[OSGeo-Discuss] OSGeo: Taking stock of OSGeo after six months

[Tyler Mitchell]

Great comments, questions and ideas Tim!  I'm with you 100%.

Tyler

On 16-Aug-06, at 10:25 PM, Tim Bowden wrote:

> On Wed, 2006-08-16 at 10:11 -0700, Gary Lang wrote:
>> As a board member, I’d like to throw out a question to our audience,
>> as we reach the six-month mark.
>>
>> I’d be very interested to hear the general public’s description of  
>> the
>> following, from their perspective:
>>
>> What’s not working about OSGeo?
>>
>> What is working about OSGeo?
>>
>> Thanks ahead of time for your comments.
>>
>> Gary
>>
>
> Gary,  some comments on the first six months and some questions for  
> the
> board/ list.
>
> As a lurker on this list it has been very exciting for me to see the
> OSGeo foundation take off.  It gives us the opportunity for 'branding'
> and market presence.  Some Issues I see:  The incubation process seems
> to be taking some time to get going.  Others who are involved have
> already said enough about this one.
>
> Allied project hosting: This is probably a subset of the incubation
> process, but recently the gpsd project was looking for hosting.  Is
> there any reason why the board can't have the discretionary power to
> make a quick decision to host a project with simple needs that is  
> of use
> and value to osgeo members without it being a formal part of or
> 'protected' by osgeo?  The more complex the procedure, the less use
> osgeo can be to small projects.
>
> Logo usage: As a 'fellow traveller' rather than a member (voting/
> financial/ however) I'd like an easy way to register (for want of a
> better word) to use some sort of osgeo logo in my business/ web  
> site as
> my consulting work is mostly GeoFOSS based.  Has this gone anywhere?
>
> In asking for this I realise there is a conflict between promoting  
> osgeo
> and protecting the brand;  I do want to use the osgeo brand (in  
> whatever
> capacity I may be allowed), but I don't want the brand diminished by
> organisations or individuals who will discredit or misrepresent the
> organisation (either unintentionally or intentionally).  Some control
> obviously needs to be put on how and who uses the logo.  That's a
> problem for better minds than mine, but it's one of the important
> challenges I see.
>
> Annual conf: I take it foss4g2006.org is the forerunner to
> conf.osgeo.org?  To what extent will it travel around the globe?  I  
> take
> it this will depend on local osgeo chapters to do the legwork?  Will
> various chapters 'bid' for the privilege of hosting the conf?
>
> Hot issues & media releases:  Does the board have the skill/ authority
> to generate quick media releases pushing the osgeo position (is there
> such a thing?) to the media when issues are hot?  Ie, geoDRM, free
> geodata, patents etc?  Is osgeo on the radar of the 'GeoMedia'?  If  
> not,
> who is putting us there and keeping us there?  Is it possible for  
> us to
> react quickly enough before an issue loses focus in the media?  Does
> Osgeo plan to get monthly coverage in the various regional geo print
> media?
>
> Lots of questions, but I think the time is coming when we need to
> address some of these issues in a more visible way.
>
> Thanks,
> Tim Bowden
> Mapforge Geospatial
>
>
>
>
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