[OSGeo Oceania] Transparency (was: Update)

[Alex Leith]

Hi Everyone

I'm not going to address John's concerns directly.

The reality is that this is a community of volunteers and there are some
things we must do, which we do, and others that we'd like to do, which
sometimes slip. But on transparency, we have been communicating on lists,
posting minutes of Board meetings and we've opened up a section of Board
meetings to anyone who would like to attend.

When we are communicating on this list and others, I ask that we all
understand that there are people at the other end. For those of us on the
Board who give freely of our time, we do it because we care about this
community. I’ll continue to do the bookkeeping work I do in the background,
and I’d be grateful to anyone who would like to have a look at the books
with me. We’ve been open to people stepping up and helping all along. That
is how we got started with the event in Melbourne, with so many people
joining our little do-ocracy to make an exciting time! Not all times are
exciting though, and there’s still things to do in those interstices.

I really like our community, I've met some wonderful people at the
conferences and enjoy working with everyone on the Board. The thing I'm
most proud of is the work we've done over the last couple of years on
travel grants and on including the Pacific Island Countries and
Territories. This year, through microgrants and through the highly attended
hubs across Oceania, we’ve been able to really give back to our community,
and I reckon that’s great.

Personally, I'm excited for an in person conference next year and hope that
people are thinking about sticking their hand up to help out like before,
because, like I said, there’s always more to do.

Kind regards,



On Wed, 10 Nov 2021 at 17:55, Edoardo Neerhut <eneerhut at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
> Oceania mailing list
> Oceania at lists.osgeo.org
> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/oceania
>


-- 
Alex Leith
m: 0419189050
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