[OSGeo Oceania] A discussion on openness

[Bruce Bannerman]

Thank you Adam for taking the time to contribute what must have been a very difficult response.

I value your thoughts on this.

If Osgeo-Oceania is going to survive as a viable open source community, we need to learn from experiences such as yours and John’s.

We cannot afford to turn away and lose such talent from our community.

Our volunteers are our lifeblood. We cannot afford to lose any.

OK, I can see that there is an issue here.

It is important that we understand the root cause of what has caused this rift within our community. 

Therefore, I urge others to also share their experiences. We can then move forward.

It is not easy establishing and nurturing a successful open source community. Once it is done effectively, the community will develop a momentum of its own.

I can see that we have been very successful at attracting new blood to our community. However that has also brought people who are new to open source communities and how they need to operate to thrive.

With some effort, we can resolve this current bump in the road.

To the current and former OSGeo Oceania Directors. Thank you for volunteering your skills and time to lead our community. You have not had an easy task, and it is easy for those who have not been in a similar position to criticise.

As a community, we can turn this situation around. We have a lot of experience to call on, particularly those with extensive international open source experience.

Kind regards,

Bruce


> On 8 Dec 2020, at 02:02, Adam Steer <adam.d.steer at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 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
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