[OSGeo Oceania] FOSS4G Hobart - Elephant in the room ESRI

[Alex Leith]

Hey Folks

Hope we've all had a great break and are ready to tackle a new year, one
that already has some weird stuff going on in other countries, but
hopefully we're all safe and well and I wish everyone the best.

So, coming back around to this topic of the elephant.

First, I acknowledge that you're raising the issue of sponsorship here,
Andrew, but I wanted to share Kate's keynote, because I just rewatched it,
with an open mind and I cannot find anything in it that is offensive and I
don't think there's even any marketing in there. It's about the work that
we do, and calls out the way we should be talking to each other without
divisiveness, which is a message I wholeheartedly endorse.

So, here's the recording of Kate's talk, for those of you who weren't
there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH-8tseMQRQ&list=PLlZzWSPAR5GY4xk_3QvE-nR1vL2AGQYxI

There's a question explicitly stated and implicit too, which is "why was
Esri there, and do they belong there" and I think it's actually hard to
argue that they don't. Esri Inc (the US organisation) sponsored at least
three past global FOSS4G events, and they have active open source projects
on GitHub https://github.com/esri/. As Martin noted, they've supported GDAL
in a really big way with cash too. Whether we like it or not, I think they
are part of our community, and I'd like to think that as an open community
celebrating open geospatial things, that we should be open to this truth.

Now, one more thing from me is that I do acknowledge the bad blood caused
by certain regional distributors and I've heard some really terrible
stories, but I consider the global organisation separate from this (though
perhaps not without some responsibility...). That bad behaviour should be
called out when anyone does it... and I do call things out, and will
continue to do so.

Anyhow, this email is really to provide a bit more context by sharing
Kate's talk, and I hope it helps to show the way that she really did try to
talk about the bigger picture, and talk about the things we do, and I think
it really did hit the mark in terms of what I'd like keynote talks to aim
for.

Kind regards,

Alex

On Thu, 21 Nov 2024 at 02:53, Andrew Jeffrey via Oceania <
oceania at lists.osgeo.org> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I hope everyone that was able to attend the FOSS4G SOTM Oceania Hobart
> conference had a great time. I'm still very much bummed that I wasn't able
> to make it down there and my only start at the OO conference remains
> Melbourne in 2018. I plan on improving my numbers as best I can into the
> future, but from the outside looking in, it looked like all those that
> attended had a blast - well done conference committee and OO board.
>
> I am writing to the list because I have a question that has been bugging
> me ever since I talked to a colleague who attended the event. That question
> is "What's the deal with ESRI being a sponsor?". I have genuine
> curiosity when it comes to the decision process in having them on board. I
> understand these things take money to put on and the conference needs to
> turn a profit, a healthy conference makes for a healthy OO which allows the
> organisation to do many of the great things that they do. However, I think
> this sponsorship from ESRI should be reconsidered in the future.
>
> Just to be clear, I am not opposed to speakers who work for ESRI coming
> and talking, from all reports the keynote from Kate Fickas was amazing (as
> were all the keynotes from what I hear) and these are the industry people
> that we all crave to hear from - top job in landing that line up! But as
> for sponsorship I feel that ESRI is putting their brand on a community that
> a lot of us turned to when looking for refuge from them.
>
> I acknowledge that my opinion on this is biased as a QGIS advocate and
> trainer. But something about this just feels off! I don't see what's in it
> for the FOSS4G community having ESRI involved in our conferences, to me it
> looks more of a cheap way for them to buy some good news without doing
> anything to improve the relationship with the FOSS4G community.
>
> However, I know I wasn't there, and I could be wrong about the whole
> thing. Maybe the overwhelming opinion is that it's a good thing and this is
> a step in the right direction? I would be interested in hearing what people
> think and even hearing from someone on the conference organising committee
> that has more knowledge about this. Is this something the conference would
> do again? Is there a limit to their involvement? What would have happened
> if they were a platinum sponsor and got the primary logo placement + verbal
> mention at opening and closing of the event?
>
> Thanks
> Andrew
> _______________________________________________
> Oceania mailing list
> Oceania at lists.osgeo.org
> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/oceania
>


-- 
*Alex Leith*
m: +61 419 189 050
https://auspatious.com
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