[Board] Re: F2F meeting

Sun Nov 8 04:14:35 PST 2009

> Good point Jeroen!
>
> As a result of this discussion, I'm using my contacts to try to get
> support from national sources and then international agencies. My
> feeling is that when it comes to the the international agencies (UN
> family for example) it is in the first place just a question of raising
> the awareness. By support I mean OSGeo sponsorship and travel grants for
> people from low-income countries to come to FOSS4G.
>
> In general, it seems to me that the most natural idea is that the board
> should meet at the yearly FOSS4G. It should be kind of requirement of
> being in the board. If a board member can't arrange the travel funds him
> or herself then the foundation should help. In my case it is usually
> more a question of feeling the obligation, i.e., if there was an order
> from the president, I'd come ;)

Order from the president: All directors must come to Barcelona. Please
plan accordingly.

Kanpai,
Arnulf.

http://www.abcb.com/ency/k/kanpai.wav

> Cheers,
>
> Ari
>
> Jeroen Ticheler kirjoitti:
>> Hi Ravi,
>> Good point, and one you will have to repeat often for it to be heard
>> and understood! Even while I lived many years in Africa and visited
>> many countries around the world I notice I tend to sometimes forget
>> about these differences. It indeed even calls for a specific
>> sponsoring component to OSGeo that is specifically targeted at
>> supporting people from low income countries. We should get our act
>> together and target agencies that would be willing to support this
>> directly. I will do so to a number where I have contacts if others
>> feel that is worthwhile. These funds could be used to support local
>> events, but I would also like to see them support travel to allow for
>> f2f meetings and such.
>> Kind regards,
>> Jeroen
>>
>> On Nov 7, 2009, at 7:49 AM, Ravi wrote:
>>
>>> F2F meeting
>>> Costs: May not be for all but for some like me, even attending FOSS4G
>>> Sydney would have cost the equivalent of arranging a (free) 3-day
>>> workshop for 30 interested students/GIS teachers along with
>>> hospitality expenses and travel for resource-persons. The philosophy
>>> of OSGeo translating into priorities will make a local chapter spend
>>> their meager resources in organising awareness.
>>>
>>> Ravi Kumar
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --- On Fri, 6/11/09, Arnulf Christl (OSGeo) <arnulf at osgeo.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> From: Arnulf Christl (OSGeo) <arnulf at osgeo.org>
>>>> Subject: [Board] Re: F2F meeting
>>>> To: board at lists.osgeo.org
>>>> Date: Friday, 6 November, 2009, 8:11 PM
>>>> Howard,
>>>> thanks for making a clear statement to a constraint that we
>>>> have. But I am
>>>> inclined to say that we should then remove that constraint
>>>> instead of not
>>>> meeting. I also want to have my expenses paid for and I
>>>> think this is
>>>> something that OSGeo must be able to do in the future if it
>>>> wants to
>>>> continue to prosper and grow. Otherwise we can make it a
>>>> requirement that
>>>> future Directors must be capable and willing to afford a
>>>> meeting on their
>>>> own expense.
>>>>
>>>> I have started several attempts at getting together at
>>>> least a list of
>>>> potential sponsors and to then nudge some board members
>>>> into actually
>>>> contacting them and to report of their success but so far
>>>> to no avail.
>>>>
>>>> Does anybody have a better suggestion at how to solve this
>>>> problem? My
>>>> guess is that nothing much will happen if we just sit
>>>> around and wait.
>>>> Another example: "Somebody" ought to get into contact with
>>>> Autodesk and
>>>> make sure that they stay at the 50k level. They would be
>>>> paying 150k every
>>>> year for their CollabNet environment if we would not have
>>>> prepared a cosy
>>>> nest for them. Or did I miss something along the way? Its
>>>> just a deal and
>>>> someone will have to dicker.
>>>>
>>>> It's just that I am not going to do it all on my own
>>>> because I simply
>>>> cannot, I am as busy as most of us. And probably I am not
>>>> even very good
>>>> at it (too blunt, impatient, etc... :-)
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> Arnulf.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, November 6, 2009 13:51, Howard Butler wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On Nov 5, 2009, at 7:09 PM, Arnulf Christl (OSGeo)
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> I really mean to get all of us meet in one place
>>>>>> for two days.
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't see how this is remotely possible given our
>>>> budgetary
>>>>> constraints.  There's no way I can afford footing
>>>> a F2F board meeting out
>>>>> of pocket right now, and OSGeo has never been in a
>>>> position of being able
>>>>> to support board member's travel to F2F meetings.
>>>>>
>>>>> We should see if we can procure reliable low-cost
>>>> tele/video
>>>>> conferencing before putting the squeeze on members to
>>>> spend a day of travel
>>>>> on each side of a two day F2F.  Our meeting
>>>> situation (IRC + free skype)
>>>>> is awful.
>>>>>
>>>>> Howard
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Arnulf Christl
>>>> President OSGeo
>>>> http://www.osgeo.org
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
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>
>
> --
> Prof. Ari Jolma
> Environmental Management Information Technology
> Teknillinen Korkeakoulu / Helsinki University of Technology
> tel: +358 9 4511 address: POBox 5300, 02015 TKK, Finland
> Email: ari.jolma at tkk.fi URL: http://geoinformatics.tkk.fi
>
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-- 
Arnulf Christl
President OSGeo
http://www.osgeo.org