[Board] Invitation to OSGeo to participate in LocationTech

Wed Oct 17 13:22:44 PDT 2012

Board members,
Does anyone else have thoughts about participation with LocationTech? If 
so, I suggest putting together in an email prior to the meeting.

My suggestion is:
* OSGeo should accept this invitation to join LocationTech. I think that 
OSGeo/LocationTech working together will be much stronger than competing 
against each other, and that this offer is a good first step toward 
building a positive relationship.

* Preferably a board member should take the LocationTech position, as a 
board position is a position of authority that has been voted on by the 
community. (Delegation of responsibility by the board is fraught with 
potential accusations of why one person was selected over another).

* I'd prefer not to be the OSGeo member, as my timezone is not conducive 
for attending EU/US meeting times. However, I would like to monitor a 
low traffic email list.

On 04/10/12 10:36, Andrew Ross wrote:
> 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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> 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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