[Local-chapters] What is North America?

[Seven (aka Arnulf)]

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Now that a North American Regional Chapter is emerging I wanted to
understand what the term "North America" actually means. Just a few
example:

In my cultural context (Germany) the Unites States on their own are
typically called "Amerika" which in reality is a whole continent. To
many Germans Kanada (yes, with a "K") is just a US wilderness adventure
park (Canadians: no offence meant). In many South American countries US
citizens are nowadays called "Gringo" which originally meant "Green Go"
and relates to US "interventions" in Middle and Southern America.

So for many non-North-Americans the term might be really, really fuzzy
which is why I thought it would be a good idea to define it more
closely, started here:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Talk:North_America_Regional

Looking at the typical roles of a local chapter (or in this case a "meta
local chapter" or "regional chapter") I would suggest that this chapter
would be the primary point of contact for the organization of a FOSS4G
event in English language in either the US or Canada. Extending it
beyond these two countries would probably raise a whole lot of
additional issues starting with language (Spanish) and ending with
politics (Cuba) - which will probably complicate things beyond
recognition. I can also see other meta chapters forming with a more
Spanish speaking background in the Middle Americas, so there is no
exclusivity here at all. The Spanish speaking Local Chapter might also
be a good template to see how this could look.

But anything I say here is absolutely not fundamental at all, just 2ct
from an outsider (sent in the hope that this list will see a broadly
inclusive dialog about how this group will evolve).

Have fun,
Arnulf

- -- 
Exploring Space, Time and Mind
http://arnulf.us
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