[OSGeo-Discuss] Evolving FOSS4G [was: FOSS4G 2013 Nottingham Update ]

[andrea antonello]

Hi Adrian,
I hope I will not break your thread/thought with my considerations.

But I think you are right, it is all about evolution.
Let me explain. And I am not arguing or whatever, I am really just
trying to find my place in the osgeo world :)

I develop for scientific open source project since around 2000, and
have attended quite some conferences, as well as given quite some
training courses. And have also contributed to organize local chapter
meetings (I am saying that because of the bad attitude of people to
accuse others to not volunteer enough, which in my opinion is really a
bad way to break the discussion - no one should judge here). If it
doesn't mean anything, then at least it means experience.

I remember conferences that were about sharing for the purpose of
sharing. And if recently the only time I got to give a workshop was in
Cape Town, then there is a reason. The reason is that that market was
of no interest of the big players. It has been a terrific experience,
way better than other conferences, it was like getting back to the old
days :) Things have obviously changed and it is most probably right
so.

The fact that I brought my company to Foss4g many times was not for
pure commercial reasons, but maybe that way of believing in open
source is a leftover from when I could more easily do it because
working at a University.

I missed the last 2 foss4g (well technically 1) for a couple of
reason. Not being exactly cheap, I would at least need to find
interest in what I am going to show. Which didn't happen and I am
struggling to understand what my place (but also that of many others I
assume) should be. I know there is interest for what we do and I know
it is important to share it and compare it and talk about it. For
example if we are doing advanced hydrology and geomorphology and the
highlight right now is showing a heatmap online, then it is clear that
the misplaced person here is me. Which is why the last two years we
went to the Foss4gcee instead and found more what we were looking for.

I apologize if I wasn't able to explain exactly what I mean, but more
threw thoughts in the thread. It might be I am a dinosaurs already...
good thing is that in osgeo they never die, they just find a new place
:)

Cheers,
Andrea







On Fri, May 10, 2013 at 7:31 PM, Adrian Custer <acuster at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> Congratulations and good wishes to the organizers of FOSS4G 2013, and many
> thanks for all the hard work. I'm sure the attendees (unfortunately,
> probably not me) will benefit greatly. This critique is not actually
> directed towards you; it is towards all of us and probably really for 2014
> or later.
>
>
>
>
> We need to evolve FOSS4G to make it more effective at doing all the
> disparate things it is attempting to accomplish. The dissatisfaction
> expressed in the original mailing list thread, which I have shared for years
> now, reflects a tension that is becoming increasingly deep.
>
> The FOSS4G community has grown up. The feel in Lausanne was of a hacker
> conference, a bunch of young developers and users building and learning from
> each other how to make and use software for a better tomorrow. Users,
> developers, everyone was on an equal footing. By Barcelona that feeling had
> changed; there were 'presenters' and 'audiences', the commercial side was
> strong. Formal recognition came primarily to those 'presenting'; certain
> projects or companies were visibly 'blessed' mostly because they were either
> the first movers or were within the OSGeo umbrella, others were excluded or
> simply absent. As a consequence, the conference was more professional and
> was was probably more effective at presenting each project that gave a talk
> but it lost a lot as well, it had less community feel, was less whacky,
> favoured the commercial over the free-time projects, was more exclusive.
>
> This is obviously partly that we have all changed. 'Free software' is now
> fully legimate, 'Open standards' are increasingly the accepted norm,
> software exists for most of our basic needs with new stuff is coming out all
> the time.
>
> However, if organizers want to build a FOSS4G which builds communitarian
> spirit as well as being professional, which gives center stage to mature
> products but invites the whacky as well, which brings in everyone rather
> than blessing winners and excluding others, FOSS4G needs to evolve its
> design.
>
> Easy to say, the question is 'how?'. Well, first, let's get a better handle
> on the tension, the why, then I'll throw out some ideas about how to address
> it.
>
>
>
>
> Who are the FOSS4Gers?
>
> We are a mixed bunch and probably each of us is a mix of these labels.
> However, I build up mythical single purpose 'geo-actors' to be able to get a
> list of different needs. I surely have missed some labels as well, but have
> hit many and thereby have gathered a diverse list of principles.
>
>
>
> The Geo-doers, those actually doing stuff with the software, infrastructure,
> and data developed, like activists and scientists, want to present their
> work and learn about the work of others. They want to inspire with their
> work. They want to discover new tools and methods.[1]
>
>   => Geo-work needs global public exposure to inspire everyone
>
>
> Geo-community members are really geo-doers in a community. They also want to
> meet the members of their community face-to-face, make plans for the future
> and discuss or resolve issues. They probably want to welcome new
> participants. They probably also want to learn of other projects, related
> efforts, new tools.
>
>   => Geo-communities need public exposure to inspire and recruit
>   => community mingling is a top-level activity
>
>
>
> Geo-developers want to touch base with one another, talk within their
> projects about plans and issues, hack a little. Developers want to touch
> base with other projects, learn what is going on, find synergies. Developers
> want to get an overview of the state of the landscape, who is doing what,
> what cool new thing is going on. Developers also want to evangelize their
> projects; get good exposure to the general public.
>
>   => Geo-projects need public exposure to inform and recruit
>   => developer mingling is a top-level activity
>   => coding workshops are one type of workshop
>
>
>
>
> Geo-learners come in many flavours There are the geo-neophytes who don't
> know what any of this is about and want some kind of overview. They probably
> need a talk on 'Spatial Data Infrastructures' which talks about all the
> pieces of the geo* puzzle: Desktop clients, Web Clients, Web Services,
> Databases but also Spatial Analysis, Spatial Infrastructure, Spatial
> Hardware, ... a global overview.
>
>   => geo-neophytes need, at the very start, an introduction to 'what is
>      geospatial' and 'what of geospatial is being presented at FOSS4G'
>
> There are the geo-newcommers who come with some vision of what they want to
> learn. They either start with an idea of something they want to *do* or of
> some tool they want to do their thing with. The former need to be pointed to
> the tools they can work with, then both need to get a chance to learn to use
> the tools.
>
>   => one type of workshop targets these users, workshops that show how
>      to get started and where to go learn more
>   => these folk deserve an 'introduction to the Live-DVD' perhaps split
>      by domain
>
> There are the core users who want to get better at what they do, and learn
> how to use their tool better.
>
>   => a second type of workshop targets these users, workshops that
>      go in depth into a specific product.
>
>
>
> Geo-deployers want to share war stories, how they got stuff done within
> political, bureaucratic, commercial, and technical constraints. They want to
> learn from the experience of others.
>
>   => geo-deployers need in depth talks which cover the complexity of
>      different deployments
>
>
> Geo-vendors and Geo-buyers want to present their solutions or discover
> solutions which can be obtained to meet their needs. They have or seek full
> fledged solutions to specific needs. They might want to offer a quick
> introduction to their software to those who are interested.
>
>   => all attending presenters should get a chance to present in front
>      of all attending seekers.
>
>   => follow up is a top level activity; all presenters should have a
>      'booth' even if that means there is a booth for 'everyone else'
>      perhaps because they could not afford to pay.
>
>   => on the fly organized mini-workshops should be a top level activity
>
>
> The Geo-absent are part of the community as well. There are many who can't
> afford to come, some who chose not to come, others who don't know FOSS4G
> exists. Many are doing kick-ass work. They should be included.
>
>   => the exposure of the absent should not be neglected.
>
>
> Can one conference work for all these different geo-actors? Probably only
> with mixed results but organizers should at least consider what kind of
> experience each of these labels will have.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> So, if I were organizing a conference, (and thankfully I am not, that's
> crazy hard, kudos to those that do), I'd do stuff like:
>
>
>
> * Start the conference by talking with, not to, the attendees:
>
> Recently, FOSS4G have started in passive mode. "Let's get a great speaker"
> seems to be the design. Fuck the keynote! The people of interest are those
> in the room, and those that could not be there, not the speakers however
> great they might be. So I'd get the attendees to meet the attendees.
>
> I'd get them to stand up in groups (early morning exercise is good for
> everyone). Let's meet the youngest and the oldest, the first time commers
> and the old hands, those working on databases and those working on the
> distribution of blue flowering plants on the steppes of the Himalayas.
>
> Then I'd get a random sampling of shout-outs. Get 30 people to stand up and
> each state in 43 seconds what3 they play in the geo-field. Then I'd get the
> whole room to provide one minute solutions, pointers to projects, people,
> talks along similar lines. Start with some forewarned people to get the
> speed going, then pick on random newcomers.
>
> The goal is build solidarity, build networks, learn names of some people and
> some projects.
>
>
>
> * Start the conference with a 'State of G and FOSS for G,'
>   along with an intro to the conference
>
> This is a hard talk to give but there are several people who could do it.
> Basically it is an overview of the geo-world (*not just OSGeo!*) to get a
> sense of where we are in 2013 and what of that is at play. Then it addresses
> how FOSS is playing everywhere in that space. Finally, it presents what
> aspects of G and FOSS4G and workOnG are being presented in the conference.
> It is a history lesson, a lesson on current politics, a lesson on the state
> of developer tools, infrastructure, open data. It will be wrong, no matter,
> it will help everyone organize their thinking about what kind of work is
> going on and what parts of that work are presented at the conference.
>
> This also ties into the next point.
>
>
>
> * Make sure everyone is mentioned
>
> Yes, the big, established projects kick ass and take no prisoners. They are
> great. However, they threaten to overwhelm the little guys, the newcomers,
> the totally surprising new way of doing things.
>
> So all the projects, communities, efforts present should be censused early
> on and an effort should be made to discuss the known or new projects which
> are not around. Then they can be organized into groups and presented. A
> person could be assigned to present each group, say one for 'Data storage
> projects' and another for 'Sources of open data' and so on. Each one is at
> most a five minute talk but would be a good yearly review of where we stand
> and what we are tackling.
>
> This helps everyone get exposure, discover what others are doing, and get an
> overview of the attendees and other projects.
>
>
>
> * Split the workshops into different kinds
>
> The workshops, as currently run, are too rigid. Usually there is over demand
> for some, under demand for others, and demand for many more than what is
> offered. The workshops need more breathing room.
>
> The formal workshops work great for some projects and some users. However,
> there is also room for more flexible, mini-workshops on smaller projects.
>
> So perhaps space should be found for workshops throughout the conference, or
> during the last 'hackathon' day. Interested users could go to a 'workshop
> lunch' or something. Smaller projects could announce during the conference
> they will hold workshops at hour X in the workshop space and then gather
> users for that.
>
> Ideally the workshops would happen after the conference, once the newcomers
> have a sense of which they want to attend, so they could go from 'I am lost'
> to 'I can do stuff'.
>
> BTW, bring your own laptop and pre-download X (or make sure the laptop runs
> the Live-DVD) is probably viable for many workshops.
>
>
>
>
> * Give prizes for the whacky
>
> FOSS4G should also be about innovation. The off-the-wall should be
> encouraged. The last day could include prizes (could be just a shout out and
> extra mention) for:
>
>   - best new attendee (craziest dressed or some such)
>   - craziest project of the year
>   - most fantastically pointless project
>   - best failure
>
> This is just play, with a serious intent---value the new, little guy.
>
>
>
> So my global conclusion seems to be 'toss out the keynotes, toss in the
> community.' The current exposure level of 'gives a talk' and 'gives a
> workshop' needs to be expanded to more levels by getting everyone out in
> public. There needs to be top level mingle space, hack space, mini-workshop
> space. We need to work to keep it FOSS4G and not FOSS$G.
>
>
>
>
> My four cents, probably hopelessly unrealistic,
>
>
> cheers,
>   ~adrian
>
>
>
>
> [1] The talk with the most 'buzz' at FOSS4G BA 2013 was a geo-doer
>     who uses GIS to build political power for a community relative
>     to the central government. The actual presentation was poor; the
>     work was mega-inspiring.
>
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