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

[Jody Garnett]

To run this topic into the ground, we will end up with a small distinction
between "open source projects" (software + community) and "project teams"
(the developers producing the software).

In the examples that started this conversation:

- The gvSig association has several open source projects, each of which has
a project team.  So "gvSIG Desktop" is an OSGeo Project, but i3Geo is not
(although it is welcome to join incubation at any time).

- For QGIS there are several open source projects (QGIS Desktop, QGIS
Server, QField?). It is unclear to me if they are produced by differ
project teams or if they share a codebase?




--
Jody Garnett

On 22 September 2017 at 10:16, Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>    <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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