[Board] Board Update from Tyler

[Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo)]

Hi all,
I've pulled together several points for discussion and just to update  
you on what I'm doing and/or thinking lately.  Rather than simply  
list current tasks, I wanted to give you a bit more detail and  
hopefully get some discussion going in email or during our call.  I  
had hoped to get this out a few days earlier but hopefully you at  
least get a chance to skim it before our meeting.


Communications

The Marketing Committee has been kicking around some ideas for  
helping meet the requests of local chapters and other members who  
want to help present OSGeo material.  Cameron Shorter introduced the  
idea of having a conference/event Exhibition Package - print  
material, banners, etc. - that a group could request.  The assumption  
would be that local sponsors at an event would help fund the  
purchasing of the package for that group.  There is still a lot of  
material needed to be developed, but at least now we have a specific  
list of the types of things we want.  The German chapter is also  
pursuing something similar, so it will be an interesting project to  
start up.

We just wrapped up our budget review for the Marketing Committee and  
it reflects the ongoing needs for branding focus, material  
development and other communications - e.g. website ideas.  I  
outlined a bit more about our expected approach in a recent email.   
For more information see:
http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/marketing/2008-December/002042.html   
We had a great meeting last night debating our budget and I think we  
have an excellent group ready to meet our marketing challenges for 2009.

Journal Volume 5 preparation is now underway.  We are aiming for a  
January end publication date.  If you have any report from the board  
or other articles/messages you would like to include, please let me  
know.  This remains a process that is led by me and I've left it for  
a while but expect to get into it shortly.

If you didn't see it already, I summarised some important points at  
http://osgeo.org/tyler - pointing out the existence of various  
articles, case studies, etc.  Refining some of the journal case  
studies into a 1-2 page format will eventually end up on Marketing's  
plate, as we collect them for booth material.  This refactoring of  
case studies will be something looking at shortly too.  I'm looking  
to find a few good examples of styles worth copying and since it  
seems like a current topic of discussion, I don't think I'll have to  
to look too hard.


OSGeo Goals

Howard and others have brought up an important question about the  
overall role of OSGeo.  It came up more as a question of how to  
divide the Budget to also cover some Systems issues, but it reminded  
me of our initial OSGeo start-up meeting.  At the time all the  
(potential) projects had their own infrastructures, trackers, code  
repositories, etc.  Creating OSGeo to help provide them with tools  
was not a huge win at that time.  It was a hope, but was not going to  
be the drawing card since most projects were self-sufficient  
already.  Instead the goal was to be able to help market the products  
to potential users.  This isn't to say they are mutually exclusive  
ideas, but recently projects are depending on OSGeo's infrastructure  
more than ever.  I think we can assume more will want to use our  
services in the future as well.

I mention this just to point out this subtle extension of our goal as  
an organisation - to support the projects in more than just  
marketing.  If this is going to be a serious goal than we'll have to  
consider how it might affect our marketing and our message to  
potential sponsors.  As Howard noted, this may mean needing an  
increase systems budget in the future.


Financials

Here is a brief snapshot (not approved by the finance committee) of  
our current accounts, to end of November.  I just include it to give  
you a general idea of things.
* Assets: Bank Accounts: $192,440
* Assets: Accounts Receivable: $32,366
No major liabilities.
* INGRES, INPE and Autodesk renewal payments came in since October.   
A few GDAL sponsors came in since mid-year summer too.


Fund development status

* All sponsors, but one, have renewed this year.
* I could use an update on who is following up on some of the  
potential opportunities for sponsorship that came in Cape Town.  Who  
has an idea they are following up on or might need my support with?
* The annual discussion about FOSS4G sponsorships is starting again  
and funders are being pursued.
* I've started to look for a few potential grants that I would like  
to apply for.  Ned Horning also mentioned interest in working with us  
on the Google geo grants option.  I will have to re-read that thread  
to really get my head around it.  Are there any reasons that we do  
not want to pursue this?


Community creation

* Scottish chapter and UK chapter are continuing toward formal  
organisation.
* Cascadia chapter  (in USA) applying for approval (next meeting)
* I looked at a few tools that could help to visualise statistics  
about the community.  So far only
focused on tools for the wiki involving semantic relationships.  See  
my thread for more info http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2008- 
December/004790.html  Semantic Mediawiki options are now available in  
our wiki.
* The membership map on the wiki is a great idea, hopefully we can  
encourage others to add their geo-attributes to their wiki page.   
Having a world map is a powerful statement during presentations and  
discussions with potential funders.  Having an empty one is not so  
powerful :)
* Hold a day once a month or quarter to have a community style  
meeting in IRC, where members can chat with the board or other  
committees directly.  This might help get some questions or concerns  
out early and also to help keep people talking in general.  We are  
averaging 50 users in IRC most of the time now - this is really good.


Other Ideas

* I'm going to look into having a day where users can develop some  
screen recording demos  of OSGeo projects.  Maybe similar to the  
above where we pick a day and all meet online.  It could even be a  
small competition.
* Wolf Bergenheim and I took at look at the OSGeo cafepress store  
recently.  He spent some time updating it with current logos, etc.  
and hopes to buy shirts from there for his Summer of Code students  
(using money we received from the SoC program).  He did some good  
work but isn't quite finished yet.  http://cafepress.com/osgeo
* I'll be working half-time starting next week until January, with a  
day or two off during my wife's surgery.

Hope this is helpful, I'm looking forward to chatting with you  
tomorrow.  I'll cover a few of these points again tomorrow, so we can  
discuss them as a group.  If this format is more helpful than before,  
please let me know.

Best wishes,
Tyler