[OSGeo Oceania] [FOSS4G-Oceania] Good Mojo funds

Tue Sep 22 19:32:34 PDT 2020

+1

From: FOSS4G-Oceania <foss4g-oceania-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> on behalf of John Bryant <johnwbryant at gmail.com>
Date: Wednesday, 23 September 2020 at 11:45 am
To: foss4g-oceania <foss4g-oceania at lists.osgeo.org>
Cc: "oceania at lists.osgeo.org" <oceania at lists.osgeo.org>
Subject: Re: [FOSS4G-Oceania] [OSGeo Oceania] Good Mojo funds

I propose that OSGeo Oceania empower the conference committee to use the Good Mojo fund as it sees fit, with minimal criteria: facilitating diversity and inclusion at the conference, and basic financial oversight.

The conference committee can then put specific initiatives in place, by approving specific requests from hubs and taking suggestions from the community.

I think Martin's suggestions are good ones, and the LOC and hubs are best positioned to decide if it's the best way to include people in their local communities.

On Wed, 23 Sep 2020 at 07:57, Martin Tomko <tomkom at unimelb.edu.au<mailto:tomkom at unimelb.edu.au>> wrote:
My thoughts would be to facilitate remote participation to those who can demonstrate that they have a sub-par internet connection, on top of some support for any fees levied by local hubs to those that can not afford it.
I think that there is a significant disparity in internet access quality in the region, and sometimes this can be lifted by paying for a better connection. So this sponsorship could help to get a better access to people in regional areas, possibly ( such as reimbousing a month of faster internet, or a sim card).

My 2c,
Martin

From: Oceania <oceania-bounces at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:oceania-bounces at lists.osgeo.org>> on behalf of John Bryant <johnwbryant at gmail.com<mailto:johnwbryant at gmail.com>>
Date: Wednesday, 23 September 2020 at 12:13 am
To: Alex Leith <alexgleith at gmail.com<mailto:alexgleith at gmail.com>>
Cc: "oceania at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:oceania at lists.osgeo.org>" <oceania at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:oceania at lists.osgeo.org>>, foss4g-oceania <foss4g-oceania at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:foss4g-oceania at lists.osgeo.org>>
Subject: Re: [OSGeo Oceania] [FOSS4G-Oceania] Good Mojo funds

There's no need to restrict the use of the fund to travel, and with less than 10 weeks to go, there is not enough time to mobilise a single region wide travel grant program in time for the event.

There are quite a few potential activities that fit under the purposes of the program, I've already mentioned a few. I think hub managers should be encouraged to be creative and act locally.

Re: whether travel should be encouraged, let's not dismiss it as a possibility in some areas. For example, here in WA we are fortunate to have a very low COVID case load, and the WA government is heavily promoting regional travel. Helping someone out with a few bucks for fuel to drive to Perth doesn't present any higher risk than what we're already doing: bringing people together, which is something we don't take lightly. In both cases we'll be guided by health authorities and our own best judgement.

I believe there was something like $8800 in the Good Mojo fund last time I checked. Time is short, and we need lead time to make sure we're making such investments wisely, clearly stating our aims and ensuring we are helping the right people. The sooner we know if it's possible, the more likely it will be to happen.

Thanks

On Tue, 22 Sep 2020, 7:00 pm Alex Leith, <alexgleith at gmail.com<mailto:alexgleith at gmail.com>> wrote:
Hey folks

I think this is a complex topic, because there’s a serious question in my mind about the ethics of encouraging travel in this time of global pandemic.

I wholeheartedly encourage the purpose of the travel grant program, which is to encourage diversity and inclusion, but we do need to think carefully about it.

Financially, there’s funds there and the parent organisation, OSGeo, has been very supportive of our requests for support in the past too.

Plus there’s the implementation of the grants process, so that we can try to be balanced across Oceania, if we do proceed with a program.

I think we should carefully address the question of whether we should be encouraging travel first. And after that, if we choose to proceed, we can talk about how we implement it.

Cheers,

Alex

On Tue, 22 Sep 2020 at 8:10 pm, Jonah Sullivan <jonahsullivan79 at gmail.com<mailto:jonahsullivan79 at gmail.com>> wrote:
Thanks for bringing this up John.

I agree, the Good Mojo fund is meant to make the conference more accessible and more representative of our region.

In the past two years 20 people were enabled to attend the conference and side-events:
In 2019<https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_SotM_Oceania_2019#Good_Mojo>, 13 people
In 2018<https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_SotM_Oceania_2018#Good_Mojo>, 7 people

The Good Mojo program is related to the OSGeo Travel Grant Program<https://www.osgeo.org/initiatives/foss4g-travel-grant-program/>, which has similar aims: "to facilitate accessibility and diversity at our global and regional FOSS4G events".

I think these traditions should continue, and I'm sure our parent organisation (OSGeo) would endorse this position as well.

I request the OSGeo Oceania board to consider how to use Good Mojo funds to support this event and the broader community.

On Mon, 21 Sep 2020 at 17:39, John Bryant <johnwbryant at gmail.com<mailto:johnwbryant at gmail.com>> wrote:
Hi, I think there are substantial funds left in the Good Mojo fund from the last 2 conferences. The funds were contributed by sponsors & attendees for use in community goodwill activities related to the conference, like travel grants, women's breakfast, childcare, etc.

Can we access these funds for Good Mojo activities at the hub events? I'm thinking of some free registrations, maybe a bit of travel assistance, a breakfast, maybe some extra environmental initiatives, stuff like that.

I guess this is ultimately a question for OSGeo Oceania as the holder of the Good Mojo fund. But I think we're meant to ask Jonah first.

So, Jonah? What do you think?

Cheers
John

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Alex Leith
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