RES: [OSGeo-Conf] 2011 Process

[Jorge Gaspar Sanz Salinas]

2009/11/3 Arnulf Christl (WhereGroup) <arnulf.christl at wheregroup.com>:
>
> 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.
>

OSGeo-ES is not very present at this time in SA, there are interesting
people like the GeoTUX group at Colombia and many many people
supporting free software at Venezuela, for example. But the "OSGeo"
brand is not really present there, but well, it's my feeling.

Indeed, enforce the presence of OSGeo at SA is one of the main goals
of OSGeo-ES, and for the first time OSGeo was presented at SA* in
Buenos Aires at the gvSIG conf by Valenty González from Venezuela.

* I would not place Cuba at SA

> 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?
>

The gvSIG latinamerican conf is like other conferences that active
users have been promoting. In Europe we have confs at Italy (Trieste),
at Germany (Munich) and next year seems that will be another one at
GB. The real difference is maybe the geographic scale.

So yes, I see it as a complementary conference for a future FOSS4G
conf. In Spain, as you know we have the Girona meeting and the gvSIG
one and both are quite succesful (you'll enjoy at Girona, believe me).

Regards
-- 
Jorge Gaspar Sanz Salinas
Ingeniero en Geodesia y Cartografía
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Jorge_Sanz