[Board] EGU General Assembly 2014: FOSS / OSGeo Townhall Meeting - Overview
Cameron Shorter
cameron.shorter at gmail.com
Wed Mar 5 11:49:48 PST 2014
Hi Peter,
I'm surprised that board members haven't commented on your proposal.
Your proposal is not a standard request and we don't have specific
guidelines to go buy.
I think the closest is the Code Sprint Guidelines:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Code_Sprint_Guidelines
I expect you will have better luck if you can do a bit more ground work
and provide:
1. A list of volunteers willing to help.
2. Source another sponsor, I expect that OSGeo would be able to provide
matching funding.
3. Only request minimal funds from OSGeo. (Ie, it will be difficult for
OSGeo to justify paying for a bar, and likely will question whether it
should pay for food).
4. Once you have that in place, put a motion forward, that OSGeo should
pay $XX for YY, which the board can then vote on.
On 04/03/14 03:51, "Peter Löwe" wrote:
> Hi Cameron,
> can you please give me a hint on how long the decision processes of
> the OSGeo usually take ? This is of course a classic case of RTFM -
> but I'm not sure where this info can be looked up. The planning for
> EGU is progressing and it would be sensible to request a a timeslot
> for the OSGeo townhall sooner than later.
> Also, to request money from the marketing committee for the production
> of a stack of OSgeo Live DVDs for EGU - does a semi-formal E-mail
> request suffice ?
> Best,
> Peter
> <peter.loewe at gmx.de>
> *Gesendet:* Sonntag, 23. Februar 2014 um 04:48 Uhr
> *Von:* "Cameron Shorter" <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
> *An:* "Peter Löwe" <peter.loewe at gmx.de>, board at lists.osgeo.org,
> marketing at lists.osgeo.org
> *Betreff:* Re: Aw: Re: EGU General Assembly 2014: FOSS / OSGeo
> Townhall Meeting - Overview
> Forwarding to OSGeo board list, as apparently Peter was blocked from
> sending to the list.
>
> On 23/02/14 05:17, "Peter Löwe" wrote:
>
> Dear OSGeo board, dear OSGeo marketing committee,
> I'm forwarding the following info to you all about an opportunity
> to launch an OSGeo themed event within the EGU General Assembly,
> as suggested by Cameron Shorter. Feedback about the feasibility of
> funding for the event would be very welcome.
> Best,
> Peter
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Peter_Loewe
> *Gesendet:* Freitag, 21. Februar 2014 um 20:37 Uhr
> *Von:* "Cameron Shorter" <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
> *An:* "Peter Löwe" <peter.loewe at gmx.de>, "Margherita Di Leo"
> <margherita.di-leo at jrc.ec.europa.eu>,
> jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com, "yann.chemin"
> <yann.chemin at gmail.com>, "Markus Neteler"
> <markus.neteler at fmach.it>, "Dominik Reusser"
> <reusser at pik-potsdam.de>, massimiliano.cannata at supsi.ch, "Helmut
> Kudrnovsky" <alectoria at gmx.at>, "Alessandro Frigeri"
> <alessandro.frigeri at iaps.inaf.it>, "Jens Klump"
> <jens.klump at gfz-potsdam.de>, "Jens Klump" <jklump at uni-bremen.de>,
> markus.metz.giswork at googlemail.com
> *Betreff:* Re: EGU General Assembly 2014: FOSS / OSGeo Townhall
> Meeting - Overview
> Hi Peter,
> If ok with you, do you mind including board at lists.osgeo.org and
> marketing at lists.osgeo.org to the email CC list on this thread?
> (If you wish sponsorship $$, then these communities need to see
> the proposal and vote on it).
>
> This event looks like a valuable promotional opportunity for
> OSGeo. The question is whether it is more or less valuable than
> the many other opportunities. I refer you to consider the board
> priorities:
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_of_Directors#Board_Priorities
> In particular: "Support initiatives which support themselves", and
> "Packaging and Marketing".
> Sourcing a co-sponsor would be compelling, and noting that you
> will have numerous volunteers already attending the conference
> helps your case.
>
> I note also that the marketing committee is mostly ineffective due
> to a lack of volunteers to support requests such as these. In
> particular, we are missing a process for approvals and
> distribution of funds. (This is a thinly veiled suggestion that
> you might wish to help out).
>
> On 22/02/14 02:52, "Peter Löwe" wrote:
>
> Hi all,
> [cc: Cameron Shorter for the OSGEO Marketing Board]
> [cc: Jeff McKenna, OSGEO Prez]
> Thank you very much for all your feedback concerning the
> current discussion on options for FOSS/OSGeo meetings during
> the upcoming EGU General Assembly (Vienna, April 27 –May 2 2014).
> Here is an (exhaustive) update on the topic, based on past
> experience organising one Townhall and various Splinter
> Meetings in the past. Beware - this is a rather long posting.
> It boils down to two questions:
> - Do we want/need to raise awareness for OSGeo within EGU ?
> - Are we willing to invest about 1500 Euro / 2000 USD for a
> one hour reach-out event, which will pave the way to make
> OSGeo a stakeholder within EGU/AGU ?
> *Background Info:*
> *What is this European Geoscience Union (EGU) ?*
> EGU, the European Geosciences Union, is Europe’s premier
> geosciences union, dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in
> the geosciences and the planetary and space sciences for the
> benefit of humanity, worldwide. It was established in
> September 2002. It is a *non-profit international union of
> scientists* with over *12,500 members from all over the
> world*. Membership is open to individuals who are
> professionally engaged in or associated with geosciences and
> planetary and space sciences and related studies, including
> students and retired seniors.
> What is this *Americcan Geophysical Union (AGU) ?*
> [Wikipedia] The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a
> nonprofit organization of geophysicists
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geophysicist>, consisting of
> over *62,000 members from 144 countries*. AGU's activities are
> focused on the organization and dissemination of scientific
> information in the interdisciplinary and international field
> of geophysics. The geophysical sciences involve four
> fundamental areas: atmospheric and ocean sciences; solid-Earth
> sciences; hydrologic sciences; and space sciences.
> *Researchers in the Geosciences can be members of either EGU
> or AGU *- a membership in one of the organisations allows to
> benefit from from both AGU and EGU offerings, including
> attending annual conferences like the EGU General Assembly. In
> a nutshell: *The EGU General Assembly is open to the 62,000
> members of AGU as well. *
> *What is a EGU General Assembly ?*
> The annual EGU General Assembly is *the largest and most
> prominent European geosciences event*. It attracts *over
> 11,000 scientists* from all over the world, *of which more
> than a quarter are students.* The *meeting’s sessions*,
> typically *over 500*, cover a wide range of topics, including
> volcanology, planetary exploration, the Earth’s internal
> structure and atmosphere, climate, as well as energy and
> resources. General Assemblies have around *4,500 oral
> presentations* and *over 9,000 posters*. Aside from
> disciplinary sessions, dealing with the topics covered by each
> scientific division, the meeting also features Union-wide
> sessions such as great debates, Union symposia (including the
> EGU Awards Ceremony), medal lectures, short courses and
> education and outreach symposia.
> *What is a Townhall Meeting, what’s a Splinter Meeting* *?*
> (http://geolog.egu.eu/2013/11/19/townhall-and-splinter-meetings-at-egu-2014/)
> Both types of Sessions are open (only) to EGU participants and
> be booked free of charge (*no cost for the venue!*).
> *Townhall Meetings* are *meetings open for all participants*
> in the conference. During these meetings new initiatives or
> decisions are announced to a larger audience following an open
> discussion on the matter. Townhall Meetings will be scheduled
> from Monday to Friday from 19:00 to 20:00 in the conference
> centre’s lecture rooms. *Townhall Meetings last 60 minutes in
> the evening, fit 50 to 350 people, and are announce in the
> Information&Schedule Book. They attract large crowds, as
> they are staged in the evening after the scientific sessions.
> Usually people linger after the official ending of the
> Townhall to discuss the topics raised and to network. *During
> this informal part, *beverages* and *finger food* are consumed
> by the attendees (*this has to be funded *– more on this below).
> *Splinter Meetings* are *side meetings* on non-commercial
> purposes organized by participants. They can be organized
> during the course of the conference and they can be public or
> by invitation only. *Splinter Meetings last up to 90 minutes
> and are held during the day. Scientific sessions are held in
> parallel, which can prevent interested people from attending.
> They fit 36 to 60 people and are announced in the Programme
> (Information & Schedule Book) if booked early.*
> *OSGeo related background:*
> *Since 2012*, there have been “*FOSS in Earth Sciences*”
> themed events at the EGU General assembly, hosted by
> *OSGeo/FOSS volunteers*. This started with an improvised
> Splinter Session which drew a surprisingly large crowd.
> References to OSGeo software can be spotted rather often every
> year during the poster sessions (> 9000 posters!). Last year
> we had the first session on FOSS in the Earth and Space
> Science Informatics (ESSI). *This year there will be two
> independent FOSS sessions *(ESSI and Hydrology). *This is a
> significant step ahead.* *By now, researchers can apply to
> attend the conference, to showcase the FOSS aspects of their
> work.* Before this, everything “FOSS” had to be
> relabelled/closeted since there was no recognition for this
> kind of scientific work.
> While we have two FOSS sessions this year, I strongly believe
> that *many people already doing FOSS-based research, or
> wanting to learn about OSGeo, have not been reached.*
> FWIW: ESR! and Microsoft Research usually have nifty booths at
> EGU.
> *Options for OSGeo:*
>
> 1. We can opt to apply for a *Splinter Meeting on FOSS (GIS)
> in Earth Science* like in the past years. This will cause
> only moderate effort. We can structure the session as we
> like. There can be presentations, show&tell, discussions
> etc. This has been done before and it's fun. We will reach
> an audience of *30-50 people* (- in comparison to 11,167
> attendees in 2013). Since there are FOSS-related sessions,
> a FOSS-themed Splinter Meeting is logical, while *a
> Splinter Meeting title referring to OSGeo would be
> difficult to justify - until now OSGeo has not stepped
> forward within EGU*.
> 2. We can apply for a *Townhall Meeting on OSGeo* *and its
> impact on Earth Science*. This will allow us to step
> forward and officially *put OSGeo on the map within EGU*.
> The Townhall could include presentations on what OSGeo is,
> why it’s significant for Earth Science, latest
> developments like OSGeoLive [option: *OSGeo-Live demo +
> OSGeoLive-DVDs as giveaways*], etc., making it a genuine
> reach out event. However, *this requires financial support
> and volunteers*:
> 1. Putting the *Townhall programme* together would be a
> *collaborative effort by OSGeo volunteers* attending
> the conference. I am sure *we can easily put together
> an one hour show *from existing material + what
> OSGeo/FOSS people activists will showcase at the
> conference.
> 2. The event *needs to be announced *before and during
> the conference. Since the FOSS/OSGeo attendees do
> their research in many different fields, *we should be
> able to reach out to a large interdisciplinary
> community*. While very large Townhalls draw over 350
> people, *an expected size of 100 people* seems more
> realistic to start with (this is already twice the
> size of a Splinter Session). Reality check: In 2012,
> Alessandro Frigeri and myself were able to attract at
> least 40 people by putting up posters made in a copy
> shop two days ahead of the Splinter Session -
> geoscientists dig FOSS !.
> 3. *Funding for OSGeo-Live DVDs*: The Townhall would need
> reliable funding for the production of OSGeo-Live-DVDs
> before the conference.
> 4. *Funding for beverages/food*: Townhall sessions
> usally come with free “refreshments” (softdrinks,
> alcoholic beverages, finger food) for the attendees.
> The is only one company available for the catering:
> 1. Their estimate for *limited catering* (water,
> beer, some wine. breadsticks) for *100 people* is
> about *1500 Euro (ca. 2000 USD).*
> 2. A “*cash-bar“*, where the attendees (~100people)
> pay for themselves, costs about *1040 Euro (1450
> USD)* for labour wages and general effort.
> 3. Theoretically, having a *Townhall “on a diet”*
> without any beverages or food would be *possible*,
> but is rather *unusual.*
>
> Thanks for reading through all of this!
> I hope this overview will help you all to come up with a
> "well-informed opinion". Your thoughts would be much appreciated.
> Peter
>
> --
> Cameron Shorter,
> Software and Data Solutions Manager
> LISAsoft
> Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
> 26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
>
> P +61 2 9009 5000, Wwww.lisasoft.com, F +61 2 9009 5099
--
Cameron Shorter,
Software and Data Solutions Manager
LISAsoft
Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
P +61 2 9009 5000, W www.lisasoft.com, F +61 2 9009 5099
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