[OSGeo Oceania] Transparency (was: Update)

[Edoardo Neerhut]

Hi John,

Thanks for separating out this discussion. I appreciate that.

There is a lot to respond to here and myself and other board members have
been mulling over it. I think it's best we discuss as a board after the
conference to ensure positions are summarised fairly. Many of us are caught
up in conference proceedings, much of which have been discussed openly on
foss4g-oceania at lists.osgeo.org.

People are welcome to contribute to the discussion in the meantime and I
sincerely hope we can make progress on the theme of openness.

Thanks,

Ed



On Fri, 5 Nov 2021 at 23:22, John Bryant <johnwbryant at gmail.com> wrote:

> I've split this into a new thread and removed the original private email,
> which was posted by mistake.
>
> I'm very sorry to see Bruce choosing to step away, I have great respect
> for his inputs over the last few years. I think it raises an important
> issue for OSGeo Oceania and this community.
>
> I agree with Edoardo and Bruce that communications must be open, for
> reasons both principled and pragmatic; this is what open source communities
> are all about.
>
> OSGeo Oceania was created on a promise of transparency [1], and should
> live up to that promise. The board in particular has the opportunity to
> lead by example, and set the tone for this open community.
>
> I believe most of the current board agrees with this, and the 2021 board
> got off to a great start, returning discussion to public lists, using a
> public Loomio for voting on motions, and voting in favour of opening board
> meetings [2]. Kudos to Edoardo for his huge efforts in leading this push.
>
> Part way through the year the board's public discussion seemed to drop off
> considerably, immediately following a discussion about transparency
> (ironically).
>
> As an outsider, I don't know what the board discusses in private. But if I
> may speculate: there may be a small minority who prefer the board to
> operate in private, and the force of their opposition to measures intended
> to improve transparency could have a chilling effect on the rest of the
> board's commitment to operate in public.
>
> I believe this dynamic, if it exists, is a severe detriment to the
> functioning of the organisation, and I hope it comes to an end as soon as
> possible.
>
> John
>
> [1] OSGeo Oceania Terms of Reference:
> https://drive.google.com/file/d/13aZ6L08ke1-l32I7c00MahyEKgxeZkq8
> [2] https://www.loomio.org/d/f0xNZQKg/open-board-meetings
>
>
>
> On Sat, 6 Nov 2021 at 07:31, Bruce Bannerman <
> bruce.bannerman.osgeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Colleagues,
>>
>> I have spent around 15 years with OSGeo-AustNZ and now OSGeo-Oceania.
>> This included working as a member of the FOSS4G-2009 Local Organising
>> Committee.
>>
>> Eduardo is correct that in an open source community, communications MUST
>> be open.
>>
>> For OSGeo-Oceania this means the oceania at lists.osgeo.org list.
>>
>> If I look at our list archives [1], I find very little in the way of open
>> discussions.
>>
>> Imagine my surprise to find a FOSS4G event in Perth recently.  I only
>> found this in passing on a LinkedIn thread.
>>
>> This and the email thread below, is symptomatic of an organisation in
>> trouble.
>>
>> We discussed the need for openness on this list over twelve months ago in
>> response to the problems that the then Oceania Board was having. It is
>> apparent that this advise has been ignored.
>>
>> I intend stepping back from OSGeo Oceania and focus my volunteer time
>> elsewhere.
>>
>> I’m currently a list administrator. I no longer wish to hold this role. I
>> suggest that the current board find a replacement.
>>
>> Kind regards,
>>
>> Bruce
>>
>> [1] https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/oceania/
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Oceania mailing list
>> Oceania at lists.osgeo.org
>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/oceania
>>
>
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