[Australia] Time to get moving- Chapter formation

[Tim Bowden]

Hi all,

If you have had your ear to the ground, you will know there are a few
geospatial related conferences coming up this year, starting with
SSC2007 in Hobart this May.  Aust OSGeo would like make its presence
felt, but we need to do some housekeeping; ie, get our chapter formally
recognised.  To refresh your memory, we have some notes here:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Australia

Some issues to think about:  There have been some people interested in
extending the Aust chapter to cover NZ (AustNZ OSGeo?).  I think it
would be a great idea, and I can't see any downside.  The issues facing
the GeoFOSS world in NZ are more or less the same as here.  Taking a
joint approach could only help as far as I can see.  If people could
take a minute to indicate on list if they support this or not, it would
be appreciated.

Legal Status: We need to decide if we are to be incorporated or not.
It's a bit more legwork to incorporate, but it does make it easier to
handle money, insurance etc when we get around to holding events.  The
question then becomes, which state do we incorporate in, and do we need
to also have an incorporated entity in NZ (once there are enough NZ
members)?  This is not an area I have much experience in.  Can anyone
add anything here?

Membership:  Do we want to have just individual membership or corporate
membership?  Voting and non voting?  Paid membership or free? Your
thoughts please.  If we go down the incorporation route, we need to get
it right from the start.

GeoFOSS consultants:  One of the benefits an organised chapter can bring
is providing visibility to consultants.  Where can I find a GeoFOSS
friendly consultant is a question I've been asked a few times lately
(the latest being again today).  For those who are interested, this is a
great chance to get some visibility ahead of SSC2007.

GeoFOSS projects:  Lets get some exposure to the things being done with
GeoFOSS here in our region.  There are lots of hidden corners where some
amazing things are happening (esp CSIRO from what I have seen).  Lets
show the world (where we can) so others can have more confidence in our
tools.  It's also a chance to get to see things ourselves we wouldn't
otherwise know about; GeoFOSS covers a lot of ground, probably much more
than any one person can keep abreast of.  There's plenty happening I
don't know about and I'm sure it's the same for others.

Developers:  Lets create the opportunity for developers to network with
local peers.  Sure, location doesn't always matter, but getting some
occasional face to face time with other developers can sometimes make
all the difference to a project.  Hopefully we can help this happen one
way or another.

Are there any other issues anyone wants addressed?

Regards,
Tim Bowden