[Ica-osgeo-labs] Defining criteria for REL membership

[Cameron Shorter]

Dimitris and Charles,
You have a valid point, simple is good. Yes, "hoops to jump through" 
hinders a project, but structure should be introduced if there is 
substantial value gained from its introduction. Structure helps achieve 
higher collaborative goals.  In the case of Open Source Software that 
includes setting up a code repository, developer accounts, releases, 
issue trackers, etc. Have a look at the OSGeo Incubation docs [1] if you 
want to see more.

The REL community has successfully set up great collaborative 
communication channels. This is valuable, but there is more that could 
be achieved by introducing some structure and coordination. In 
particular, I think some structure and processes would significantly 
help to collaboratively create and maintain educational training material.

I suspect it would also help institutions bid for funds to be involved.

The processes should certainly be kept as simple as possible, but some 
process is required to collaborate effectively.

So I ask, do educators want to try to achieve more collaboratively?
* Maybe create training material?
* Anything else?

[1] http://www.osgeo.org/incubator/process/project_graduation_checklist.html

On 2/06/2015 8:36 pm, Suchith Anand wrote:
> Dimitris ,
>
> Thank you for these excellent points. (And thanks Charlie for the interesting article reference).
>
> Yes, participation itself in a global network with excellent people is the biggest benifit for all (those active and those not that active). We need to find mechanisms to encourage  and help those not that active to be more involved and active.
>
> I also agree that the very  simple reporting suggested is just for understanding the bigger picture of the community and encourage more collaboration opportunities but not to be used as a criterion to continue someone's participation ( in fact, we can use this opportunity to help those who need more support).  Cameron and others who have great experience with success of OSGeo Live can give us more ideas to help us.
>
> Suchith
>
> ________________________________________
> From: ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Charles Schweik [cschweik at pubpol.umass.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2015 11:12 AM
> To: Dimitris Kotzinos
> Cc: ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org
> Subject: Re: [Ica-osgeo-labs] Defining criteria for REL membership
>
> +1
>
> One of my favorite quotes by open source advocate Eric Raymond is below, and relevant:
>
> '... the number of contributors (and, at second order, the success of) projects is strongly and inversely correlated with the number of hoops each project makes a contributing user go through.' [1]
>
> [1] http://timreview.ca/article/645
>
> On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 10:53 AM, Dimitris Kotzinos <kotzino at gmail.com<mailto:kotzino at gmail.com>> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I followed the exchange of e-mails on "advancing" the requirements for
> participating in the GeoForAll, beyond just checking for inactivity.
> I think that we should try to keep things simple; actually I think that
> one of the points of the unprecedented success and growth the network
> has seen, is based on the fact that things have been kept simple and not
> very demanding in terms of time. I think the important point is to keep
> people interested and involved. The many good people that already
> participate and are active guarantee the growth of the network. If
> someone is not very active in my view should be encouraged and helped
> (as Suchith suggested) and not be thrown out or e.g. in incubation. We
> have to consider also how valuable such participation is for
> universities from developing countries, both in terms of best practices
> and materials.
> For me the main benefit of participation, is ... participation itself in
> a global network with excellent people submitting proposals like the
> ones by Charlie or Maria and while as usual few people will drive the
> initiatives the more that participate the better it is.
> Needless to say that some simple reporting is more than welcome for
> understanding the bigger picture of the community but not to be used as
> a criterion to continue someone's participation. In practical terms we
> can always poke people from time to time to understand if they want to
> continue being part or not as Helena did now (thanks Helena).
>
> So let's try to hit the 100 members mark!
>
> Best regards to all,
> Dimitris
>
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>
> --
> Charlie Schweik
>
> Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
> Dept of Environmental Conservation and Center for Public Policy and Administration
>
> Personal website: http://people.umass.edu/cschweik
> Publications: http://works.bepress.com/charles_schweik/
>
> Author, Internet Success: A Study of Open Source Software (MIT Press, 2012) - see http://tinyurl.com/d3e4545
>
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Cameron Shorter,
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