[OSGeo-Discuss] My feelings about board elections

[Volker Mische]

Hi all,

I've a question in regards to how important it is to be a board member
if you represent the OSGeo.

I've never represented the OSGeo outside a FOSS4G and not outside of the
western world. Hence I don't know how important it is to have some
official title if you talk to institutions/agencies/governments. Does it
make a difference?

Do you need to be a board member or could it also be a role in your
local chapter?

Cheers,
  Volker


On 10/29/2017 03:17 PM, Sanghee Shin 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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