[OSGeo-Discuss] presenting open source software or open source projects

[Jody Garnett]

I am going to grab a couple quotes from the other email thread:

   - Maria: *Our projects are much more than pieces of code. Behind our
   software there are communities*
   - Ben passing on: "Jon Kuperman‏ @jkup Stop treating open source like a
   product you purchased and start treating it like a team you belong to."
   https://twitter.com/jkup/status/909887066103676928
   - Ben:  *We offer something that proprietary GIS never can: the
   opportunity to join a community of peers.*

I strongly agree with these statements; I think we have to present a list
of open source projects (rather than software) or we would not be doing
good outreach.

 Educating non-community members about this aspect - that open source is a
team, rather than a technology should be taken on from the very first page.

Steve, if the discussion list can come to an agreement here, I would like
to ask for phrasing to use when restoring the home page to
"choose-a-project". It will be challenging to word in a way that
communicates well.

(I also note the above quotes would be excellent for a "why open source"
page)

--
Jody Garnett

On 20 September 2017 at 06:02, Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com> wrote:

> I would like to bring to discuss a question that we are struggling with
> for the website/rebranding - do we present "open source software" or "open
> source projects"?
>
> This is not an easy answer, as the earlier discussion on this list did not
> know how to recognize projects doing a rewrite (example OL2 --> OL3, or
> project teams expanding and developing additional software components like
> QGIS Server.
>
> Here is the email from the marketing list:
>
> The choose-a-project wizard is now working, we had to cut down some of the
>> tags last week and change how the pages were done to make it happen.
>> This touches on a conversation with Steve Feldman from the code sprint.
>> As part of the focus exercise the home page
>> <http://osgeo.getinteractive.nl/> was changed to says "Choose your
>> software" which then links to "choose-a-project".
>> It does bring up two interesting cases:
>> 1) http://osgeo.getinteractive.nl/projects/qgis/
>> QGIS - has several software projects now under one banner: QGIS
>> Desktop, QGIS Server, more?
>> This is kind of messing with the system (and resulting in oddities like
>> QGIS being listed as a cloud processing service, I assume QGIS server could
>> run in the cloud and qgis desktop offers processing).
>> 2) http://osgeo.getinteractive.nl/projects/gvsig/
>> Same thing, there are now multiple gvSig software projects: gvSIG
>> Desktop, gvNIX, gvSIG Mobile, i3Geo
>
>
>
> Recommendation for the beta website:
>> - Making the QGIS Association page under Partners, linking to individual
>> pages for QGIS and QGIS Server project pages.
>> - Makin the gvSIG Association link to the individual software project
>> pages for gvSIG Desktop, gvNIX, gvSIG  Mobile, i3Geo.
>>
>
> And Steven Feldman's reply:
>
> My 1st thoughts on ‘projects’ and ‘software' are to look at definitions:
>> *Project*:
>>
>>
>> *"In contemporary business
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_sector> and science
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science>, a project is an individual or
>> collaborative enterprise, possibly involving research or design, that is
>> carefully planned <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan>, usually by a
>> project team, to achieve a particular aim.[1]
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project#cite_note-1>A project may also be a
>> set of interrelated tasks to be executed over a fixed period and within
>> certain cost and other limitations.[2]
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project#cite_note-2>It may be a temporary
>> (rather than permanent) social systems
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_system> as work systems
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_systems> that is constituted by teams
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team> within or across organizations to
>> accomplish particular tasks
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Task_(project_management)> under time
>> constraints.[3] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project#cite_note-3> A
>> project may be a part of a wider programme management
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_management>” **https://en.*
>> wikipedia.org/wiki/Project <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project>
>> *Software*:
>> *"Computer software, or simply software, is a part of a computer system
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_system> that consists of data
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_(computing)> or computer instructions,
>> in contrast to the physical hardware
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_hardware> from which the system is
>> built. In computer science
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science> and software engineering
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_engineering>, computer software is
>> all information <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information> processed
>> by computer systems
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_system>, programs
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_program> and data. Computer
>> software includes computer programs
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_program>, libraries
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_(computing)> and related
>> non-executable data <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_(computing)>, such
>> as online documentation
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_documentation> or digital media
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_media>.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software> *
>
>
>> My interpretation:
>> Each different application e.g. QGIS Desktop, QGIS server is ‘software’
>> (or we could alternatively use ‘application’ or 'program')
>> The QGIS Project is the umbrella organisation/collaboration/social
>> construct/enterprise that encompasses and coordinates the individual
>> software/applications/programs
>> I think the important thing for us as a marketing group is to consider
>> what these terms mean to potential users rather than how we use them
>> internally (for our community ‘project' can be interchangeable
>> with ‘software’).
>
>
> I am personally having a hard time thinking in terms of software since I
> like the fact that open source project encompasses both the technology and
> the people.
> --
> Jody Garnett
>
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