[OSGeo-Conf] 2011 Discussion

[Helena Mitasova]

Paul,

I am very much with you on this and I vote for [B].

I would just add few more reasons:
- although the conference is every year the locations make it very  
difficult
for many to participate, so except for the core people with sufficient
funding we are not really meeting every year
- it is practically impossible to send students to far away locations  
every year
but it would be much more feasible to get them to participate somewhere
close and select the best one to go to the FOSS4G International every  
other year
(something done right now with "somewhere close" not being an OSGeo
conference and International not "every other other year" but "when  
feasible")
- many government employees cannot participate  and are chosing other  
venues
to connect with open source geospatial community
- open source GIS sections are starting to build up at various
annual professional conferences and they may become more viable options
for meeting like minded developers and users of osgeo tools
than traveling too far every year so the annual FOSS4G may fade away as
too exotic option (related to Paul's note on "Be careful what you wish  
for") and one
could just wait few years until it gets to a feasible location or  
until one saves
enough to go wherever it is - so it may end up once in 3-4 years
- "FOSS4G International" sounds really great

I may be completely wrong on this so please take this strictly
as my individual opinion,

Helena

Helena Mitasova
Associate Professor
Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
North Carolina State University
1125 Jordan Hall
NCSU Box 8208
Raleigh, NC 27695-8208
http://skagit.meas.ncsu.edu/~helena/

email: hmitaso at unity.ncsu.edu
ph: 919-513-1327 (no voicemail)
fax 919 515-7802




On Apr 20, 2009, at 11:36 AM, Paul Ramsey wrote:

> I am finding it hard to vote :) The thing about an annual
> international conference, even one constrained to a EUR/NA/OTH
> pattern, is that for people restricted in their travel approvals it is
> effectively a tri-annual event. (I remember being put out when the
> decision to put 2006 in Lausanne (and in fall rather than spring)
> meant a 30 month delay between North American events. It's a good
> thing I'm older and mellower now, or the 48 month gap between the 2007
> event and the (as yet still not for sure in NA) 2011 event would drive
> me over the edge.
>
> Allow me to channel the channel: "So hold your own regional event!"
> My response: "Be careful what you wish for."
>
> I vote for [B], if OSGeo doesn't take on the regional events, someone
> else will, and it won't be good for OSGeo or FOSS4G.
>
> P.
>
> On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 1:01 AM, Claude Philipona
> <claude.philipona at camptocamp.com> wrote:
>> I vote for [A].
>>
>> I think we shjould maintain an international conference every year.
>> Two years is too long considering the technology life cycle.
>>
>> I'm also ok with the comments from Gavin.
>>
>> Claude
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 19:31, Jeff McKenna
>> <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com> wrote:
>>> OSGeo Conference Committee members,
>>>
>>> I haven't seen any other discussions, or modifications to the 2011  
>>> Wiki
>>> page, since I suggested that we hold a vote to determine what  
>>> changes (if
>>> any) are required for 2011.  So I will continue on with the plan.
>>>
>>> Please vote on one of the 4 options for 2011, as outlined on the  
>>> 2011 Wiki
>>> page[1]:
>>>
>>>  A. Modified Status Quo
>>>  B. Two Track Strategy
>>>  C. Both Annual and Regional Events in Same Year
>>>  D. No changes to the Existing Process
>>>
>>> If the successful option requires changes to the FOSS4G hosting  
>>> process, the
>>> changes will be brought to the OSGeo Board for approval.  Voting  
>>> can occur
>>> for one week, until the end of the 21st.
>>>
>>> For those wondering who is currently on the OSGeo Conference  
>>> Committee,
>>> please see the associated Wiki page[2].
>>>
>>> I'll start with posting my vote:
>>>
>>>  B. Two Track Strategy
>>>
>>> [1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_Reboot_2011
>>> [2] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Conference_Committee
>>>
>>>
>>> -jeff
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Jeff McKenna wrote:
>>>>
>>>> OSGeo Conference Committee members,
>>>>
>>>> I'd like to pick this discussion up again.
>>>>
>>>> Thank you Paul for bringing this issue up.  I also feel that  
>>>> change is
>>>> needed in our process, for 2011.
>>>>
>>>> I have modified Paul's initial 2011 page by adding the existing
>>>> observations that were made on this mailing list
>>>> (http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_Reboot_2011), and I now ask  
>>>> all OSGeo
>>>> conference committee members to give it a good read and place  
>>>> your thoughts
>>>> on that page, and make changes to the options wherever necessary.
>>>>
>>>> After some discussion on this issue (giving a week or so for  
>>>> this), I
>>>> would like to call a vote on modifying the 2011 process, starting  
>>>> on the
>>>> 14th of this month.   That should give the committee some time to  
>>>> come up
>>>> with some solid options for 2011.  Voting will begin on the 14th,  
>>>> and the
>>>> voting period will close on the 21st.  The results of the vote  
>>>> will be
>>>> brought to the OSGeo board for approval.
>>>>
>>>> I personally am really proud of what the FOSS4G event has  
>>>> accomplished
>>>> around the world, and am looking forward to improving this event  
>>>> process for
>>>> the future years.
>>>>
>>>> -jeff
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> Conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference_dev
>>>
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