[OpenLayers-Dev] Entering OSGeo Project Sponsorship

[Tim Schaub]

Great idea.

Thanks for pushing this Chris - I think your explanations are all solid.

The major difference I see between project sponsorship and contracting 
with an individual developer or group of developers is that project 
sponsorship is really about an investment in the project's longevity. 
As you mentioned, there are a number of organizations (and the number 
will continue to grow) that depend on the project sticking around and 
continuing to have a healthy development & user community.  This is 
different than a dependency on one specific feature.  I see project 
sponsorship as a way that an organization can support the long-term 
success of the project, securing their own investment in the process.

I'm happy to help in whatever way is needed to get this set up.

Tim

Christopher Schmidt wrote:
> 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,


-- 
Tim Schaub
OpenGeo - http://opengeo.org
Expert service straight from the developers.