RES: [OSGeo-Conf] 2011 Process

[Arnulf Christl (WhereGroup)]

On Mon, November 2, 2009 16:26, Jorge Gaspar Sanz Salinas wrote:
> 2009/11/2 Arnulf Christl <arnulf.christl at wheregroup.com>:
>
>>
>> On Fri, October 30, 2009 11:49, Rafael Medeiros Sperb wrote:
>>
>>> Folks,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Before we go ahead, I would like to know whether the ideia of having
>>> the International FOSS4G every two years will be considered, as
>>> discussed in Sidney? In this case, we would have international and
>>> regional meetings alternating each other.
>>>
>>> Warm regards,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Rafael
>>>
>>
>> Rafael,
>> from my tiny perspective Brazil is a continent of its own and should
>> therefore also have at least one annually recurring event of its own.
>> During bootstrapping this is a heavy load on those starting it up but
>> the second or third event can - if you manage accordingly - run on its
>> own.
>>
>
> Well, maybe I'm missing something in that thread but Brazil has its
> FOSS4G event at http://geolivre.com/ this month on Brasilia.

Brazil has events since 2004, in 2005 they invited Daniel Morissette and
me to the II Encontro Nacional de Usarios Mapserver (I still have the
shirt). So yes, they are very active. Which is why I asked whether an
international FOSS4G event is needed to get things seed started at all.
Potentially due to community burn out the last version of the event was a
little less successful which is why I mentioned that distributing
responsibility on more shoulders helps shift the burden a bit.

> But I have no idea if they are connected with OSGeo or OSGeo-Brazil in
> any way

Yes and no. Geolivre is more a company driven event and OSGeo might appear
as an invited guest. As in many regions there seem to be somewhat
competing local communities with sometimes differing interests. I can tell
stories from Germany, others from Canada or Italy. Same s... everywhere.
But diversity is good. :-)

>> But it is very important to have you here on the conference committee
>> to add a Brazilian perspective. Ideally some folks from Spanish speaking
>> SA
>> will also eventually join, for them it definitely makes sense to have a
>> local conference in their language. I guess Barcelona will be the right
>>  time to bootstrap them, if they are not already under way, Lorenzo is
>> very active.
>>
>> Can you argument in favor of having the international FOSS4G in Brazil
>> apart form it being a great venue and probably offering the most lively
>> night life ever? Would it help the cause of OSGeo in Brazil, spread
>> word, mission and so on? This might sound like a rhetoric question but I
>> guess we should know because it will give us the option to adjust a
>> localized FOSS4G event to address these questions.
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>> Arnulf.
>>
>>
>
> On the other hand, this year was the first gvSIG conference for
> Latinamerican and Caribe, with a lot enthusiasm and success AFAIK.
> Next year will be at Venezuela and probably next on Brazil. So the
> thinks in SA are moving and I see a growing "market" there for OSGeo and
> free geosoftware.
>
> Best regards
> --
> Jorge Gaspar Sanz Salinas
> Ingeniero en Geodesia y Cartografía
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Jorge_Sanz

That was also my impression. I am unsure whether Hispano Hablante SA is
prepared to go for a kind of "continental" event. I think it would help to
have a localized seed FOSS4G somewhere happen before the global tribe
strikes.

But now that we are talking - what are your plans for gvSIG anyway? Are
you planning to keep it going as a complementary event to FOSS4G and all
the local events, like the project's conference?

Regards,
Arnulf.