[OSGeo-Discuss] Board Geographic Diversity

[P Kishor]

On 8/10/07, Steve Lime <Steve.Lime at dnr.state.mn.us> wrote:
> Hi all: Perhaps this has been discussed before, but... Given the apparent desire to maintain geographic diversity amongst OSgeo leadership perhaps in the future we might consider regionally based board seats.

This is absolutely the most wonderful, workable, and simplest idea to
this problem.

When I was casting my vote, I had little to go on. One vote went to
someone who I have met personally, if only briefly (that person won
the election). One vote went to someone from a geographic area other
than Europe/NA (that person did not win). The other votes were based
on my recollection of their contribution to the mailing lists,
software, activism, and somewhat on the nomination write-ups. It is
hard to compare someone who writes code (I don't as much... at least,
not basic code) to someone who evangelizes (I do a lot of that... I
just spent the entire morning yesterday giving a presentation on open
geospatial at the World Bank... it was received with a lot of
enthusiasm and interest).

Having regionally allocated board seats would cut down on some of this
comparison problem, and it would also ensure representation from
around the world, from regions that are different levels in diffusion
and adoption, and hence, need different kinds of work and involvement.

Thanks Steve, for suggesting this... I wholeheartedly second this.


> That is, you have representatives from:
>
> North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, South/Central America and Oceania
>
> If the bulk of activity is in North America and Europe then given them two seats. Then you have nominations within a region and so on... Every other year different geographic regions would be up for re-election. As a voting member you'd vote for candidates in each region.
>
> If organizational affiliation diversity is more important (government vs. higher education vs. private sector vs. hobbyist) than geographic diversity then the same idea would apply. We do that here in Minnesota for our state GIS/LIS consortium board. That board also has an at-large seat open to anyone.
>
> Just a thought...
>
> Steve
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>


-- 
Puneet Kishor http://punkish.eidesis.org/
Nelson Inst. for Env. Studies, UW-Madison http://www.nelson.wisc.edu/
Open Source Geospatial Foundation http://www.osgeo.org/education/
S&T Policy Fellow, National Academy of Sciences http://www.nas.edu/
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