[OSGeo-Discuss] Defining an OSGeo Ambassador role

Sat May 5 08:46:25 EDT 2012

There was a discussion about responsibility of Charter members
http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2011-December/009239.html

and a wiki page (see below) was initiated (at the request of a Board member)
but not much input after that.
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_charter_member_page_instruction

I also made several suggestions to the board which till date is answered 
by anyone
on the OSGeo board.
See thread http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2012-January/009337.html

Venka

On 2012/05/05 21:01, Margherita Di Leo wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I support the ideas exposed by Cameron and Stefano. Particularly for what
> concerns charter members, as a charter member, I am aware that voting the
> boarding members is a strong responsibility, but I think we should have
> more responsibilities linked to our role. Personally, since I have been
> voted as a charter member, I have considered myself somehow
> an OSGeo "ambassador", for example including the Foundation in my
> presentations, spreading out FOSS4G among the academy (students and
> colleagues) and professionals, organizing events and conferences, etc..
> Also, I think it would be nice to have a dedicated wiki page and email
> address (or alias).
>
> Regards,
> madi
>
>
> On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 7:33 AM, Cameron Shorter
> <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Following on from ideas from this previous email thread, and in particular
>> picking up on Stefano's ideas, I'd like to make the following proposal:
>>
>> I suggest that we define an OSGeo Ambassador role very widely, but also
>> have different levels of Ambassador - so that conference organisors can
>> still feel like they are getting someone distinguished and pick someone
>> exclusive.
>>
>> The OSGeo Ambassador categories would be:
>>
>> 1. OSGeo Board Member
>> 2. Ex OSGeo Board Member
>> These are the elite of the OSGeo community. We only have 8 active board
>> members in the world, which have been peer selected based upon their
>> outstanding leadership in the greater OSGeo community.
>>
>> 3. Charter member
>> Charter membership is obtained through a strongly contested selective
>> process. Members tend to be developers and leaders in one or more OSGeo
>> projects, and/or OSGeo business leaders, and have a deep understanding in
>> many of the OSGeo projects and principles of Open Source.
>>
>> 4. Voted position in an OSGeo community
>> These people hold a position of responsibility within one of the OSGeo
>> sub-communities. This may be a chair of an OSGeo Regional Chapter, or as a
>> member of a project's Project Steering Committee.
>>
>> 5. OSGeo community member
>> These people are actively involved in one or more OSGeo communities,
>> acting as a developer, user or supporter of OSGeo software.
>>
>> Anyone fitting one of the above categories, may put themselves forward as
>> an OSGeo Ambassador. Each ambassador would be expected to create a profile
>> for themselves on an OSGeo Ambassador wiki page, which includes:
>>
>> * Name
>> * City and Country of residence
>> * Phone, Email
>> * Photo
>> * OSGeo relevant experience. (~150 words)
>>
>> I also propose that the OSGeo Marketing committee would be responsible for
>> overseeing the Ambassador wiki page, once the guidelines have been put into
>> place.
>>
>> I welcome feedback from all, and call upon the board to make a final vote
>> on whether this proposal (or a variant) should be put into action.
>>
>>
>> On 21/04/12 20:47, Stefano Costa wrote:
>>
>>> Il 21/04/2012 12:28, Jody Garnett ha scritto:
>>>
>>>> I would hope that our charter members (who have been through a public
>>>> nomination process in part for their involvement) are already acting in
>>>> the capacity of "Ambassador" for OSGeo.
>>>>
>>> I totally agree on this point. The fact that charter members only
>>> official role is to nominate new charter members and the Board is IMHO a
>>> weakness. Their role as OSGeo champions (and "Ambassadors" if there's
>>> consensus on that) should be emphasised. Quick ideas:
>>>
>>> - personal pages on osgeo.org (osgeo.org/members/johndoe)
>>> - @osgeo.org e-mail address (even an alias is fine) to be used as their
>>> primary address
>>> - interviews on the main blog
>>> - a track record of their public activity wrt OSGeo promotion, software
>>> development, management, documentation and what else
>>>
>>> In this way the charter members could gain a higher visibility in the
>>> wider geospatial community and be recognised as official representatives.
>>>
>>> Ciao
>>> steko
>>>
>>> BTW is there any process in place to "remove" charter members if they
>>> become inactive, move to another planet or are deemed unfit for the purpose
>>> by the community?
>>> ______________________________**_________________
>>> Discuss mailing list
>>> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/**mailman/listinfo/discuss<http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss>
>>>
>> On 20/04/12 07:24, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>>
>>> On 20/04/2012 4:06 AM, Michael P. Gerlek wrote:
>>>
>>>> Do we have any policies and cost structures for the Ambassador function
>>>> yet?
>>>>
>>> I've seen a few people talking about creating an OSGeo Ambassador role.
>>> Arnulf I think might have been the first to mention it, and I think it is
>>> an excellent idea. I'm also aware that the OGC are considering developing
>>> OGC ambassadors too.
>>>
>>> So I'd like to open the floor and see what people think an ambassador's
>>> role could involve, which leads into the qualities we would wish our
>>> ambassador's to have, which leads into the ways we may select an ambassador.
>>>
>>> Let me start by noting some of the driving factors:
>>> 1. Arnulf has noted that as OSGeo president, he has spent a significant
>>> amount of time on areoplanes travelling around the world to talk on behalf
>>> of OSGeo. He has suggested that this role should be shared.
>>> Conference organisors, who have a primary goal of attracting attendees,
>>> look for authoritative figureheads to talk at conferences. They are
>>> expected to have a deep insight into a specific domain, such as OSGeo. They
>>> should also speak well, even better if they are entertaining.
>>>
>>> 2. OSGeo is a sexy topic has many conferences, and there are hundreds, if
>>> not thousands of conferences around the world which would like to see an
>>> OSGeo presence.
>>>
>>> 3. OSGeo is fortunate to draw membership from around the world, including
>>> boasting a number of very healthy local chapters. As such, we are likely to
>>> have potential ambassadors in most counties. (We might be a bit short in
>>> Antarctica)
>>>
>>> 4. There are times when negotiating MOUs or similar with other countries,
>>> it would be useful to have someone local speak with authority on behalf of
>>> OSGeo.
>>>
>>> 5. Note that there are conflicting interests here of wanting to open up
>>> the role for anyone who volunteers, verses maintaining a selectiveness and
>>> prestige for the role which is the key selection criteria for conferences
>>> asking for an ambassador.
>>>
>>> As such, I think it important that ambassadors can only be voted into the
>>> position, and not handed out to anyone. We already vote for a board, and
>>> charter members.
>>> I think board members should be considered ambassadors by default.
>>> Should charter members be considered ambassadors? Charter members only
>>> get this role after demonstrating a commitment to OSGeo, so will likely
>>> have a reasonable depth of OSGeo knowledge. Maybe we should ask for a
>>> history of speaking well (as demonstrated at conferences), to the
>>> ambassador criteria.
>>>
>>> Then lastly, do we wish to invite ambassadors from a greater circle? At
>>> this point, I'd probably err on saying no, as if the entry bar to becoming
>>> an ambassador is too easy, then the mystic of the role will be lost.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> --
>> Cameron Shorter
>> Geospatial Solutions Manager
>> Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
>> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
>>
>> Think Globally, Fix Locally
>> Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
>> http://www.lisasoft.com
>>
>>
>>
>> ______________________________**_________________
>> Discuss mailing list
>> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
>> http://lists.osgeo.org/**mailman/listinfo/discuss<http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss>
>>
>
>
>
>
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