epiphany about the idea of the Foundation

[Frank Warmerdam]

On 11/29/05, David Bitner <osgis.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
> I think there must be a difference in joining the foundation and in
> being a board member of the foundation.
>
> The first must be as open and inclusive as feasible (perhaps a nominal
> membership fee to make sure we only include the serious folks).

David,

I certainly agree with this.

> The board must be made up of folks who represent the various
> interests.  The question of what these folks bring to the table should
> be addressed by thier peers who elect them to the board.  Sure it
> would make sense and there should be  seats on the board that
> represent particular interests, but the general membership should be
> the ones to put the representatives there.

Generally speaking, I would like to see the board directly elected by
the membership.  What I don't know is how we would ensure that
various interests get properly represented.  Do we need a mechanism
for that, or can we just assume that a diverse membership will tend
to elect a board that is diverse?  I prefer not to have any rules restricting
some board seats to "open source folks" and others to "corporate interests"
or split between developers, integrators and end users or any other
mechanism.

BTW, I would really like to see an indepth discussion of governance
model suggestions (ideally on the foundation discuss mailing list).
We need to hammer out a governance model over the coming weeks
and that means we need to get fairly detailed.  In fact, I think I will
try and raise some sort of strawman for discussion on the foundation
mailing list tonight.

> > I am still interested in the answer to the question. I think anyone who
> > joins the foundation should contribute something. A new project, new
> > code mods, money, etc.

Gary,

I for one don't want to see any "contribution test" on membership
in the foundation.  I think it complicates things in unpleasant ways.
I am reasonably confident that letting anyone who wants to be a
member who is self identified as having an interest will be sufficient.

Best regards,
--
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent