[OSGeo Oceania] A discussion on openness

[Adam Steer]

Hey Ed

Thanks for initiating this discussion. My story is long and boring and
yes, the fundamental reason for resigning is that I literally could
not interact with the board anymore - because of ethical concerns,
because it just felt like a drain on my time and energy, because I
really felt like I had wasted so much time being forced into circular
discussions and projects (eg communications, which is still a giant
and growing tangle) - so I leave this discussion and the incoming
board with some suggestions:

- always remember the community does not need OSGeo Oceania, but OSGeo
Oceania needs the community.
- always give people space to speak for themselves, especially in
board meetings.
- always respect peoples' efforts and experience and input, and do it
consistently for everyone
- as John indicated, operating transparently is easy and fruitful. The
tools are there use them
- as you indicated, always propose a solution when a problem is raised
- remember we have a broad, caring, thoughtful, enthusiastic and
deeply experienced community to draw on
- remember we have existing patterns for open and transparent
operation to draw on (OSGeo in particular, the book Bruce mentioned,
other long established chapters of OSGeo and OSM, orgs like Linux
Australia), and ready collaborators for taking on projects like
building open conference systems
- remember to care about ethics, particularly around how we handle
personal data we are trusted with and who we hand it to. Take the time
to learn about how companies we use (eg Mailchimp) operate instead of
just glossing over data issues for convenience.
- value transparency over bells and whistles in communication.
Remember http has also been around a while but we don't call it the
cockroach of the internet - and even fancy mailers use ancient mail
transfer protocols ;). Mailing lists persist because they are
incredibly functional and useful.
- avoid becoming another SSSI.

Congratulations on being elected to the board, I hope the organisation
remembers its roots in this coming year. I am unlikely to spend much
OSGeo Oceania time for a while - however feel free to reach out about
any wrinkles you find that have my name attached. I've made as much
mess as anyone, and haven't been particularly great at handing over
things

Best,
Adam