [mailto:fwarmerdam at gmail.com] On Behalf Of Frank
> Warmerdam (External)
> Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 6:31 AM
> To: dev at visibilitycommittee.osgeo.org
> Cc: OSGeo-Board
> Subject: [VisCom] Press Release Process
> 
> Peter Moran wrote:
> 
>>Nice job running meeting Mike.
>>
>>One of my tasks was to define press release process.  Draft wiki is at
>>http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Press_Release_Process.  Please add
> 
> your
> 
>>thoughts and experience.
>>
>>I am looking into cost and logistics of using Autodesk's Newswire
>>account to distribute releases (no promises).  I'm also looking into
>>getting a list of around 100 journalist contacts that we've gathered
> 
> to
> 
>>seed the osgeo-news-publisher list (or invite them to join the list)
>>that Daniel or someone proposed.
> 
> 
> Peter,
> 
> For steps (3) and (4) (review and approval) I would suggest they be
> done at the same time to avoid too much lag waiting at each step.
> 
> It is hard for the board to take a formal action by email since we
> need to have every board members agree in writing.  So my suggestion
> would be that the release be distributed to the board at board.osgeo.org
> and dev at visibilitycommittee.osgeo.org mailing lists, (at the same time
> it is sent to legal counsel) and that they be given two business days
> to comment.  Any objection to the release from anyone on viscom or
> the board would result in it being held for formal approval by the
> board.
> 
> Are you considering designating a press release czar?  I think it would
> be helpful to ensure the process is followed through properly and that
> some reasonable degree of consistency is maintained.  So while the
> original proposer would write the initial text, the czar would possibly
> do some editing (with the agreement of the proposer) and would ensure
> the process is followed.  Hopefully with a good written process in the
> wiki there would be a few folks on viscom who could act as czar as
> needed.
> 
> I presume VisCom will be developing a standard "about OSGeo" chunk?
> 
> I think the process should include adding the press releases on the
> OSGeo news site, possibly in their own queue.
> 
> By the way, for now I think it is good to run the press releases by
> Rich as our legal counsel.  In the longer term though it might be
> desirable
> to distill some of the legal issues to watch for into the process page
> and
> get to the point where the czar (backstopped by objectors from the board
> and viscom) can validate the release for legal issues.  For now we are
> very
> fortunate to have access to a contributed legal counsel, but in the
> longer
> term we must expect to have to pay for such services and we wouldn't
> necessarily want a half hour charge for each routine release that goes
> out.
> 
> BTW, are press releases normally issues in ASCII text?  HTML?
> 
> Also, should the process discuss PR translations?  I believe it was
> suggested earlier that we *not* necessarily wait for translations before
> issuing a PR and I would agree with this.  Translations can add quite a
> bit
> of lag.  They also are hard to vette.  But if we can identify some
> interested
> news agencies (perhaps in Germany, or Brazil?) and some volunteers it
> would
> be desirable to offer translated press releases.  If not that, then at
> least
> to offer translations on the web site.
> 
> Best regards,