[OSGeo-Conf] FOSS4G Cookbook

[Peter Batty]

Hi Cameron, I'm definitely interested in this, FOSS4G has got to a scale
where we really need this.

One other semi-related item that has been on my mind is extending the web
site we put together this year, based on Drupal, for use in future years. It
uses an open source conference management module but we only enabled some
parts of that. It wouldn't be too much work to get Jonathan, who did the
site for us, to extend the functionality so it could handle the whole
abstract submission and selection process (but enough work that we would
have to pay him something, as we did for his initial work).

Managing abstracts was a real pain for us this year with a lot of manual
work to move them around through the process. They came in through one
system, we did initial sorting in one spreadsheet, they went to Paul
Ramsey's voting system then back into another spreadsheet which we couldn't
easily cross-reference to the previous one, we did some duplicate checking
in a separate database system, and ended up with two spreadsheets for the
academic and main tracks, then at the end it was a lot of work to schedule
the selected papers, notify people, and put the info on the web site. And
then you have to manage the process of people dropping out and filling those
slots. Having all these manual steps is very error prone too. Finally we now
have the question of getting slides online, which would be much easier if
people could upload their own, which they could if we were using this module
fully.

This whole process would be massively streamlined if we used the conference
management module the whole way through.

So anyway, I'm inclined to take a little money from the FOSS4G proceeds and
get this done for the benefit of future FOSS4Gs. I think this would also be
a tangible benefit that OSGeo could provide for people doing FOSS4G events
(global or local) that would help justify the event contributing something
back to OSGeo from the event proceeds (though that's a separate topic).

I'm not quite sure who (if anyone) I need to get permission from to do this.
I would certainly welcome thoughts from this group. I can check with the
board if the thought is that I need to do that. Or can just go ahead - the
amount of money involved is small compared to other budget items I've been
dealing with on FOSS4G. But obviously I only want to do it if others think
it's a good idea.

Cheers,
    Peter.

On Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 4:52 AM, Cameron Shorter
<cameron.shorter at gmail.com>wrote:

> I suggest that we, the conference committee and interested people, should
> organically start building a FOSS4G Cookbook.
>
> The Cookbook should cover all the aspects of putting on a FOSS4G
> conference, including such things as:
>
> * Schedule coming up to the conference
> * Budget
> * Program
> * Web Site
> * Catering
> * Venue selection
>
> Initially much of the content for this cookbook can be drawn directly from
> Lessons Learned from previous years. As more events are run, I'd expect
> ideas to evolve and the Cookbook to grow with it.
>
> I see two key advantages of such a Cookbook:
>
> 1. Access to such information will make it much easier for someone to put
> on a FOSS4G conference
>
> 2. The Cookbook can be used as a baseline to guide deciding whether a
> conference may make use of the FOSS4G brand. This will help maintain the
> quality associated with the FOSS4G brand.
>
> Do others see value in building such a document?
> I'm assuming we should build the Cookbook as a wiki, but am happy to hear
> suggestions for other collaborative tools.
> If there is sufficient interest, I'll build a skeleton of the Cookbook, and
> invite others to contribute content.
>
> --
> Cameron Shorter
> Geospatial Solutions Manager
> Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
>
> Think Globally, Fix Locally
> Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
> http://www.lisasoft.com
>
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