[Board] [Local-chapters] Using the FOSS4G brand

Wed Nov 20 03:04:01 PST 2013

Dear all,

I will take the opportunity from Arnulf's excellent as always e-mail and 
share some thoughts on the discussion about the use of FOSS4G logo that 
started due to the organization of the forthcoming FOSS4G-Europe conference.
Let me start by saying that for me this discussion is part of the 
greater (and mainly not done) discussion on how we shape the future of 
OSGEO. In that respect I feel highly uncomfortable that this discussion 
is not taking place in the "Discuss at osgeo" list where all members 
participate and is restricted between the members of the board-list (so 
I direct my e-mail there, too).
My thoughts:
-- the organization has been so far quite open, e.g. when someone wants 
to start a local chapter can use the OSGEO logo without asking anyone's 
permission as long as the chapter is registered in OSGEO's directory. On 
the other hand we are now discussing whether and when is permitted to 
use the FOSS4G logo. I find a contradiction here ... (and before someone 
jumps in I understand the possibility of conflicts, I am coming to it). 
So in principle I would say that if we want to regulate usage of brands 
we should come up with a policy of regulating all brands that the 
organization carries. But I do not see how we can stop someone to name 
his/her conference e.g. "Conference of Free and Open Source Software 4 
GIS in Europe" and be done with it ... So if we decide to set some rules 
then it would be good to decide what we are looking for.
-- as far as conferences are concerned for me there are some more 
important issues. If OSGEO "takes over" the FOSS4G conferences around 
the world then we should discuss on returns. I find it quite 
unreasonable that the global conference returns money to OSGEO but the 
regional ones (that will be using the same brand name) will not. Why? 
And then where do we stop? National??? So in my view if we make the 
discussion about logos and brands let's make the discussion also about 
money. Of course my view is that open source conferences are funded by 
the money of all of us so they should not make money and and surpluses 
should just be donated (through OSGEO) to projects/efforts in need. So 
in my head that issue was resolved concerning OSGEO but it is more 
evident from discussions in recent times (including the discussion about 
the selection of the FOSS4G-NA location that this is not). Again not a 
bad thing, I can live with that, too.
-- additionally how we can have conferences organized without having 
local chapters? Who applies to use the logo? How do we choose when two 
applications are there? Who decides? What happens if the conference 
falls short of expectations? What happens if we have competing 
conferences in the same year in close by locations? Do we need a 
conference structure (like alternating years for 
global/national/regional events)?
(Needless to repeat here that Arnulf's proposals resolve some of these 
matters in an excellent way).

Finally, one thought on the future: it seems that there is a trend to 
become a more "professionally" organized organization. This is my 
impression from many of the discussions going on through the board 
mailing list (including this one). I do not disagree, it might be a 
necessity of the times. What I would like to kindly ask though is that 
this is not done on a "need-to-do" basis but decisions should be taken 
that would shape the future and that would start being implemented for 
coming events/cases giving some time to the community to actually digest 
and take position on them. And of course discuss "who does all that" ...
Balancing through legal issues, community needs and volunteer work is a 
hard problem.

Disclaimer: needless to say that this is not a critique directed to the 
board or anyone else for that matter; it is just an (probably 
inadequate) expression of a line of thinking for the future.
Apologies for the length of the message and thanks to those that read 
thus far.

Best regards to all,

Dimitris

Seven (aka Arnulf) wrote:
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> Folks,
> there has been some confusion around the brand FOSS4G, how to organize
> local conferences in general, how to link back to OSGeo and so on.
>
> As a result of these ongoings I suggest that OSGeo take more ownership
> of the brand FOSS4G. The main reason is to avoid confusion, improve
> transparency and make sure that the name FOSS4G continues to stand for
> quality events.
>
> Therefore I suggest that anybody who wants to use the name FOSS4G has to
> first ask/announce this on this mailing list *before* making it a public
> event, sign any contracts, etc.
>
> What is "ask/announce"? Not sure, we may need to better define. From a
> do-ocratic [1] point of view anybody should be allowed to go ahead. At
> the same time we should strive to avoid conflicts with other events
> close by, go easy on volunteer resources, etc. Maybe we can implement a
> very simple rule: If nobody complains / raises issues within two weeks
> of announcing on the Conference-dev list the organizer can go ahead.
>
> Later we may also want to make sure (make it a rule) that a trusted
> OSGeo person is part of the LOC.
>
> What is a "trusted OSGeo person"? Anybody with an official role, be it
> board, committee, or chair. If necessary we have to clarify. Again, I'd
> like to keep it simple...
>
> Once we have talked about this here and if we agree I would like to make
> this a motion to be approved by the Board at one of their next meetings.
>
> A general question is whether the conference committee is prepared to
> take on this additional job at all. It appears to be the best place but
> if you think this belongs elsewhere please advise.
>
> Best regards,
> Arnulf
>
> [1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Do-ocracy
>
> - --
> Exploring Space, Time and Mind
> http://arnulf.us
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