[Local-chapters] Re: [North America] What is North America?

[Mark Lucas]

The primary focus is going to be an annual north american conference - probably located in Canada or the US and the conference will most likely be in English.

But, I don't think anyone needs to get hung up on this.  Anyone who wants to sign up to the NA list is welcome.  If you can can make a compelling case to hold a conference in Cancun, Aruba, or some other exotic location we will give it careful consideration.

Mark

On Nov 11, 2011, at 4:29 AM, Seven (aka Arnulf) wrote:

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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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