[OSGeo-Conf] North American FOSS4G conference

Mon Sep 26 18:27:07 EDT 2011

Karel and other Euro-folks,

The MapWindow team is having our 3rd International conference in The
Netherlands in June 2012. We would like to expand this as a regional FOSS4G.
If anyone is interested in discussing, please contact me and Paul Meems
(copied here).

Thanks,

- Dan
--------
Daniel P. Ames Ph.D.
Idaho State University Dept. of Geosciences
dan.ames at isu.edu
--------
Sent from my Droid
On Sep 23, 2011 2:37 PM, "Karel Charvat" <charvat at ccss.cz> wrote:
> Dave and Bart,
> I personally think, that rotation principle is good and I think, that is
> good to give chance not only for Europe and North America, but also for
> other parts of word. I am writing this as representative of organisation,
> who competed for this year. We join to the competition, when in first
round
> was not offer, before we didn't thinking about this. Only when there were
> not other offer, we tried to participate. As I mentioned, I am sure, that
> China will be organised good event.
> I would like also clarify, why we would like organised this Central and
> Eastern European event. For many people from post socialist countries
> (mainly for people working on Universities), where is many OS developers
is
> difficult or impossible to travel on FOSS conferences around the World.
And
> I think, that direct contact are useful and to organise regional events is
> chance for them to meet part of community. I think, that this is also
> important to support grooving of community in this way. I am sure, that
will
> be mistake to organise events, which could compeate for World FOSS4G, but
> regional events will help to establish cooperation, but also promote OS
> solution. I see also his as important aspect to establish ling among
> developers and users.
> I have also one recommendation, for big FOSS4G conference provide
selection
> two years in advance, it will give better possibilities and time for
> preparation of such large events, but also will give possibilities for
> better coordination with regional event.
> Karel
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: conference_dev-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
> [mailto:conference_dev-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Dave
McIlhagga
> Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 9:44 PM
> To: Bart van den Eijnden
> Cc: conference; OSGeo-Board List
> Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Conf] North American FOSS4G conference
>
> It depends on what OSGeo is trying to achieve through running conferences.
> Is it:
>
> 1. Provide an opportunity for a maximum number of developers to connect
face
> to face
> 2. Encourage adoption of OSGeo technologies
> 3. Raise funds for OSGeo
> 4. etc...
>
> Encouraging adoption fo OSGeo was the primary driver for the current 3
> region rotation, but I'm not sure if that's still the highest priority of
> the organization. Uncertainty in this matter led in some part to the
> difficulties in the selection process this year.
>
> I'd like to suggest that the Board conduct a full review of the conference
> selection process -- as it currently feels highly disconnected from the
> priorities of the board. The recent decision of the board to eliminate the
> Exec Director position was in part rooted in finances -- that's
> understandable, however at the same time, selecting China was likely not a
> wise choice if finances were the primary driver. Is it possible that this
> selection led directly to the termination of the ED position? Was that
wise?
>
>
> I believe the FOSS4G selection process is one of the most important
> decisions made annually by OSGeo as an organization. What concerns me is
> that this decision is currently effectively made by this committee without
> it being strongly connected to the priorities of the organization as a
> whole.
>
> If nothing else, given the financial link between this selection, and the
> viability of OSGeo, I believe fixing this process needs to be one of the
top
> priorities by the board.
>
> My 2 cents.
>
> Dave
>
>
>
>
>
> On 2011-09-23, at 3:05 PM, Bart van den Eijnden wrote:
>
>> I totally agree with what Volker says here.
>>
>> My personal preference would be a two year rotation between Europe and
> North America, with only local conferences in Other.
>>
>> Bart
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Sep 23, 2011, at 7:52 PM, Volker Mische <volker.mische at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I already wrote it in my blog post about the FOSS4G, but it should also
>>> hit the mailing lists as well.
>>>
>>> I don't think that a yearly North American FOSS4G is a good idea. I fear
>>> that people will be going there and the global one will die (especially
>>> next year, when it is "in some other country").
>>>
>>> A lot of devs in the FOSS4G world are from North America (I'd even say
>>> the majority, but I'm not sure about it). Those will definitely go to a
>>> North American event.
>>>
>>> I could imagine that many people from Europe can justify one conference
>>> to go somewhere in the world, when there's enough value. Which is for
>>> me, in case for the FOSS4G, meeting almost all core developers of the
>>> various FOSS4G projects.
>>>
>>> If I have the choice to meet all the North American developers and a lot
>>> of other ones as well, and the choice between meeting some American and
>>> European developers perhaps at some other place in the world (where it
>>> might even be harder to get there (think about past events like
>>> Australia)). Where would you go?
>>>
>>> And also important: where would the sponsors invest? It was already a
>>> hard time for the Sydney conference to cover the costs, how hard would
>>> it be if there's another big conference?
>>>
>>> For me those are reasons why the a global event might die, and that
>>> would be a shame. As we heard at (I think) the AGM, past conferences
>>> planted seeds in those locations.
>>>
>>> The rotating between Europe, North America and somewhere else makes a
>>> lot of sense to me, but if there will be a North American conference
>>> every year, we can just drop the "somewhere else" and go for a Europe,
>>> North America, North America rotation.
>>>
>>> For me the solution would be to make more localised conferences in North
>>> America, like a West Coast, East Coast, Central, Canadian one. This
>>> won't draw to much developers away from the global one. It would kind of
>>> the same as in Europe, where we also have local Chapter conferences.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Volker
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Conference_dev mailing list
>>> Conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference_dev
>>>
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