[OSGeo-Discuss] End the vote!
Cameron Shorter
cameron.shorter at gmail.com
Mon Jul 15 16:17:06 PDT 2013
Hi Adrian and Jeff,
Your points are very similar to those raised in April -> June 2012 [1]
when discussing the concept of "OSGeo Advocate" (previously referred to
as "OSGeo Ambassador").
[1] http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2012-May/thread.html
There is a tension between people wishing an exclusive "label" or
"badge" which easily identifies a level of expertise and community
recognition, verses a desire to be inclusive of everyone who applies.
If our acceptance criteria is "An OSGeo Charter member is anyone who
wishes to be one", then the value of Charter membership is devalued,
possibly leading to the point where people don't think it is worth applying.
In order to create a badge of prestige, that people will wish to
associate with, there needs to be a test, which implies that some people
will need to be rejected if they do not pass the test. (Voting for
membership is one form of testing, being a contributor to an Open Source
project could be another test).
After months of discussion, I think we created a balance of
inclusiveness and prestige by defining a range of labels which OSGeo
members can associate with.
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Advocate#Understanding_OSGeo_roles
Understanding OSGeo roles
Below is an explanation of roles which Advocates might have been
involved in as part of OSGeo:
OSGeo board.png
<http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/File:OSGeo_board.png>OSGeo
exboard.png
<http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/File:OSGeo_exboard.png>OSGeo Board
Members
We only have 9 active OSGeo board members in the world, which have
been peer selected based upon their outstanding leadership in the
greater OSGeo community.
OSGeo charter.png
<http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/File:OSGeo_charter.png>OSGeo Charter
Members
Charter membership is obtained through a strongly contested
selection 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.
SolKatz.png <http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/File:SolKatz.png>Sol
Katz Award
Every year, OSGeo presents the prestigiousSol Katz Award
<http://www.osgeo.org/solkatz>to one individual who has demonstrated
leadership and contributed significantly to advance open source ideals
in the geospatial realm.
OSGeo chair.png
<http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/File:OSGeo_chair.png>OSGeo psc.png
<http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/File:OSGeo_psc.png>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 committee or
board member of a Regional Chapter, or a member of a project's
Project Steering Committee (PSC).
OSGeo coder.png
<http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/File:OSGeo_coder.png>OSGeo
committee.png
<http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/File:OSGeo_committee.png>Developers
and Committee Members
This is where the real work gets done developing and coordinating
development of OSGeo Software.
OSGeo user.png
<http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/File:OSGeo_user.png>OSGeo Community
Members
These people are actively involved in one or more OSGeo communities,
acting as practitioners, users, promoters or supporters of OSGeo
software. These people tend to have a practical understanding about
how OSGeo software works.
OSGeo translate.png
<http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/File:OSGeo_translate.png>OSGeo
Translators
These people have translated documentation for OSGeo-Live, and/or
OSGeo projects. They usually have an established understanding of
OSGeo topics and can present them in local languages.
On 16/07/2013 1:24 AM, Jeff McKenna wrote:
> Hi Adrian,
>
> At last week's Board meeting, Board members chose 30 as the number of
> Charter Members that will be added in this election process (minutes at
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2013-07-11).
>
> Importantly though, I agree with you, this crop of nominations for
> Charter Members is just outstanding, so spread out geographically, and
> so full of passionate people.
>
> The CROs are working hard this year managing the election process,
> working within the guidelines set by the Board; however I agree, nothing
> says that we cannot/should not/ improve this Charter Member process for
> the 2014 election.
>
> Arnulf has setup a page to collect everyone's ideas for changes in the
> process: please do add your ideas at
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Category_talk:Elections
>
> I would also like to see Charter members be given more of a role in the
> organization. For example, one could imagine the Charter members voting
> on future FOSS4G bids. I'm very open to hearing your thoughts and
> working with you closely to improve the process.
>
> As always, great email from you Adrian, I really appreciate it.
>
> -jeff
>
>
>
>
> On 2013-07-15 11:58 AM, Adrian Custer wrote:
>> Hey all 'charter' members,
>>
>> You have nominated a large number of great, passionate creators,
>> educators, community builders, and users of free geospatial software to
>> become new 'charter' members of OSGeo.
>>
>>
>> Now, unfortunately, your existing system of voting means that you will
>> either
>> (1) vote to accept some nominees but not others, or
>> (2) bypass the voting process and accept everyone as was
>> done last year.
>> The former sucks since its only effect will now be to 'exclude' or
>> 'reject' people who are passionate and respected enough to have been
>> nominated. In other words, up to now all has been positive, building
>> respect and support but, now, the only outcome of *voting* is rejection
>> and possibly discouragement of those same people. That seems silly.
>>
>> So, after this process, you might consider changing things. You might
>> examine the consequences of voting by examining how you feel yourselves
>> after voting especially about those you did not vote for or by looking
>> at who did not get 'voted' in to see if that was because they were not
>> great candidates or due to some regional effect. You might then consider
>> changing the 'vote' to some other system, such as a system where anyone
>> getting x number of 'nominations' gets in. (Of course, that still has
>> all the problems that passionate folk on the periphery who are not known
>> to enough people in the core might not become 'charter' members but
>> that's a design flaw inherent in this club like, two tier member system.)
>>
>> Voting is not the only way of organizing communities. This vote does not
>> seem to help the OSGeo in its mission. You can do better.
>>
>> cheers,
>> ~adrian
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
--
Cameron Shorter
Software and Data Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial & Data Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
http://www.lisasoft.com
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