[OSGeo-Discuss] Defining an OSGeo Ambassador role

Sat May 5 16:43:31 EDT 2012

Michael,
I agree that we have expanded the Ambassador role to include what you 
have referred to as a "Speakers bureau", which I think is a good thing. 
It is also opt-in; charter members need not register themselves if they 
don't want to. It is also deliberately non-exclusive, as any member of 
the greater OSGeo community should qualify as a "user or developer of 
OSGeo Software".

The board can still be exclusive in who they select to negotiate on 
behalf of the board. Eg: when OSGeo board wishes to send someone to 
negotiate a MOU or similar, they can specify that it be done by one of 
the more qualified Ambassadors - Eg: Board or Charter members.

What we gain is a way for members to promote themselves, and a channel 
for conferences and the like to readily or more economically find a 
local OSGeo expert.

On 06/05/12 01:07, Michael P. Gerlek wrote:
>
> As far as I’m aware, the original “Ambassador” concept came up during 
> a board meeting, where it was intended to just address the question 
> that the board very occasionally needs to send a board member, or 
> someone equally prominent, to certain events we’d been invited to 
> participate in. For purposes of discussion and assigning a budget to 
> it, we just called it “being an ambassador”.
>
> This discussion seems to envision a wider, more general role, however.
>
> I’m very much in favor of having members act as ambassadors for the 
> ideas of open source in the geo marketplace, but I’m not sure I 
> understand yet the value of making this a formal function. It is 
> already the case that members can – and do! – give talks and such all 
> the time about open source and GIS; indeed, it is expected that active 
> members, especially Charter Members, of the community would do so.
>
> I don’t see that OSGeo, as a formal body, should be in the position of 
> limiting this function to certain people. Philosophically I’m against 
> that, and practically I don’t see how we could anyway.
>
> We once brought up the idea of having a “speakers bureau”: a list of 
> people who can speak to certain topics, much like the Service 
> Providers Directory. Something like that I’d be in favor of…
>
> -mpg
>
> *From:*discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org 
> [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] *On Behalf Of *Margherita Di Leo
> *Sent:* Saturday, May 05, 2012 5:02 AM
> *To:* Cameron Shorter
> *Cc:* discuss at lists.osgeo.org; OSGeo-Board; marketing
> *Subject:* Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Defining an OSGeo Ambassador role
>
> 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 <mailto: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 <http://osgeo.org> 
> (osgeo.org/members/johndoe <http://osgeo.org/members/johndoe>)
> - @osgeo.org <http://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?
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> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Discuss at lists.osgeo.org>
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>
> 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 <tel:%2B61%20%280%292%208570%205050>
> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254 <tel:%2B61%20%280%29419%20142%20254>
>
> Think Globally, Fix Locally
> Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
> http://www.lisasoft.com
>
>
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>
>
>
> -- 
> Ing. Margherita Di Leo, Ph.D.
>
>

-- 
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

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