[Local-chapters] [OSGeo-Discuss] Regional Chapters (was: Re: FOSS4G North America 2015 Expressions of Interest)

Wed Sep 4 04:16:34 PDT 2013

Interesting topic, cross-border collaboration!

First of all I'd like to mention that OSGeo.nl (the Dutch chapter) does not
only cover The Netherlands, but serves the entire Dutch (as in: the Dutch
language) speaking part of the world, including the Flemish region (in
Belgium) and Caribbean Netherlands (formerly known as the Neterlands
Antilles). 
So does FOSSGIS.DE for the entire German speaking area (Germany, Austria,
Switzerland), as I witnessed this year at the excellent FOSSSGIS conference
in Rapperswill (Switzerland). However, both chapters (Dutch and German)
cover relatively homogeneous regions, 99.99% European based.

On the contrary: the OSgeo local chapter page
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Local_Chapters show a Francophone (not: French)
chapter. And, as Arnulf already mentoined, the Spanish speaking group is
also organized around a language. These chapters potentially cover parts of
almost every continent. 

Main concern seems to me that anyone (wherever in the world, whatever
language he/she speaks) has a local/regional chapter he/she can join.
Our local dutch (Netherlands and Flemish region) approach makes it
relatively easy to link FOSS-solutions to specific local geo-issues and to
knowledge of the local geo-developments (e.g. specific national SDI's). 

For Europe, I'd rather focus on local chapters, not on a "pan-european"
chapter.
Is there a strategy for FOSS4G-CEE? Is it a temporary "supra-national" that
wants to incubate local chapters (Poland, Hungary, Romania) and then becomes
obsolete itself?

btw, I will update the "European Network wiki page"
(http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/European_Network): we're an official foundation
now, and we will be organizing the "OSGeo.nl 2013" , nov. 13th in Delft.

Greetings, 

Gert-Jan

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
[mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] Namens Arnulf Christl
Verzonden: dinsdag 3 september 2013 16:12
Aan: discuss at lists.osgeo.org; local-chapters
Onderwerp: [OSGeo-Discuss] Regional Chapters (was: Re: FOSS4G North America
2015 Expressions of Interest)

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NA Local Chaps;
I think it is high time for a North America Chapter. Maybe it suffices to
start with slightly formalizing the existing team which already selects and
organizes the conferences. I am sure that eventually a full-fledged Regional
Chapter will form so it is just a questions of when to officially start. As
we all know publish early and release often is the way to go. It seems like
we are almost beyond publishing early.

All,
we are thinking about similar ideas in Europe with a strong CEE group
already under way and Germany, UK, Spain, The Netherlands and Italy pretty
strong already we will eventually have to coordinate anyway. One way to go
forward would be to have representatives of the existing local chaps form a
higher level group. The Spanish speaking group has gone a different way and
organizes around a language regardless of location.
Both can be good.

If you have ideas how to do this we'd be interested in learning about them
and sharing experiences. Please subscribe to the Local Chapters list and let
us know:
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/local-chapters

Best regards,
Arnulf

On 30.08.2013 17:12, David William Bitner wrote:
> With the second FOSS4G North America in Minneapolis in the history 
> books and looking forward to the "Big Show" in Portland next Fall, I'd 
> love to start the ball rolling to drum up interest in hosting FOSS4G 
> North America in the Spring of 2015.
> 
> There are two parts here:
> 
> 1) Who's interested? If you have a local community that you think 
> would be great to host, speak up! If you have questions as to what it 
> takes, ask. If there's a city you'd love to see take this on - start 
> pestering them.
> 
> 2) If there is competing interest, we'll need identify the selection 
> process/committee. We can take the easy route here and do something 
> simple like prior Conference & Program Chairs make up the committee, 
> or we can try (again) to create a more formal group for North America 
> to handle things like this. If you have $.02 on this - bring it up now!
> 
> I'd love to see us be able to move on this and be able to select a 
> venue by the end of November if possible to make sure there is ample 
> time for planning. Important thing right now is to start the 
> discussion and get folks thinking about what we need to do to make the 
> next FOSS4G NA another awesome event!
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> David
> 
> --
> ************************************
> David William Bitner
> dbSpatial LLC
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> 

- --
Arnulf Christl (Executive Director)
Open Source Geospatial Software, Data and Services
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