[GRASSLIST:9831] Re: [GRASS5] [pramsey refractions.net: [MSF-Discuss] "Geospatial Foundation" Meeting]

[Markus Neteler]

Helena
(cc grasslists and Paul Ramsey)

I think that there was the time shift problem between Europe and 
Northern America - Paul posted the message on Friday while
I saw it only later (and posted it here with delay).

My intention is to participate in the meeting.

Markus

On Sat, Jan 14, 2006 at 03:54:52PM -0500, Helena Mitasova wrote:
> Markus, I don't see you (or anybody else for GRASS) - it is sad to see 
> GRASS omitted.
> Will you be able to go?
> 
> Helena
> 
> On Jan 14, 2006, at 3:23 PM, Markus Neteler wrote:
> 
> >Attached a message from Paul Ramsey concerning
> >the foundation meeting.
> >
> >
> >From: Paul Ramsey <pramsey at refractions.net>
> >Date: January 13, 2006 12:32:10 PM EST
> >To: discuss at lists.mapserverfoundation.org, freegis-list at intevation.de, 
> >MAPSERVER-USERS at LISTS.UMN.EDU
> >Cc: Subject: [MSF-Discuss] "Geospatial Foundation" Meeting
> >
> >
> >Dear Community Members,
> >
> >In order to help move along the process of starting an "open source 
> >geospatial foundation" there will be a face-to-face meeting in 
> >Chicago, Westin O'Hare, on February 4, 2006, hosted by Autodesk. In 
> >conceiving of this meeting, we have tried (and will continue to try) 
> >to follow these principles:
> >
> >- Inclusion. Members from a number of different open source projects 
> >have been invited (see the list so far below) and Autodesk has offered 
> >to pay the travel costs of some of these invitees in order to ensure 
> >they can attend if they cannot afford it otherwise. Anyone else is 
> >also welcome to attend physically or virtually (see below).
> >
> >- Transparency. The agenda for the meeting will be public, and will be 
> >revised based on comments and input prior to the meeting. The minutes 
> >of the meeting will also be public. Planning materials (backgrounders, 
> >attendee lists, agenda) for the meeting on will be on a public site. 
> >The whole meeting will be transcribed into IRC in real time, and IRC 
> >users will be able to participate via an interlocutor at the meeting.
> >
> >The following are some general goals for the meeting (subject to 
> >revision/addition/subtraction), which should provide enough certainty 
> >that present investments into the starting of the foundation are not 
> >wasted on concepts that people are not interested in for the long term 
> >future.
> >
> >- Agreement in principle on a mission statement or short charter.
> >
> >- Agreement in principle on a governance model for the foundation. 
> >Deciding whether the foundation should "look like" Eclipse, or Apache, 
> >or The Open Group, or some other model entirely.
> >
> >- Agreement in principle on a founding Board of Directors. A founding 
> >BoD can start to make concrete decisions on things like a name, logo 
> >and branding, domains, and so on.
> >
> >- Agreement in principle on an acceptable short list of foundation 
> >names, to be subjected to further legal research.
> >
> >In general, the goal is to establish enough solid agreement on basic 
> >issues that a founding BoD can proceed confidently in managing the 
> >details in getting the foundation up and running.
> >
> >The proposed agenda follows:
> >
> >a.      Opening statements and introductions
> >b.      Q/A ? ~20 min - from IRC, email
> >c.      Foundation Goals ? what should they be? What should the name 
> >be?
> >d.      Q/A ? ~20 min - from IRC, email
> >e.      Foundation Operations ? the givens (governance, legal 
> >protection, IPR, licenses, funding, community management)
> >f.       Q/A ? ~20 min - from IRC, email
> >g.      Foundation charter, tentative board membership, and action 
> >plan established
> >h.      Q/A ? 20 min - from IRC, email
> >i.       Breakout groups: Governance, Legal Issues, Community 
> >Management, Funding
> >j.       Breakout groups regroup and present their findings
> >k.      Results will be gathered and enumerated for the creation of a 
> >draft document rolling up the decisions and next steps.
> >
> >The minutes of this meeting will be published on the web site within a 
> >few days after the meeting adjourns. We will then work hard to publish 
> >the final results of the meeting within two weeks of the meeting.
> >
> >An attorney who has worked with the creators of Mozilla and other 
> >foundations to establish non profits for housing an open source 
> >foundation will be present. Establishing an open source foundation is 
> >now almost formulaic in Silicon Valley, and we would like to take 
> >advantage of those formulas.
> >
> >The participants in the meeting thus far are:
> >
> >Brian Behlendorf (O'Reilly & CollabNet)
> >Chris Holmes (GeoServer/Open Planning Project)
> >Claude Philipona (FOSS4GIS Conference/Camptocamp)
> >Dave McIlhagga (Mapserver/DM)
> >Frank Warmerdam (OGR/GDAL)
> >Gary Lang (Tux/Autodesk)
> >Gary Sherman (QGIS)
> >Gordon Luckett (User/Autodesk)
> >Howard Butler (MapServer/UIowa)
> >Mark Lucas (OSSIM)
> >Paul Ramsey (PostGIS/uDig/Refractions)
> >Pericles Nacionales (Mapserver/UMN)
> >Robert Bray (Tux/Autodesk)
> >Rich Steele (Tux/Autodesk)
> >Paul Spencer (Ka-Map/DM)
> >Steve Lime (Mapserver)
> >Tom Burk (Mapserver/UMN)
> >Tyler Mitchell (O?Reilly Author, long-time MapServer Foundation 
> >advocate)
> >
> >We therefore have room for more on-site attendees. If you are 
> >interested in attending to represent one of these communities as a 
> >user or you want to propose adding a project to this list, please send 
> >an email to:
> >
> >  chicago <at> mapserverfoundation.org
> >
> >When we reach 25 on-site attendees, we will be at our budget limit for 
> >this meeting and have reached a size that we feel comfortable 
> >managing. Everyone else can participate through the virtual mechanisms 
> >described above.
> >
> >Everyone wants to ensure the foundation has a long and successful 
> >future, and we know that this requires getting lots of input up front, 
> >so the organization starts out heading in the right direction. We hope 
> >that many of you can join us in Chicago, and that the rest will join 
> >us virtually as well to take part in this process.
> >
> >We will soon start posting Chicago location information (a hotel near 
> >the airport is the goal) and information for discussion publicly. We 
> >will use www.mapserverfoundation.org as the hosting place for virtual 
> >connection information, discussion documents, agenda modifications, 
> >and other documents associated with the foundation until such time as 
> >the name of the foundation is chosen and a site dedicated to it has 
> >been established.
> >
> >Paul Ramsey
> >Gary Lang
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> Helena Mitasova
> Dept. of Marine, Earth and Atm. Sciences
> 1125 Jordan Hall, NCSU Box 8208,
> Raleigh NC 27695
> http://skagit.meas.ncsu.edu/~helena/
>