[Board] Invitation to OSGeo to participate in LocationTech

Wed Oct 3 17:36:42 PDT 2012

Cameron,

I'll do my best to answer in-line.

On 10/03/2012 06:50 PM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
> Andrew,
> I'm wanting to get down to the details of what is and is not expected 
> and acceptable, because I'm sure we will need to answer community 
> questions about this in the future. (My questions are deliberately 
> baiting in order to try to flush out what might be obvious to yourself).
>
> Q1: What types of working groups are you expecting LocationTech to 
> host which people will wish to be involved in? Why would such groups 
> be set up to be exclusive, rather than "everyone's welcome" which is 
> current OSGeo default?
This model is very common and one often used for standards bodies, 
industry associations, and the like. If you look at OGC for example 
it'll look eerily familiar.

You use the term everyone's welcome as though implying that everyone is 
not welcome to the working groups at LocationTech. They are indeed very 
welcome. There are fees for some services. To illustrate my point, 
FOSS4G charges registration. Why can't FOSS4G be "everyone's welcome"? 
Same answer... the funds cover costs and support delivering benefits to 
the ecosystem.

Comparing apples with apples, the open source projects at LocationTech 
are "everyone's welcome" just as they are at OSGeo.

As I meet new people getting involved at LocationTech I try very hard to 
understand their needs and wants as a prelude to helping them achieve 
them. One thing I have learned is they are diverse. Some common themes 
include advancing the state of the art, tight integration with other 
enterprise IT systems, creating new reference implementations of 
standards, and more. For this reason it's not really practical for me to 
encapsulate so much information succinctly here.

> Q2: If a person wants to be involved in a LocationTech working group, 
> what process should they follow? Should they lobby the OSGeo board 
> asking to be assigned as an official OSGeo delegate?
> Should OSGeo board allow anyone who asks to be given delegate status?
> If not, what are the criteria for being allocated delegate status? 
> More importantly, under what circumstances does the board reject the 
> request?
> Is there a limit to the number of OSGeo representatives LocationTech 
> will accept?
>

OSGeo would appoint a single delegate.  Given the potential the 
relationship with LocationTech represents, it might make sense for it to 
be a board member. To be honest, it isn't my place to say how this 
person should be identified.

> Q3: What value does LocationTech hope to gain by including OSGeo as a 
> member organisation?
>

To foster the important idea that it really is one ecosystem. To promote 
collaboration. To invite valuable input to shape the direction of the 
working group & help shape the industry. etc. etc.

> Q4: What value does OSGeo gain?

Another useful forum to relate to companies including big ones without 
giving up autonomy. Another way to find and approach potential sponsors.

>
> Q5: What level of effort is required, by whom, within OSGeo? Eg: A 
> requirement for a high level of involvement from the OSGeo board might 
> not be sustainable.

The work isn't too onerous I don't think. Participate on a monthly 
conference call. Participate on the mailing list. Look for opportunities 
of interest to OSGeo. To be honest there are multiple people that might 
make excellent candidates to represent OSGeo already doing this 
informally. The representative can be changed at any time.

>
> On 4/10/2012 7:01 AM, Andrew Ross wrote:
>> Hi Cameron,
>>
>> In practice, a formal representative from OSGeo would participate in 
>> the working group sessions and discussions.
>>
>> The links I provided provide a short summary of membership rights and 
>> privileges. The Eclipse Foundation bylaws 
>> <http://www.eclipse.org/org/documents/Eclipse%20BYLAWS%202011_08_15%20Final.pdf> 
>> (PDF) and LocationTech charter 
>> <http://www.eclipse.org/org/industry-workgroups/locationtech_charter.php> 
>> are the canonical pages with much detail.
>>
>> Any individual designated by OSGeo can be the representative. The 
>> representative can be changed as needed. What you wrote sounds like 
>> any number of people and that's not right.
>>
>> Hope this helps,
>>
>> Andrew
>>
>> On 10/03/2012 04:17 PM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>>> Andrew,
>>> Can you please expand on what such membership would mean in 
>>> practice. Is there a web page explaining what such membership entails?
>>>
>>> Does this membership provide an avenue for any individual to 
>>> participate in Locationtech by noting they are part of OSGeo (as 
>>> OSGeo accepts anyone offering to help OSGeo)?
>>>
>>> On 04/10/12 04:40, Andrew Ross wrote:
>>>> Thank you Frank.
>>>>
>>>> That's right regarding formal representation for OSGeo at 
>>>> LocationTech.
>>>>
>>>> And confirmed re: OSGeo wouldn't be a Steering Committee member for 
>>>> $0.
>>>>
>>>> For what it's worth, OSGeo could be a Steering Committee member for 
>>>> $15K/year at any point.
>>>>
>>>> Andrew
>>>>
>>>> On 10/03/2012 02:13 PM, Frank Warmerdam wrote:
>>>>> Andrew,
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks - I have added this to our agenda for the next board 
>>>>> meeting at:
>>>>>
>>>>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2012-10-11
>>>>>
>>>>> I gather to make this useful we would want to have one or more
>>>>> OSGeo representatives to join various LocationTech mailing lists
>>>>> to participate in discussions and act as a liason?  I gather we would
>>>>> be general members of the locationtech working group, but not
>>>>> voting members of the steering committee, right?
>>>>>
>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>> Frank
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 9:58 AM, Andrew Ross 
>>>>> <andrew.ross at eclipse.org> wrote:
>>>>>> Hi Everyone,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On behalf of the LocationTech Steering Committee, I would like to 
>>>>>> formally
>>>>>> invite OSGeo to participate in LocationTech. LocationTech's Steering
>>>>>> Committee unanimously agreed to invite OSGeo to participate without
>>>>>> membership dues. To do so, OSGeo would sign up as an Associate 
>>>>>> member of the
>>>>>> Eclipse Foundation ($0 for OSGeo) and Participating member of 
>>>>>> LocationTech
>>>>>> (also $0 due to the invitation).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> OSGeo's involvement in this working group:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> helps influence the working group's direction
>>>>>> provides a useful forum for OSGeo to engage companies
>>>>>> maintains close ties to help identify opportunities of mutual 
>>>>>> benefit &
>>>>>> collaboration
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Andrew
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Board mailing list
>>>> Board at lists.osgeo.org
>>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
> -- 
> Cameron Shorter
> Geospatial Solutions Manager
> Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
>
> Think Globally, Fix Locally
> Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
> http://www.lisasoft.com

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