[Board] Brief update

[Jorge Gaspar Sanz Salinas]

On 26 May 2010 19:21, Daniel Morissette <dmorissette at mapgears.com> wrote:
> Tyler Mitchell wrote:
>>
>> Definitely part of my hopes too!  Trying to enumerate local chapter
>> membership is part of the plan.  So, for example, users can identify which
>> local chapters they are part of, then we can pull together some really fun
>> stats.  Thanks for confirming my hunch that chapters would benefit :)
>>
>
> Actually, what I suggested (and I think Yves and Jorge are in support of)
> was a bit more than that... it's not just about adding choice of local
> chapters to the form, it's about making several entry points (i.e. forms)
> into the system that make the visitor feel at home, as if they were in a
> site managed by their local chapter. Technically it's the same, just an
> extra set of field(s) in the same database, but for the visitor it has to
> feel like it's a local portal.
>
> You have to realize that most non-English speakers from the local chapters
> won't go to a global OSGeo portal to register, even if you ask them to. They
> just don't feel like they belong there. OTOH, provide them  with a separate
> entry point that makes them feel at home, in their language and dedicated to
> their local chapter, and they will be much more likely to visit it and
> register.
>
> Makes sense?
>
> Daniel
> --
> Daniel Morissette
> http://www.mapgears.com/
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At OSGeo-ES we've always wanted to have a dedicated portal. We have
the http://es.osgeo.org that redirects to the wiki. On the wiki we
tried to have some activity maintaining a news box and pointing to the
most important places of our subspace.

When I say we need a portal I'm talking about a simple microsite with
one or two static pages, a contact form and maybe a news section (with
its RSS feed). Just a simple and (hopefully) attractive starting point
for anyone willing to know what exactly OSGeo-ES is. The main
osgeo.org site has the most important pages translated into Spanish
but IMHO the most valuable (but anarchic at the same time) resource is
our wiki... but as a second line behind a nice site that catches the
eye.

We never started this effort (to build that site) because of the lack
of manpower, we are waiting to have more people on board to be able to
start this thing.

OTOH at OSGeo-ES (more or less) are emerging what Oscar Fonts called
"microchapters"[1], small local groups that try to meet once a month
or so and talk about their even more local stuff. The BCN group is
building its own portal as a wordpress.com or drupalgardens.com blog.

Best

[1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Iniciativas_Locales

-- 
Jorge Gaspar Sanz Salinas
Ingeniero en Geodesia y Cartografía
http://jorgesanz.net