[Board] Responding to emails

Thu May 7 04:42:57 PDT 2015

OK, Jeff, you've convinced me to respond.

I generally follow the "Bart model". I will respond when I think I have
something useful to add but not just if I'm in general agreement.

I do strongly support Jeff's position that requests need to be public and
not just private emails to the president. And I agree that its not always
clear that some emails are requests for the board to "do something" as
opposed to just keeping the board informed on activity.

I do support the Open Letter but, like Jeff, would have preferred it not
target a specific company but instead focus on the benefits on keeping a
format open. I think the recent Geo-Hipster interview
(http://geohipster.com/2015/05/04/martin-isenburg-may-the-foss-be-with-laz/
) highlighted something that wasn't in the open letter, namely the use of
a format in the browser environment, eg, laz-perf, an javascript port of
the laz format 
(http://groups.google.com/d/topic/lastools/BBQq2y1Ex8A/discussion) . This
isn't something that can be done in a closed format and really highlights
the differences quickly.

Mike

----
Michael Smith
OSGeo Foundation Treasurer
treasurer at osgeo.org

On 5/7/15, 7:30 AM, "Jeff McKenna" <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com> wrote:

>Regarding the comments that some OSGeo Board members purposely remain
>quiet: I'd remind all Board members to join discussions, share their
>opinions, even if it is a quick "+1" on a discussion.  We've all been
>voted here in this role to represent the community (or, think of a Board
>discussion as a ticket, an issue in Github {wait is that the future of
>the Board? it sure could be useful, if Board members prefer to tackle
>issues that way, and track them}.   Thanks for keeping this in mind
>everyone,
>
>-jeff
>
>
>
>
>On 2015-05-06 10:10 AM, Daniel Morissette wrote:
>> Thank you for the clarification Bart. It sounds like we are both
>> thinking the same way then.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Daniel
>>
>>
>> On 2015-05-06 8:35 AM, Bart van den Eijnden wrote:
>>> Hey Daniel,
>>>
>>> I was not in any way saying that Cameron has not done most of these
>>> already. Just wanted to briefly outline how I handle traffic on the
>>> e-mail list.
>>>
>>> Personally I don¹t feel that clear e-mails are disrespectful in any
>>> way, I¹d rather have people be clear on what they expect of us and
>>> when. But that¹s my 2 cents.
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>> Bart
>>>
>>>> On 06 May 2015, at 14:22, Daniel Morissette
>>>> <dmorissette at mapgears.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi Bart,
>>>>
>>>> While I fully agree with your recommendations in general, I don't
>>>> think anyone can blame Cameron of not being clear in his
>>>> communications. IMHO those recommendations were already applied in
>>>> his emails and I don't think he can be much more explicit than he has
>>>> been.
>>>>
>>>> Don't you think that if one adds even more explicit deadlines and
>>>> action requests as you suggest then it will just increase the risk of
>>>> being perceived as "disrespectful" of board volunteers time, to reuse
>>>> the exact word that was used in this thread already?
>>>>
>>>> Daniel
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 2015-05-06 7:08 AM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>>>>> Thanks Bart, wise advise as always.
>>>>> Cheers, Cameron.
>>>>>
>>>>> On 6/05/2015 4:40 pm, Bart van den Eijnden wrote:
>>>>>> Hey Cameron,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> my suggestions would be:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 1) make it really clear what your deadline is for responses (maybe
>>>>>> also use e-mail priority or something very visible in the subject in
>>>>>> case of urgency)
>>>>>> 2) make it clear if you need the board to vote on something (you can
>>>>>> ask one of us to raise a motion) or you just need an opinion /
>>>>>> opinions
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In the case of opinions, I normally don¹t respond to something a
>>>>>> previous board member has said if I¹m in general consent. If I
>>>>>> disagree or have other points, I¹ll chime in, but otherwise I¹ll be
>>>>>> silent.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>>> Bart
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 05 May 2015, at 22:43, Cameron Shorter
>>>>>>><cameron.shorter at gmail.com
>>>>>>> <mailto:cameron.shorter at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Jeff, OSGeo Board,
>>>>>>> I'm finding it difficult to engage effectively with the OSGeo Board
>>>>>>> in a timely manner and am looking for suggestions on how to
>>>>>>> improve that.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Is the OSGeo-Board email list still the best forum to discuss
>>>>>>>ideas?
>>>>>>> Would it be easier if I wrote more concisely, and less often? (Try
>>>>>>>to
>>>>>>> increase signal-to-noise ratio)?
>>>>>>> Maybe limit to specific proposals: "I propose the OSGeo board
>>>>>>>support
>>>>>>> ..."?
>>>>>>> Maybe not ask as much of the OSGeo Board?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'm asking following on from discussion about the Open LIDAR
>>>>>>>Letter,
>>>>>>> which had significant discussion, across a number of email lists,
>>>>>>>as
>>>>>>> well as private discussions. I'm hoping we can learn and improve.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Next, I'm hoping we can finalise an OSGeo Code of Conduct /
>>>>>>>Diversity
>>>>>>> Statement, and am interested to know whether board members want to
>>>>>>>be
>>>>>>> involved in this? I'm hoping that there is still sufficient energy
>>>>>>>to
>>>>>>> take this through to completion.
>>>>>>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Diversity
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 5/05/2015 9:57 am, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>>>>>>>> Hi Jeff, as per below, I note that you prefer to discuss emails in
>>>>>>>> public. I'm cool with that.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> In this case, I emailed yourself, CC public board list. I followed
>>>>>>>> up with a private reminder email as I thought you might have
>>>>>>>> forgotten the email, or lost it in an email folder somewhere. (I
>>>>>>>> note you are usually more responsive).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thanks for responding with your thoughts. It helps to understand
>>>>>>>> where you are coming from rather than guessing to know if you have
>>>>>>>> received the email or not.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Regards, Cameron
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 5/05/2015 8:36 AM, Jeff McKenna wrote:
>>>>>>>>> As you already know (from now years of seeing me in this
>>>>>>>>>position),
>>>>>>>>> I don't send official e-mails on behalf of the entire OSGeo
>>>>>>>>> foundation because of some offlist pings; I request that we
>>>>>>>>>discuss
>>>>>>>>> next steps (if any?) for the Board, or that you made a request to
>>>>>>>>> the OSGeo Board for next steps, and we can discuss openly.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> -jeff
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On 2015-04-28 5:56 AM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> Hi Jeff,
>>>>>>>>>> Thanks for adding the cover letter to the LiDAR Open Letter.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> The second part of this motion was for the OSGeo President to
>>>>>>>>>> email the
>>>>>>>>>> letter to the OGC, ESRI and ASPRS. (Suggested email addresses
>>>>>>>>>>are
>>>>>>>>>> toward
>>>>>>>>>> the bottom of this email thread).
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Would you mind CCing a public archived email list (probably the
>>>>>>>>>> board
>>>>>>>>>> list) so that we have an official record of the Open Letter
>>>>>>>>>>being
>>>>>>>>>> delivered. (Alternatively, you can forward, or notify the list
>>>>>>>>>> instead).
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Hopefully any response you receive will also be sent to the
>>>>>>>>>>public
>>>>>>>>>> list.
>>>>>>>>>> If not, can you please ask if you can share the response
>>>>>>>>>>publicly.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>>>>> Cameron
>>>>>>>> --
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