[OpenLayers-Dev] Entering OSGeo Project Sponsorship

[Christopher Schmidt]

Developers,

Over time, OpenLayers has demonstrated an amazing ability to generate
contributors from all types of different groups, including organizations
from all kinds of different groups: organizations using OpenLayers for
their own work, organizations working as integration into other
locations, and individual developers using OpenLayers for a number of
different tasks.

However, at this time, there are still a large number of organizations
which do not have the resources to contribute to OpenLayers as
effectively as others already established within the community. The
reasons for this are widely varied: Some organizations simply don't have
the Javascript skills in house, while others may not be able to
contribute directly to OpenLayers for lack of time, or lack of direct
connection to the project through existing developers.

In many cases, these organizations may simply feel lost as a way to
contribute to the project in a way that is effective. 

Recently, it was brought to my attention that the OSGeo Foundation
already has some level of support in place for resolving this problem,
in a way that I had not yet thought to apply to OpenLayers.
Specifically, it is possible to allow organizations (or individuals) to
contribute to OpenLayers through "Project Sponsorship". Project
sponsorship is different from OSGeo Foundation sponsorhip: the majority
of project sponsorship funds are held by OSGeo for direct dispersal at
the discretion of the project steering committee of the project in
question. (More information is available at
http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Project_Sponsorship ; specifically, 75%
of the sponsorship funds are directed to the project, with the remaining
25% staying in OSGeo's hands for general supporting tasks.)

I feel there are a number of possible tasks that sufficient funds could
help to build improvements towards. For example, recently we saw a
number of persons interested in an "OpenLayers book". I think that this
task itself is not exactly what is needed, but instead is evidence that
there is a limited level of prose documentation about OpenLayers
available. The reason for this is simple: Prose documentation takes more
time to write. (I know, I've written some of the only existing prose
docs for OpenLayers, afaik, and I can definitely confirm that it is hard
and time consuming work.) Additionally, writing good prose documentation
typically requires a different set of skills than writing examples,
code, and code documentation.

Tasks that fall into the category where funding might help get them done
might include:
 * Improved prose documentation Prioritization of bugs, and handling of
 * some bug reports which affect a number of users Writing tests for new
 * features, or improing/extending existing tests

Currently, there are a number of contributors to the OpenLayers project
who might be in a position where funding could help them spend time on
tasks. Specifically, OpenGeo has a number of people who are currently
working on OpenLayers, and they offer consulting rates in general; I
have some hope that perhaps we could use the funds to pay for OpenGeo
consulting time to accomplish some tasks. (Of course, organizations
could also donate some "in kind" time via lower rates or some such as a
method of further sponsorship.)

In the past, the GDAL project has achieved sufficient funding via
sponsorship to pay for a part-time maintainership position to do some
routine work like bug maintenance and test maintenance. Although I would
love to have the same level of support for OpenLayers, at this time I
can't predict whether there would be sufficient interest from
organizations in sponsoring OpenLayers to this extent, so I can't say
whether this would be a plausible idea. Still, one can imagine the
possibility. (At this time, I do not have a candidate in mind who would
fit such a role adequately; most of the direct contributors to the
project I know are already employed by other consulting organizations,
as far as I know.) The current information on GDAL's sponsorship program
is available from: 

http://gdal.org/sponsorship.html

In line with this, I've put together a draft for the OpenLayers project
with similar wording. (Like our PSC Charter documents, this document was
written with most of it cribbed directly from GDAL/OGR's sponsorship
page, with appropriate modifications to make it relevant to the
OpenLayers project.)

http://crschmidt.net/~crschmidt/ol-sponsorship.html

I'd like to accept feedback from the community at large on the project's
participation in the OSGeo Project Sponsorship, and to solicit feedback
on the proposed sponsorship document. Assuming no negative feedback, we
can proceed to a vote of the PSC on moving forward with sponsorship
after that.

At this time, I expect to be the primary contact person for any
sponsorship oppourtunities. I do this primarily because I'm pushing this
forward; if anyone else wants the job, I'm happy to give it up. :) I
also realize this would afford more responsibility to the PSC than has
thus far existed. It is my hope that all decisions regarding project
sponsorship fund distribution will be as open as possible, involving
other members of the community wherever possible. (It may also be time
for a reevaluation of the contents of the PSC in light of the current
majority participants in the project, but I'd like to treat that as a
seperate conversation, if possible.)

So, if you've read this far: Do you have any qualms about pursuing
sponsorhip of this kind? Do you think that OpenLayers should participate
in this sponsorship program? Is there something eles you'd rather see
the project do to allow participation by more organizations in the
direction of OpenLayers without direct development involvement? Have I
just been on an airplane too long? Looking forward to hearing from
anyone and everyone interested...

Best Regards,
-- 
Christopher Schmidt
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