[California] Fwd: [OSGeo-Discuss] northamerica regional chapter

[Alex Mandel]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] northamerica regional chapter
Date: Sun, 06 Nov 2011 08:56:54 -0500
From: Mark Lucas <mlucas17 at mac.com>
Reply-To: OSGeo Discussions <discuss at lists.osgeo.org>
To: OSGeo Discussions <discuss at lists.osgeo.org>

I was recently re-elected to the OSGeo Board of Directors where we have
been having a discussion on future organization and strategy.

A number of us have been discussing this subject at the OSGeo board
level and later on the northamerica chapter list.  Additionally, we have
tried to reach out to a number of existing chapters within the the North
America region.  We've decided to expand the discussion to the broader
discuss list for additional comment.

http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/North_America_Regional

The primary objective of this regional chapter would be to organize an
annual north american conference and act as a resource for open source
geospatial businesses and consultants as they promote OSS business
models and solutions.  Recent discussion at the board level has
suggested that the current board should act as an international umbrella
for regional chapters.  Perhaps we end up with regional annual
conferences in Europe, North America, Asia with the international foss4g
conference cycling through the regions.

Business practices, cultures, and focus areas will tend to be different
and carry differing priorities in various regions.  Regional chapters
could better address those needs.

I'm focused on this because we are seeing a dramatic rise in interest
for OSS geospatial software as government budgets are being slashed.
These government agencies are looking  for organizations to connect
with.   There will be new opportunities for developers, consultants, and
companies in the near term.  An annual regional conference is a good
place to vector these agencies to.  As companies see these trends they
are getting more interested in open source approaches - we therefore
have an opportunity for increased sponsorship as well.

We are not interested in duplicating effort, and this doesn't imply any
sort of oversight or management of existing local chapters - quite the
opposite, we would want to work with the local chapters for any
conferences that might occur in those areas.

I'd like to get your support, cooperation, and input as we sort through
this and I'd encourage you to join up on the mailing list to help guide
the process.  http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/northamerica

To date the discussion has been favorable in moving this forward.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

Mark



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