[Board] A possible view of the world

[Michael P. Gerlek]

Right now, the board and OSGeo is -- in principle -- concerned with trying to do a zillion possible things, from conferences to codesprints to development to outreach to curricula.  We are trying to be all things for all communities, and as a result (I claim) we're not effective.

At some level you're right, this might be the default OSGeo mode right now.  But it certainly is not what I wanted/expected 5 years ago, nor is it clear from current discussions that people expect it to be like this.

So instead, what if we make it crystal clear that the communities need to self-organize and self-fund themselves.  Those that do so, great!  Those that don't, well then their work won't happen.  OSGeo I11N is here to provide some administrative and logistic support and get things going, but owning the outcome of each community's goals is no longer OSGeo's responsibility.

-mpg


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tyler Mitchell [mailto:tmitchell at osgeo.org]
> Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 12:20 PM
> To: mpg at flaxen.com
> Cc: board at lists.osgeo.org
> Subject: Re: [Board] A possible view of the world
> 
> Hi Michael,
> 
> Aside from the last two points in the email from funding/sponsorship - how do you see this as different
> than what OSGeo already is?  Except of course "chapters" don't make decisions - instead individual
> members do.
> 
> Curious,
> Tyler
> 
> On 2011-11-11, at 10:21 AM, Michael P. Gerlek wrote:
> 
> > Although I have significant questions about the NA chapter idea, I think that the path being suggested leads to some good ideas that
> can be made to work.
> >
> > (please consider the following as just rough ideas, still being thought out and welcome for discussion)
> >
> > I am thinking "OSGeo" could become "OSGeo International", defined as a loose Federation of OSGeo Chapters.  Those chapters may
> take on several different forms:
> >
> >  - local (like CUGOS here in Seattle) - a small, local, in-person community
> >  - large-territorial (US+Canada) - largely dedicated to hosting an annual North American conference
> >  - language (Francophone) - for supporting translations, culture-specific issues, etc
> >  - Educational - for supporting academic curricula, getting open source into GIS courses, etc
> >  - "Mission-specific" (e.g. US DoD or UK Govt) - for working with specific govt sector
> >  - Humanitarian - worldwide, for working with HOT, OSM, etc
> >
> > You get the idea.  (In fact, the development projects could be considered Chapters, too -- like a "MapServer Chapter" -- but I'd not
> take things that far)
> >
> > In such a world, OSGeo I11N would become this:
> >
> > - take responsibility for the "main" mission/charter and own the "logo"/"brand"
> > - a light-touch oversight group, helping to coordinate the chapters and their interactions, as well as picking up slack where there is
> not an existing chapter to fill a need
> > - provide centralized place for main website, source control hosting, etc
> > - annual FOGG4S international conference (which may be delegated out to an LOC or a specific regional chapter)
> >
> > Funding and sponsorship opportunities would devolve down to the chapters aligned with the specific funder/sponsor mission and
> objectives.
> >
> > A percentage of the proceeds from each of the chapters would return to the OSGeo parent organization, to support hosting
> services, etc. (only if the chapter's proceeds are greater than a certain amount).
> >
> > Comments?
> >
> > -mpg
> >
> >
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