[OSGeo-Discuss] Invitation to participate in the OSGeo membership consultations

[Dan Ames]

I'd love to see OSGeo evolve into a professional organization not entirely
unlike ASME, ASCE, IEEE, etc. These organizations charge nominal membership
dues usually at different levels depending on the person's status
(professional, student, developing country, etc.). All regular members can
vote for the officers. Officers run the programs of the society. It's a
well established model. - Dan

On Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 6:39 PM Stephen Woodbridge <woodbri at swoodbridge.com>
wrote:

> I think Bruce has put some of my concerns about the questions into good
> examples the resonate with my concerns.
>
> For example: I am a long time contributor to multiple OSGeo projects and
> have mentored some smaller projects that are not OSGeo projects yet but
> are key pieces of GIS infrastructure. I have invested a lot of time and
> effort and as a consultant, being able claim I'm a Charter Member gives
> me some marketing credibility.
>
> I would like to vote for both general membership and meritorious
> membership, or to say both exclusive and inclusive membership classes
> and we might want a third class sponsorship class of membership.
>
> Given the amount of time I invest in OSGeo including being a GSoC Mentor
> for 6-7 years which benefited OSGeo financially, I find it hard to vote
> for membership dues.
>
> I know this is a complex issues and everyone has an opinion, so more
> power to you for taking on this task. If you can do anything to address
> these types of concerns that would make this survey all the more
> valuable. Maybe do not force a sequence of questions and let each
> question stand on its own with an other write in field.
>
> Best regards,
>    -Steve
>
> On 7/30/2015 8:07 PM, Bruce Bannerman wrote:
> > Hi Vassile,
> >
> > This survey appears to be flawed.
> >
> > I applaud your efforts to bring this issue to a head, but I'm not
> > convinced that we'll get valid results from the survey.
> >
> >
> > In my case:
> >
> > I believe that there should be open membership for any interested,
> > perhaps with a membership fee.
> >
> > I also see the value of recognising key contributors voted through some
> > meritocracy process as the current Charter Membership allows, with this
> > group having a voting responsibility. This is in essence not very
> > different from the concept of a 'committers' group within an open source
> > project. I don't really care if the name 'Charter Membership' is changed.
> >
> >
> > However the survey appears to lead people into a binary situation where
> > they believe in 'open' or 'closed' with 'closed' apparently assigned to
> > those favouring 'Charter Membership'.
> >
> >
> > For example:
> >
> > I'd like to vote NO to 'Should OSGeo move from the actual elected
> > Charter member model to an (open) regular membership?'
> >
> > But, YES to 'If you agree with the OSGeo regular membership, do you also
> > agree with a low annual membership fee?'
> >
> > However, I'm precluded from doing so, because I answered NO to Q1.
> >
> > For Question 4, I would like to answer both:
> >
> > - YES for Open, in the context that everyone interested should be able
> > to participate in discussions and the OSGeo Community (perhaps having
> > paid a membership fee); and
> >
> > - YES for 'Closed', in the context of key votes being subject to the
> > equivalent of a 'Committers' list where people have been voted in
> > through some meritocracy process.
> >
> > - However, I can only choose one or the other!
> >
> >
> > I haven't read the remaining questions at this stage, given the flawed
> > questions at the beginning.
> >
> >
> >
> > I apologise if you had sent this out for review earlier. I have not been
> > following this debate closely as this type of membership noise pops up
> > on a regular basis.
> >
> > However, when this proceeds to a vote of the OSGeo Charter membership, I
> > need to register a comment.
> >
> >
> > For consideration.
> >
> > Bruce
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >     From: Vasile Crăciunescu <cro at osgeo.org <mailto:cro at osgeo.org>>
> >     Reply-To: Vasile Crăciunescu <cro at osgeo.org <mailto:cro at osgeo.org>>
> >     Date: Thursday, 30 July 2015 23:52
> >     To: Bruce Bannerman <>
> >     Subject: Invitation to participate in the OSGeo membership
> consultations
> >
> >         Dear Bruce,
> >
> >         As an existing OSGeo Charter Member, you have been invited to
> >         participate in the 2015 OSGeo membership consultations.
> >
> >         To participate, please click on the link below.
> >
> >         Sincerely,
> >
> >         Vasile ()
> >
> >         ----------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Discuss mailing list
> > Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
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