[OSGeo-Discuss] Call for Volunteers for Geodata Committee

[Jeff McKenna]

Dear OSGeo community,

We are all aware of how important Open data is for our community, and 
for the mission of OSGeo.  Most of you are aware that the OSGeo 
foundation has a committee dedicated to this, called the Geodata 
Committee; however the reality is that this committee is quiescent/not 
active/at rest, as its mailing list has not really been used since a 
message was posted in May of 2015 (which no one answered actually).

The Geodata Committee is still listed as a working committee on the 
OSGeo website, and points to a page[1] that contains the mailing list 
and the wiki.  The mailing list has 387 members, and the archives go all 
the way back to March of 2006.  Back in those days, the committee would 
meet regularly on IRC and it was very vibrant (thanks to Jo, Arnulf, and 
the many early visionaries pushing forward and sharing).

More recently, there was a "reboot" push for this committee around 2012, 
and also another one in October of last year.  Of course there were 
likely many other attempts, but those are the ones that come to mind.

We believe that open data is even more critical to the mission of OSGeo 
today, and a strong relationship with the various data communities is 
important for the health of the ecosystem.  We also look to the massive 
success of GeoForAll for sharing the passion for education and Open as a 
great example of what we can all do together.

Would you be willing to help revive the OSGeo Geodata Committee?  It 
would be great to hear more thoughts and ideas on this.  It does not 
seem right to dissolve the committee; in fact we want the opposite to occur.

Thank you,

Maria, Codrina, Vasile, Jeff on behalf of the OSGeo Board of Directors

[1] http://www.osgeo.org/content/projects/geodata.html