[OSGeo-Discuss] OSGeo community Maxed out?

[Allan Doyle]

We are also supposed to do another round of bringing in Voting  
Members, aren't we? I would hope that doing so would have the effect  
of bringing in some new people with new energy.

	Allan

On Oct 26, 2006, at 04:04, Tyler Mitchell wrote:

> With all the international local chapters starting up, I see it as  
> a sign that we have a much larger group of potential volunteers,  
> companies, etc. that could work with us.  As we get to know the  
> broader community (and they get to know us), I expect we'll find  
> more resources to help address the unending stream of great ideas.
>
> It will take some deliberate effort though to bridge the geographic  
> and linguistic gaps among us, but I don't think it is insurmountable.
>
> Tyler
>
> On 25-Oct-06, at 5:05 PM, Venkatesh Raghavan wrote:
>
>> I think we should prioritize on 5 target
>> setting a deadline as Feb, 2007 (first
>> anniversary of OSGeo) to achieve those
>> targets. My personal priority would be
>>
>> 1) Bring out an illustrative book on
>>    OSGeo Software reporting examples
>>    how OSGeo is being used in various
>>    projects. Focus on OSGeo use in
>>    local governments would be good.
>>    Examples from Americas, Europe,
>>    Asia, South America, Africa etc. would be
>>    great
>>
>> 2) Bring out one public geo-data set.
>>    Vmap0 could be a good initial set
>>    if ESRI copyright issues could be
>>    sorted out for some of the Vmap0 layers.
>>
>> 3) OSGeo Stack effort. Bring out the
>>    first OSGeo Software CD by consolidating
>>    efforts http://telascience.sdsc.edu/tela_data/foss4g/
>>
>> 4) Bring out a short OSGeo newsletter that
>>    can be translated to various language.
>>    And  widely circulate it by identifying
>>    various "Media Partners". Ask local Chapter
>>    Representative to give short descriptions
>>    of their activities.
>>
>> 5) Pursue the 501(c)3 status for OSGeo
>>
>> After prioritize identify people who will
>> commit their time and energy and bring out
>> something by the Feb 2007 deadline.
>>
>> Best Regards
>>
>> Venka
>>
>>
>> Frank Warmerdam wrote:
>>> Cameron Shorter wrote:
>>>> I've noticed that OSGeo as a community seems to be Maxed out.  
>>>> When an good idea is thrown out into the ether, people comment  
>>>> on it, but are not following through with committment to the task.
>>>  >
>>>> This was not the case 6 months to a year ago when people were  
>>>> jumping in left, right and center to help out.
>>>>
>>>> I believe this is because the OSGeo community is now working at  
>>>> full capacity of its current membership.
>>> Cameron,
>>> I agree to a large extent, though I think that ever since the
>>> beginning we have talked about a lot more than we were capable
>>> of actually acting on.  Nevertheless, I can see a saturation or
>>> even over saturation being reached for many core folks, myself
>>> included.
>>>> Solutions:
>>>> 1. Work more efficiently.
>>>> 2. Stop coming up with good ideas.
>>>> 3. Start recruiting around the edges of the OSGeo Community.
>>>> Eg: For packaging the OSGeo Stack, we could draw upon the linux  
>>>> packaging communities.
>>> Working more efficiently is fine where it applies.
>>> I don't think there is a need to stop coming up with good ideas.
>>> But I will say that it is to be expected that we come up with more
>>> good ideas than we can execute on, at least in the short term.
>>> Sometimes ideas are floated, there is some interest, but no one  
>>> takes
>>> ownership so it sort of fades away.
>>> This is the way of things in the open source world, and the world at
>>> large.  Hopefully if something is sufficiently important/interesting
>>> there will be someone willing to take on responsibility and it can
>>> proceed.  Otherwise it sits on the shelf as an interesting idea, and
>>> might be picked up at some point in the future.
>>>> We are all Open Source community builders. No one should be more  
>>>> qualified than us at extending our community.
>>> That sounds reasonable. I do think we need to find ways for more
>>> people to get involved.  In many cases there are people who are
>>> interested in helping, but don't know how to help.  In other cases,
>>> we haven't really reached out to the right people.  I think we need
>>> to improve on both fronts, and that we will do so over time.
>>> I certainly agree that with the current set of core community  
>>> contributors
>>> we are reaching a level of saturation.  The solution is new  
>>> blood, and
>>> helping existing folks who feel left out get involved.
>>> We will also just have to be realistic about how much we can  
>>> actually
>>> accomplish.  Some worthwhile things will be left undone, and  
>>> generally
>>> thats ok as long as we don't leave really key items undone.
>>> By the way, the OSGeo Stack effort is definately an example of an  
>>> important
>>> effort that is currently essentially inactive for lack of someone to
>>> really take ownership.  In other circumstances, I'd be interested in
>>> taking it on, but I'm feeling stretched very thin already.
>>> I'd also say we don't seem to have quite reached a consensus on what
>>> we are trying to achieve.  For instance there is still a lot of  
>>> debate
>>> about targetting specific linux distribution packaging systems,  
>>> while I
>>> (for one) think that is a mistake, and we need to take a  
>>> distribution
>>> agnostic approach even though I am very supportive of efforts by  
>>> folks
>>> like the Debian GIS team.
>>> Best regards,
>>
>>
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-- 
Allan Doyle
+1.781.433.2695
adoyle at eogeo.org