[OSGeo-Conf] Incubation, osgeo-EU and FOSS4G

[Steven Feldman]

Interesting thoughts Maxi

I am only going to respond to the comments about FOSS4G

Have prices gone up? I thought they had stayed at around $600 for the last few years?
I attend quite a lot of tech events and the large ones always tend to be more expensive than the small ones. It’s a reverse scale thing (you can do small events cheaper than large ones). $200/day is at the lower end of what I see at tech events, particularly multi day events.
You say you don’t need fancy locations but we need a venue that can provide facilities for 800+ people, that means a large hall for plenaries and something like 10-15 rooms for all of the talks and we want facilities for workshops. That doesn’t come cheaply, plus we want wifi, food etc.
The surplus that an event makes is somewhere around 50% of the sponsorship income, i.e. without commercial sponsors we would make a loss, that also means that we have to design an event that sponsors want to support and that provides them with some return on investment. FOSS4G is OSGeo’s number one source of income, it funds our very light level of activities, marketing, codesprints etc and provides the backstop for the day when something goes wrong at a FOSS4G and we don’t make a surplus (unless we want the volunteers to take that financial risk on our behalf?)
Maybe there is a need to re-invent FOSS4G. What would this more accessible event look like? Should we start this discussion before we have the call for FOSS4G 2018?


______
Steven


> On 11 May 2016, at 10:01, massimiliano cannata <massimiliano.cannata at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: <conference_dev-owner at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:conference_dev-owner at lists.osgeo.org>>
> Date: 2016-05-11 10:41 GMT+02:00
> Subject: Incubation, osgeo-EU and FOSS4G
> To: massimiliano.cannata at supsi.ch <mailto:massimiliano.cannata at supsi.ch>
> 
> 
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> 
> ---------- Messaggio inoltrato ----------
> From: Massimiliano Cannata <massimiliano.cannata at supsi.ch <mailto:massimiliano.cannata at supsi.ch>>
> To: OSGeo Board <board at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:board at lists.osgeo.org>>, OSGeo Discussions <discuss at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:discuss at lists.osgeo.org>>, OSGeo Incubator Committee <incubator at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:incubator at lists.osgeo.org>>, "<conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org>>" <conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org>>
> Cc: 
> Date: Wed, 11 May 2016 10:41:55 +0200
> Subject: Incubation, osgeo-EU and FOSS4G
> Sorry for cross-posting but these recent topics (which took place on different lists) took myself to reflect about our foundation.
> 
> 
> 
> Summary of the long mail below (for those who don't have time go trough :-D )
> 
> =================================================================
> 
> DISCUSSION: only a small number of people take part to the discussions, why?
> 
> INCUBATION: we care about high quality, long term sustainable and reliable solutions, who cares of governance models?
> 
> BUSINESS AND OSGEO(EU): we are a foundation of people not of companies, we don't have to do business!
> 
> FOSS4G CONFERENCES: fees are a barrier, we are building exclusive events rather then being inclusive, who care about revenue!
> 
> 
> 
> More explanation of my thoughts (for those who have time to spend and go deeper :-o )
> 
> ==================================================================
> 
> I'm an environmental engineer and thus far from being a rigorous informatics or an economist or a social science expert. Nevertheless in these last 20 years (from Bangkok to Seoul without missing a single one) I had the opportunity to met those words, make some experience and learn a bit.
> That's to say that i do not have the truth in my pockets and I'm open to change my view.
> 
> DISCUSSIONS
> First a small consideration, those topics are discussed by a small number of people with respect of the total members of our community. It means that A) the arguments are not of high interest B) silent people are shy and do not feel to be in the position to add value to the conversation C) people think it is a waste of time. 
> This is often happening and my impression is that people just don't care to much of these 'political' issues but only of technical matters.
> 
> INCUBATION
> My understanding is that OSGeo trough the incubation process aims at guarantee high quality, long term sustainable and reliable solutions to show that FOSS Geospatial technology is valuable and credible. In this view the governance model adopted (PSC, dictator or whatever) is of secondary importance to me as long as the software respond to the above mentioned requisites. I personally prefer clear process rather then open-in-words but fake-in-fact rules.
> 
> BUSINESS AND OSGEO(EU)
> OSGeo is an organisation of people. Not of sectors or groups or parties. Of course people belong to categories and this tend to influence the way they see the world. For this reason people tend to contribute to the community for their competence and interest within committees or working groups. It is not the mandate of OSGeo making lobbies or acquire mandates. To me OSGeo should get together great projects and people to offer the world the possibility of advance and improve the life of people. I know It is a bit exaggerated but when i think of open source i see it as a mean of equity: like making  accessible food and sanitation and drinking water and medicine to everyone in the world. Making tools for a better governance available to all.
> OSGeo is about mutually sharing experiences, ideas, solutions not building business. For this LocationTech which is a community of companies / entities I understood is more suited.
> So my vision is OSGeo focused on people not on companies or groups. Splitting the community is not an advancement but a loss of value.
> 
> FOSS4G CONFERENCES
> This is the momentum. Here i have always get inspiration from listening talks, discussing with people, talking with friends. It used to be a very inclusive event: the peak of the FOSS4G iceberg. I'm saying "it use to be" because prices are year by year growing so much that today they represent a barrier. I would have liked to came with 5 people from my group but this is simply not economically sustainable: as a result the younger will lose this opportunity to join the community and breath the breeze of Open innovation. If i compare FOSS4G prices (rate per day) with other comparable events they are higher. I personally don't need fancy locations and I am more interested in involving more people rather then having high revenue for the foundation. I want to meet students, people from low income countries, small companies, start-up. Let's find a way to be Open..
> 
> 
> 
> MAY THE FOSS BE WITH YOU !
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> -- 
> 
> Dr. Eng. Massimiliano Cannata
> Responsabile Area Geomatica
> Istituto Scienze della Terra
> Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana
> Via Trevano, c.p. 72
> CH-6952 Canobbio-Lugano
> Tel: +41 (0)58 666 62 14
> Fax +41 (0)58 666 62 09
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