[Foss4g2008loc] Feedback from GISSA National Council meeting on4Oct

[Gavin Fleming]

Thanks for that point Jeff, we're going to have to target our marketing differently within and outside SA. 
 
>From outside SA we will only accept FOSS presentations and market it as a FOSS conference, indicating that there will be other local content. For South Africans however, it is also our biennial general GIS conference, so we will be inclusive and catering for all, obviously with a strong FOSS message. Exactly how we market the mix and do the actual 'blending' at the conference is important and we need discussion like this to get to the best way to do it. 
 
Gavin

________________________________

From: foss4g2008loc-bounces at lists.osgeo.org on behalf of Jeff McKenna
Sent: Wed 10/10/2007 5:52 PM
To: foss4g2008loc at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: Re: [Foss4g2008loc] Feedback from GISSA National Council meeting on4Oct



Question: how do we accept abstracts for presentations and/or
workshops for our "FOSS4G" conference that do not contain any
reference to FOSS?  Maybe I am misreading your "blending proprietary
and FOSS talks" idea.  I personally think that PaulR and the 2007
committee successfully showed the community how proprietary and FOSS
can work together in the geospatial world.  And if education is the
key for the 2008 conference, surely accepting non-FOSS presentations
and workshops will not help in educating the SA area in FOSS.  Please
clarify.

--
jeff



On 10/10/07, Gavin Fleming <GavinF at mintek.co.za> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> You're right, but it is incorporating GISSA 2008 so there will be some
> content that is 'proprietary'. Our challenge is to work the two together in
> a sensible and non-threatening way. We want to communicate to the
> 'proprietary' world what FOSS can do so want to attract as wide an audience
> as possible, while keeping it attractive to the FOSS GIS core.
>
>
>
> ESRI, Leica, Autodesk, Google and others were major sponsors of FOSS4G2007,
> exhibited and presented at the conference and indeed use and support FOSS
> projects in a big way and we will be approaching them for next year too.
> E.g. GDAL is core to Google Earth and ArcGIS.
>
>
>
>
> Gavin
>
>
>
>  ________________________________
>
>
> From: Dewald Troskie [mailto:nucleotic at gmail.com]
>  Sent: 10 October 2007 10:30 AM
>  To: Gavin Fleming; foss4g2008loc at lists.osgeo.org
>  Subject: RE: [Foss4g2008loc] Feedback from GISSA National Council meeting
> on 4Oct
>
>
>
>
> Hi All,
>
>
>
> Just a point - FOSS4G is about Free and Open Source GIS, not proprietry
> talks. That is against the spirit of the conference in my opinion - just as
> the name states. Otherwise we might as well invite the "Microsoft" of GIS
> (we all know whom I'm talking about) to jump onboard. If users are
> interested in that, then they should attend one of the ESRI User
> conferences.
>
>
>
> The debate may be a good idea, but it should be properly mediated to prevent
> scope creep and have proper direction without getting ugly (I have seen it
> happen before between professionals).
>
>
>
> Just a note. My Zim $5 worth.
>
>
>
> Dewald.
>
>
>  ________________________________
>
>
> From: foss4g2008loc-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
> [mailto:foss4g2008loc-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of
> Gavin Fleming
>  Sent: 10 October 2007 09:01 AM
>  To: foss4g2008loc at lists.osgeo.org
>  Subject: [Foss4g2008loc] Feedback from GISSA National Council meeting on
> 4Oct
>
>
> I gave brief feedback from FOSS4G2007 to the GISSA National Council and
> asked for their comments on FOSS4G2008 organisation:
>
> An idea was proposed for blending proprietary and FOSS talks: have themed
> rooms where delegates know certain streams or cross-cutting content like
> FOSS will be presented. Previous suggestions include having streams
> containing FOSS, though not necessarily keeping them in the same room, or
> randomly interspersing talks with FOSS content throughout a topic stream and
> just identifying them with some flag. The point was also made that many
> delegates will see a talk for the application, not for the tools used, i.e.
> to them it's not important whether FOSS or proprietary GIS was used.
> The marketing message must be open and inclusive. While we may run a formal
> FOSS vs proprietary debate, confrontation is not the message. Most debate
> will occur in the presentations and corridors anyway.
> Re topics, it was suggested that we add topics for business and government
> delegates (pretty much what is being discussed on OSGeo-Discuss at the
> moment) such as
>
> FOSS GIS migration strategies
> FOSS GIS business case, FOSS vs proprietary TCO, etc.
> It was advised that we aim to break even with 600 delegates but plan space
> for 1000 delegates.
> Carrin would send a letter to GISSA members and vendors advising them of the
> conference and asking them to plan for the time and budget to attend.
> A request was made to boost the academic component of the conference. i.e.
> improve the options available to those who want peer review and publication
> of their papers. Antony Cooper will participate in this.
> Local Cape participation in the LOC should be boosted. So far Inge is the
> main person on the ground there. Russell Hope might want to get more
> involved and Derek Clarke will be approached (Gavin will approach Derek)
> The whole Council asked to be placed on the LOC mailing list.
> In the development of an agreement between GISSA and OSGeo we need to
> clarify respective risks, contributions and benefits and draft the agreement
> accordingly.
>
> Gavin
>
>
>
>
>
>
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