Arnulf, <div><br></div><div>Only so much can be done for free. </div><div><br></div><div>I'm sure I speak for many in supporting your idea to pay Jeff to help organize and operate the Beijing conference.</div><div><br>
</div><div>One way to make this happen is to ask the Beijing committee to add a $8 surcharge to the registration cost with the understanding that this money will go to the professional organizer (Jeff McKenna) from OSGeo for his services in helping organize, promote and generally ensure the success of the conference.</div>
<div><br></div><div><div>- Dan</div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------</div><div>Daniel P. Ames, Ph.D. PE<br>Associate Professor, Geosciences<br>Idaho State University - Idaho Falls<br><a href="mailto:dan.ames@isu.edu" target="_blank">dan.ames@isu.edu</a><br>
<a href="http://geology.isu.edu/" target="_blank">geology.isu.edu</a><br><a href="http://www.mapwindow.org/" target="_blank">www.mapwindow.org</a><br></div><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Nov 18, 2011 at 5:53 AM, Arnulf Christl (OSGeo) <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:arnulf@osgeo.org">arnulf@osgeo.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div class="im">On 18.11.2011 12:41, Bart van den Eijnden wrote:<br>
> Hey Arnulf,<br>
><br>
> I had no idea this was happening behind the scenes, so e-mails like this<br>
> are good IMHO.<br>
><br>
> If I was OsGeo I would ask the current set of regular sponsors if they<br>
> would be interested at all to sponsor in Beijing. Or has such a survey<br>
> taken place already?<br>
><br>
> If the outcome is negative, I personally would not take the financial<br>
> risk, even with a great FOSS4G organizer as Jeff taking it on.<br>
><br>
> Best regards,<br>
> Bart<br>
<br>
</div>Bart,<br>
all of this has already been done and the conference committee voted 9<br>
to 7 for Beijing in the third go. So now it is "too late" to change<br>
anything. The board vote was the last chance to stop it but it passed<br>
with just one -1.<br>
<br>
Now that we have decided to go for China it is not anymore a question of<br>
"if" but "how". I am absolutely pushing FOSS4G Beijing now and hope that<br>
all in OSGeo will do the same. And we will have yet another great event<br>
in a great location - I am sure of that - becasue so far we have always<br>
managed to bend things so that they fit us well.<br>
<br>
But thanks for your comment that none of this has caught your attention<br>
up to now. Knowing that you are more than average attentive for this<br>
type of issues shows that the need for broader communication is even<br>
bigger than expected.<br>
<br>
Have a nice weekend,<br>
<font color="#888888">Arnulf<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
> --<br>
> Bart van den Eijnden<br>
> OSGIS - <a href="http://osgis.nl" target="_blank">http://osgis.nl</a><br>
><br>
> On Nov 18, 2011, at 12:28 PM, Arnulf Christl (OSGeo) wrote:<br>
><br>
>> Folks,<br>
>> the OSGeo Board of Directors meets once a month in a public meeting on<br>
>> IRC. We then discuss the agenda which has been prepared on the OSGeo<br>
>> Wiki [1]. Thanks to Gary Sherman the meetings are logged [2]. We hold<br>
>> the meetings openly and every now and then somebody outside of the board<br>
>> has an interjection - which can be very helpful indeed. At the last<br>
>> meeting Gary Sherman suggested that we should circulate the results from<br>
>> our meetings because not that many people follow the board mailing list<br>
>> [3] read the minutes [4] or even the logs [5].<br>
>><br>
>> Currently we meet every second Thursday of a month at 17:00 UTC on IRC.<br>
>> We also aim at meeting in person at least once each year, usually during<br>
>> the FOSS4G conference.<br>
>><br>
>> One item I was explicitly asked to highlight to the broader community<br>
>> relates to FOSS4G 2012 in Beijing [6]. There has been a lot of talk<br>
>> about the challenges of this next edition of FOSS4G, these include<br>
>> language and cultural differences, sheer physical distance of the venue<br>
>> for many active OSGeo members, competing regional FOSS4G events,<br>
>> including a new one very likely in North America and that we are already<br>
>> very late in planning (we never had this little time to prepare).<br>
>> Therefore in a mail from September [7] I voted against having FOSS4G in<br>
>> Beijing but at the same time proposed a motion to hire Jeff McKenna for<br>
>> money to help organize the FOSS4G 2012 in Beijing. Jeff is the chair of<br>
>> the conference committee and helped organize every single FOSS4G we<br>
>> have celebrated so far, so he is a perfect fit. But he cannot spend as<br>
>> much time as will be required for FOSS4G in Beijing as a volunteer. The<br>
>> motion was not accepted by the board and so there was no decision but<br>
>> it started some thinking.<br>
>><br>
>> Jeff is a member of the board of directors and to avoid a conflict of<br>
>> interest he will abstain from any decision as suggested here [8]. The<br>
>> next step will be a proposal from Jeff describing the required work load<br>
>> and budget to get going. Then the board of directors will have to decide<br>
>> how to go forward – and all of this must happen asap.<br>
>><br>
>> You can see, this is a long ongoing process and all of it is openly<br>
>> available but, as Gary pointed out, many will probably not know anything<br>
>> about this.<br>
>><br>
>> So what do you think in general. Is this type of informative mail<br>
>> enough, or should we blog about the meetings in more detail, make a<br>
>> video or fully socialmedialize them? (...please bear in mind that we<br>
>> will then not be able to do other stuff, so it should better be<br>
>> important, not just a nice to have). Suggestions are welcome.<br>
>><br>
>> Thanks,<br>
>> Arnulf<br>
>><br>
>> [1] <a href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board" target="_blank">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board</a><br>
>> [2] <a href="http://irclogs.geoapt.com/osgeo/" target="_blank">http://irclogs.geoapt.com/osgeo/</a> ...starting at 17:03:02<br>
>> [3] <a href="http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board" target="_blank">http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board</a><br>
>> [4] <a href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2011-11-10#Minutes" target="_blank">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2011-11-10#Minutes</a><br>
>> [5] <a href="http://irclogs.geoapt.com/osgeo/%23osgeo.2011-11-10.log" target="_blank">http://irclogs.geoapt.com/osgeo/%23osgeo.2011-11-10.log</a><br>
>> [6] <a href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_2012" target="_blank">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_2012</a><br>
>> [7] <a href="http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2011-September/008872.html" target="_blank">http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2011-September/008872.html</a><br>
>> [8] <a href="http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2011-September/008894.html" target="_blank">http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2011-September/008894.html</a><br>
>><br>
>> --<br>
>> The Open Source Geospatial Foundation<br>
>> Arnulf Christl, President<br>
>> <a href="http://www.osgeo.org" target="_blank">http://www.osgeo.org</a><br>
>> _______________________________________________<br>
>> Discuss mailing list<br>
>> <a href="mailto:Discuss@lists.osgeo.org">Discuss@lists.osgeo.org</a><br>
>> <a href="http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss" target="_blank">http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a><br>
>><br>
><br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
The Open Source Geospatial Foundation<br>
Arnulf Christl, President<br>
<a href="http://www.osgeo.org" target="_blank">http://www.osgeo.org</a><br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>