[FOSS4G-Oceania] The Panel Session - It's Time...

[Alex Leith]

Adam, I think you're on the money there.

What I'm proposing is to have that discussion at our event. To be a bit
more exciting than just 'what the future of tech' or 'lets look at
ourselves'. It's about talking about the community and how we can improve
it.

I think we set the panel up so that it DOES have the people on it who need
to discuss it. I think we open up to the floor and encourage the difficult
questions. And I think we can have an impact.



On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 13:13 adam steer <adam.d.steer at gmail.com> wrote:

> to add another perspective - we get to do something audacious here - and
> set the tone for how we roll as a community for years to come. What can the
> open community pull off that can’t be done in industry conferences? where
> can we lead the discussion?
>
> what really strikes to our hearts about what we want the open geo
> community to look like? how should it flower/mature/fruit? this
> first-event-in-a-long-time might be a once in a decade shot at exploring
> some hard issues there.
>
> Yes, we can do it again next year and the year after and so on - but by
> then there is momentum and expectation. Right *now* I see a chance to be
> outrageous in our ambitions/direction setting/discussion...
>
> Cheers
> Adam
>
> On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 11:49, adam steer <adam.d.steer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Alex
>>
>> Based on a discussion in the program committee (thanks Emma Hain) I think
>> a panel discussion on ’strength in diversity' might not reach the audience
>> who *needs* to hear it. It also might not get the people on the panel we
>> really *need* to discuss the topic.
>>
>> This sounds weird from someone who has pushed really hard on diversity
>> and inclusion topics, right? Bear with me… and also caution - some of these
>> thoughts really need more developing.
>>
>> I took a lot from a talk titled ‘Open communities - we love to hate’ in
>> Dar Es Salaam - by Steven Feldman. It struck me that, in order to really
>> discuss diversity we need to look at it in a ground up way. What are the
>> things about our community that make it approachable or not? Why, where and
>> how can the open source community lead? What can we do better?
>>
>> Again, in the program committee I proposed ‘what does community mean in
>> the open geo-space?’; and the more abstract ’spatial futures..’ - from my
>> view, they let us as a community explore diversity and inclusion as
>> fundamental components of what we do. We can certainly head into
>> controversial territory, I would expect the session chair to take the
>> conversation there, and the panelists to expect some really curly topics :D
>>
>> What do you all think?  We need to talk about diversity and inclusion,
>> and keep talking about it ad nauseum, especially if we are old-ish blokes
>> talking to other old-ish blokes and challenging some old ideas.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Adam
>>
>>
>> On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 10:18, Alex Leith <alexgleith at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hey Folks
>>>
>>> It is now time to get stuck into the details of the panel session.
>>>
>>> Three things need to happen:
>>>
>>>    1. Establish a topic
>>>    2. Find a moderator
>>>    3. Bring together 4-6 panelists.
>>>
>>> As you may be aware, I'm very enthusiastic about running the topic on
>>> Diversity and Inclusion. The reason I want to do a topic on D&I is that
>>> it's something that everyone is talking about now, and it's particularly
>>> important in the spatial industry. Gaby, the past president of SSSI, pointed
>>> out recently
>>> <https://sssi.org.au/knowledge-hub/president-s-message/president-s-message-september-2018>
>>> that our industry has gone backwards, in terms of female representation.
>>> Atlassian are doing great things in this space, and their latest effort has
>>> rebranded to 'Balance and Belonging
>>> <https://www.atlassian.com/diversity>'. And we know that some of the
>>> stalwarts
>>> <https://www.zdnet.com/article/linus-torvalds-takes-a-break-from-linux/>
>>> in the open source community are recognising the need for change.
>>>
>>> Really, in brief, I think the topic should be 'Strength in Diversity'
>>> and that we should talk abut the human aspects of our community. I think it
>>> will be a very interesting discussion, and perhaps controversial in places,
>>> and I think that this is exactly what we need in order to make our even
>>> stand out from others. I think that by taking a bit of a risk, and being
>>> open to discussing difficult issues, we can make sure that voices are heard
>>> and that we can have an impact (even if it's modest).
>>>
>>> Ok, so, how do we feel about the suggested topic here?
>>>
>>> And if you have an alternative, now's the time to raise it.
>>>
>>> Once we have a topic, we can pick a moderator and start forming the
>>> panel.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Alex
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Alex Leith
>>> 0419 189 050
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> FOSS4G-Oceania mailing list
>>> FOSS4G-Oceania at lists.osgeo.org
>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g-oceania
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Adam Steer
>> https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adam_Steer
>> http://au.linkedin.com/in/adamsteer
>> http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0046-7236
>> +61 427 091 712 <+61%20427%20091%20712>
>> skype: adam.d.steer
>> tweet: @adamdsteer
>>
>
>
> --
> Adam Steer
> https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adam_Steer
> http://au.linkedin.com/in/adamsteer
> http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0046-7236
> +61 427 091 712 <+61%20427%20091%20712>
> skype: adam.d.steer
> tweet: @adamdsteer
>
-- 

Alex Leith
0419 189 050
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