[OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter, network and structuration

[P Kishor]

On 8/26/08, Landon Blake <lblake at ksninc.com> wrote:
> Dave wrote: "If people are saying they can't attend [insert name of
>
> OSGeo event here], then it would be useful to state why they can't
>  attend. There is a difference between "travel/accommodation cost is 'too
>  high'"
>  and "my workplace has to authorize the travel, and they do not send
>  people to events outside the continent, regardless of the costs".
>
>
> I suppose my situation is somewhat unique. I only work on open source
>  GIS as a hobby, and it isn't really something my day job will support
>  financially. So in my case only events that are hosted locally or
>  regionally are possible.
>
>  I'm likely the exception to the rule, and not the rule.

Add me to your exceptions list...

I use both open source (mostly) and proprietary (sometimes) software
for both hobby and to make a living. Yet, I don't make enough of a
living to afford to go anywhere further than a medium-range drive/fly
(aka local to regional). Which is why the last MapServer conference
(it was still called MUM in those days) I attended was Ottawa, and
will continue to be the last until it comes back to Minnesota or some
such place close to home.

The conference also seems to have grown and become very big...
possibly a logical Darwinian evolution, with every edition being
bigger than the previous. The very first MUM1 at Minnesota had a
registration fee of about $100 (somewhere in the ballpark). The
registration fee for the current conference is upward of $500 (ZAR
3900 at the current exchange rate as provided by Google), which is
getting into the most commercial conference fee range. If such were
the user fee even at Minnesota, heck, even in my hometown of Madison,
WI, I would be hard-pressed to find justification or sponsors for it.

Perhaps it is time for an YAMC (on the lines of YAPC)...


>
>
>  Landon
>
>
>
>  -----Original Message-----
>  From: discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
>
> [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Dave Patton
>  Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 9:41 AM
>  To: OSGeo Discussions
>  Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Local Chapter, network and structuration
>
>
> On 2008/08/25 9:18 AM, Landon Blake wrote:
>  > There is no way I can go to FOSS4G in a foreign country, but I could
>  > likely get to a North American meeting on the West Coast. I'm sure
>  > others are in the same boat.
>
>  Well, North America's "West Coast" includes the
>  'foreign countries' of Canada and Mexico, if you
>  live in the USA.
>
>  If people are saying they can't attend [insert name
>  of OSGeo event here], then it would be useful to
>  state why they can't attend. There is a difference
>  between "travel/accommodation cost is 'too high'"
>  and "my workplace has to authorize the travel, and
>  they do not send people to events outside the
>  continent, regardless of the costs".
>
>  --
>  Dave Patton
>  CIS Canadian Information Systems
>  Victoria, B.C.
>
>  Degree Confluence Project:
>  Canadian Coordinator
>  Technical Coordinator
>  http://www.confluence.org/
>
>  OSGeo FOSS4G2007 conference:
>  Workshop Committee Chair
>  Conference Committee member
>  http://www.foss4g2007.org/
>
>  Personal website:
>  Maps, GPS, etc.
>  http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/
>  _______________________________________________
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>  http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
>
>
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-- 
Puneet Kishor http://punkish.eidesis.org/
Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies http://www.nelson.wisc.edu/
Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) http://www.osgeo.org/