[OSGeo-Discuss] My feelings about board elections

[Margherita Di Leo]

Dear Shangee, All,

I'm sorry that some important parts of the world result under-represented.
I highly value diversity and I'm sure we're loosing something here. I also
recognize that there weren't many candidates from Asia, none from Africa
and other parts of the world, and there weren't many candidates as an
absolute number. I'm only suggesting that if you or others realize that
their region is under represented, should propose more candidates to have
higher possibilities of being represented. Truth is, that accepting to be
candidate for the board is a great act of commitment to the community that
not everyone is ready to take, and I believe this fact was under valued in
some judgments that came towards Jeff. Besides the fact that the board
already expressed the will to accept the result of the elections, before
knowing the outcome, I think is disrespectful to continue on the line of
undermining the election result. One proposal that I like from Jeff 's
manifesto is to give more responsibilities to charter members, and maybe
this will result in a lighter burden for the members of the board and
attract more people willing to take this responsibility in the future.
I would like to thank all the candidates and to wish good luck to the new
board.

Regards,

On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 3:17 PM, Sanghee Shin <shshin at gaia3d.com> wrote:

> Dear All,
>
>
>
> First of all I'd like to give my sincere congratulations to newly elected
> board members. Here I want to share some of my feelings around this board
> elections.
>
>
>
> 1. Needless to say all new board members are deserved to win the election.
> However as a whole, now we have all WHITE board of directors only from
> Europe and North America. We've talked about the importance of diversity
> and inclusiveness many times so far, however the reality is like this.
> Please don't get me wrong. I'm not writing this because of my failure in an
> election. Being nominated and encouragement to run the election was just
> great honour to me. For me as Asian, one of most shocking and disappointing
> moment in this election was Venka's failure in an election. Venka has
> contributed so much to Asian community over the last 2 years. His
> contributions and activities reached out not only to Japan but also to
> Thailand, Vietnam, India and sometimes to Korea as well. He also put so
> much efforts organizing FOSS4G Asia this year. And I know as a former board
> member how he restlessly carried out his duty as president of OSGeo. And
> finally he failed! I know he didn't answer to some of quesitons to nominees
> during the election period. Ok, it’s excuse however he and I was being
> tied up with handling a urgent issue in community. Anyway I and other Asian
> friends are so shocked that he was not elected! I bet other Asian members
> share the same feeling. The result gave the clear meaning to Asian
> community, "If Venka can't be a board member of OSGeo, nobody can be
> forever from Asia." I already saw many complaints and discouragement in
> Asian community. I believe regions other than Europe and NA have the rights
> to be reprensented failry. So, I'd like to ask new board members to fix
> this kind of wrong representation of board configuration by adopting new
> election rules.
>
>
>
> 2. I believe Jeff McKenna's ambiguous behaviours around election period
> made both him and OSGeo untrustworthy. I don't want to mention again here
> some of concerns over him in detail during the election. One thing I'd like
> to point out is his un-withdrwal from board election after disclosing the
> results. Nothing personal, Jeff. Actually I tried to accept and understand
> this situation so many times for a couple of days, but I failed to accept.
> We're not the children in the kindergarten! How can it be happened? The
> last thing I did as a former board member was approving the motion, "This
> board election is valid." I was able to block the motion however I approved
> the motion. Because I accepted his withdrawal as sincere one and trusted
> him. I'm feeling my good intention was being betrayed. I know I don't have
> any rights now to change my previous decision and I don't want to criticise
> someone here. New board, this case cleary has shown that there's big
> loophole in our election process. If OSGe can't fix it, OSGeo will lose
> trust and credibility. Board, you need to bear in mind that there's already
> bunch of sign of loosing trust from community.
>
>
>
> Many mentioned that OSGeo is run by Do-ocracy. I believe the basis of
> Do-ocracy is recognizing of someone's work and trust. If someone's hardwork
> is not recognized and acknowledged fairy, who will want to jump into the
> matters to fix it? And if someone can't trust the organization, who wants
> to put their precious time and efforts to untrustworthy one?
>
>
>
> If OSGeo lose the trust, it will lose everything. OSGeo is just shell.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> 신상희
> ---
> Shin, Sanghee
> Gaia3D, Inc. - The GeoSpatial Company
> www.gaia3d.com
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>



-- 
Margherita Di Leo
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