[OSGeo-Discuss] Charter Members: What kind of an OSGeo Board do we want?

[Helena Mitasova]

1. If you are standing for re-election - what roles have you taken in the last 2 years? what do you believe you have achieved and what has not worked as well as you hoped?

First of all I am happy that we are in a different place than where we were when I ran in 2015
out of concerns for the future of OSGeo - thanks to the OSGeo community standing up and the new board
working together (thanks GeoCat for providing space for f2f board meeting at a critical time)
we have a thriving organization with the new generation bringing in energy and vision for future.

I served as vicepresident, taking responsibility for working with geoforall initiative and memoranda of understanding.
We signed several new MoUs and renewed those that were expiring, as a result we have co-organized sessions 
and workshops at partner conferences, presented webinars and formalized existing collaborations, 
spreading the knowledge and passion for open source geospatial.
For geoforall, see my presentation from FOSS4G 2017 here
https://ncsu-geoforall-lab.github.io/geoforall/#/ <https://ncsu-geoforall-lab.github.io/geoforall/#/>
I also tried to help with the website, although Jody did the heavy lifting for the board.
Website has forced us to go through everything that we do and re-evaluate what works and what needs to change
so the impact of this effort goes way beyond an outreach and webpresence.

What  has not worked?
On-line meetings and email exchanges have challenges, sometimes leading to miscomunication. 
Keeping track of meetings and action items has not always been easy, although loomio has helped (thanks Anita for introducing it).
F2f meetings help but we had very few.

2. All candidates - what role, specific topics would you like to work on within the board and why?
what do you hope to contribute and achieve in the next 2 years?

I plan to continue my previous work with geofroall and our partners
and contribute to successful delivery of the website to the community to take over.
I would like to build bridges between academia and industry, both in terms of education and research/development 
to help open source geospatial grow new generation of passionate developers, users and community builders.
I also feel that from time to time it is useful to provide instituitional memory as one of the founding members.

If there was only 1 thing you could change in the next 2 years what would it be?

This may sound bureaucratic and totally non-visionary but although we have made a progress in dividing the work 
within the board and between the board and the committees,
 I would like to have an appointed board secretary responsible for scheduling meetings, managing agenda,   
minutes and votes to ensure that initiatives, projects and committees are served in timely manner
and board members can focus on more visionary discussions, activities and decision making.

Helena


> On Oct 9, 2017, at 10:12 AM, Steven Feldman <shfeldman at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> First up my respect and thanks to the 9 candidates that have agreed to stand for a position on the OSGeo Board. https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Member_Nominations_2017 <https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Member_Nominations_2017> It is a fantastic indication of our vibrant, passionate community that we have 9 people willing to offer their experience, wisdom, energy and most importantly time to serve.
> 
> Charter members, we have a tough choice to make to select 5 of these 9 outstanding candidates to serve for the next 2 years. I thought I would share some of the considerations that will influence my choices when we get to vote, they may help others to identify what is important to them in making their choices and they may also prompt some of the candidates when they write their personal statements/manifestos.
> 
> We have an opportunity to shape the board in terms of professional background, gender and experience
> 
> The current board is balanced between practitioners/developers and academics - do we want to maintain that balance?
> Currently 3/9 of the board are women (Anita is standing down, thanks for your contributions, Helena is standing for re-election)
> 4 of the 5 board members standing down are standing for re-election, additionally 2 past members of the board are standing for election. There are 3 candidates who have not served on the board.
> 
> Some questions for candidates:
> If you are standing for re-election - what roles have you taken in the last 2 years? what do you believe you have achieved and what has not worked as well as you hoped?
> All candidates - what role, specific topics would you like to work on within the board and why? what do you hope to contribute and achieve in the next 2 years?
> If there was only 1 thing you could change in the next 2 years what would it be?
> 
> May the FOSS be with you all 
> ______
> Steven
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
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Helena Mitasova
Professor at the Department of Marine, 
Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences
and Center for Geospatial Analytics
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8208
hmitaso at ncsu.edu
http://geospatial.ncsu.edu/osgeorel/publications.html <http://geospatial.ncsu.edu/osgeorel/publications.html>

"All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.” 

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