[OSGeo Oceania] [Meeting invite] OSGeo Membership discussion and OSGeo Oceania election debrief

[Martin Tomko]

Hi all,
Just to briefly chip in,  in this crazy busy time.

I am also +1 on keeping the current membership policy that served well, echoing John's,  Ed's and Hamish's sentiments.  Outreach,  communication,  and activities for te broad community should be,  in my eyes,  or focus now. With little numbers of active community members,  I would prefer to dedicate energy to support the community,  rather then on refinements of internal org processes.  I note that we not only serve the ~ osgeo community in Oceania,  but equally the more fluid, but maybe larger community around OSM.

Martin

On 17 Dec. 2020 9:03 pm, Hamish Campbell <hn.campbell at gmail.com> wrote:
Chipping in to say I support the Membership Policy as it stands, for the reasons outlined by John and Ed, and I would encourage us to defer revisiting it.

I wanted to note that the policy already gives us a starting point answering what it means to be a member (see Eligibility), which could be summarised as "contributing to OSGeo Oceania in some way". This could be more clearly stated outside of that document perhaps, but it seems like the engagement questions are the important ones at this time. If we have a welcoming environment with clear opportunities to get involved with OSGeo activities and better reach into the wider region, the question of "what does it mean to be a member" answers itself.

One question that is worth adding is "how do members currently engage with OSGeo Oceania and how do they want to engage with OSGeo Oceania". FOSS4G highlighted that different communities engage in different ways and we really need to ask people about what works for them. E.g. there is no requirement to be in this mailing list (and public mailing list discussions are definitely not for everyone). One approach here might be for the Membership WG to deliver a series of on-boarding emails for new members specifically aimed at (1) providing a welcoming and inclusive introduction to the organisation, (2) highlighting the ways they can engage with the organisation, (3) enumerating ways the member can contribute and (4) specifically asking about the needs of their local communities.

This is a timely discussion. On the Outreach & Comms WG we're starting to put together the wider comms strategy (more on that later), and having engaged members who can tell us how their communities operate would be invaluable.

On Thu, 17 Dec 2020 at 18:27, John Bryant <johnwbryant at gmail.com<mailto:johnwbryant at gmail.com>> wrote:
Thanks for this discussion. My thoughts:

Official "membership" of OSGeo Oceania is an important way to keep the organisation accountable. By maintaining a register of engaged people willing to pay attention and vote, we make sure there is a way to fix things if they go wrong.

I like that there's a low threshold for belonging to our community, because it feels inclusive and welcoming. But maybe it would be better to apply these principles in a broader sense, making sure it's easy to join the community, and take a narrow view of the role of "membership". This is how I see it: "membership" is simply about participating in board elections and voting on resolutions, as needed to maintain a democratic organisation. Embracing this would mean putting a low emphasis on membership as a day-to-day concern of the organisation.

This feels approximately similar to the OSGeo model Bruce has linked to: Anyone can join the OSGeo community (we have the same, but maybe this is not well enough articulated). OSGeo has "charter" members who must pass an eligibility threshold and can vote, but the organisation is focused on serving the whole community.

Related: the topic of "how do we deliver value to members" has come up a few times in the past, but I think it's the wrong approach. For me, I think members are best served when the organisation keeps its focus on the mission of supporting a healthy community, rather than providing any special access, benefits, or services to members. As a member, that's what I want to see :)

On Thu, 17 Dec 2020 at 11:39, Bruce Bannerman <bruce.bannerman.osgeo at gmail.com<mailto:bruce.bannerman.osgeo at gmail.com>> wrote:
I encourage everyone involved in our community to contribute to evolve how we want to work together. You may not think so, but your thoughts and opinion **are** important.

Hear hear!

John
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