[Ottawa_users] Proposal to expand Chapter (Long)

[Dave Sampson]

Hey Folks,

I thought I'd give my few dollars worth. First I would say that as long 
as there is a group and meetings here in Ottawa I will be involved, 
drink beer and chat and of course advocate FOSS4G. If we stay local 
great, if we go provincial that's interesting,if someone can convinve 
the group to go national then so be it, I'm there.

This issue is something a few of us have chatted about in the past and 
spills over to the days of OGUG. When I first started asking around at 
the Minneapolis FOSS4G conference a few years ago I remember being in a 
GRASS workshop and asking if anyone was from the Ottawa area, that is 
how I met some of the first GRASS users face to face.

Also, some guy named Frank Warmerdam said he was from Southern Ontario, 
and looking back (not even knowing that I was ever going to meet Frank) 
brushed him off (maybe a little too quick). The point was that I felt a 
local chapter for GRASS users would have a lot of benefit. When I met 
Scott and got access to a GIS Computer lab at Carleton I saw the 
benefits pay off quickly as we had people attending workshops that have 
never used FOSS4G.

My point is that a few of us saw the need so we organized. So would it 
not be the case that if other areas (Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and 
Halifax maybe) saw a need for a group that one would form?  Or does the 
community lack the abilitiy to organize itself?

Now getting back to OGUG I found quickly that our mailing list certainly 
had people from all over Canada and Scott and I discussed the idea of 
opening it up to a Canada wide context, and hence my deja-vue today on 
this list. One barrier is the effect of dilution VS critical mass, which 
I'm sure everyone can appreciate. In scholl I always got more out of 
small classes or one on one then a large group.

We maintained contact with those people on the list from out of town 
even though we focused on Ottawa. Perhaps some of those people from the 
original OGUG list are still with us and reading this, in which case 
their opinion would be valuable. But the companies we had on our list 
from southern ontario, a student research group from Halifax and some 
environment canada folks from out east have slipped away into silence.

There are two interesting cases in Nunavut that I have worked with in 
the past. A government group that does environmental assesments wanted 
some training on GRASS and a school was using GRASS as their chosen GIS 
to teach high school students geography and such. This is a case where 
there  would not be a critical mass of  people to support a local 
chapter. But they proved they can feel welcome when adopted by what ever 
group they choose. Perhaps a Canadian chapter could address some of the 
remote users, but this would be the exception not the rule.

Sure having people from outside of Ottawa made our mailing list larger 
by numbers but there was no increased traffic to the list, therefore no 
great additional value. It made logistics more interesting as we tried 
accommodating people visiting town, which we already do. With OGUG there 
were many questions asked on the list that were repeats of the general 
GRASS mailing list. We thought why duplicate answers when we can point 
people to the source.

So another question would be what issues would a Canadian focused group 
achieve?

One role I do see we (The Ottawa Chpater) should be stronger in is 
acting like a Mentor group for others who want to start up a group. OGUG 
and OMSUG members and now OSGEO Ottawa folks know what is needed to 
setup a group and keep it going. We should be sharing and encouraging 
other people to set up groups. It's not hard to find a couple of centres 
where people are located.  You can setup all the community you want but 
if the community is not set up by its members it will fail. Sorta like 
foreign aid that does not involve the local authorities. It looks good, 
but is quite dysfunctional and resource heavy.

Universities are the most logical bredding ground, and with Ottawa's 2 
main universities (3 if you include St Paul) you'd think we would have 
had more academic involvement. I am surprised our academic attendance is 
regular but low. So somehow we are not meeting the needs of the academic 
community here as well as we could.

I think with OMSUG and OGUG we experienced the issue of lacking critical 
mass. Those groups had a hard time surviving on their own, or at least 
it took a lot of energy from a few people to keep a medium sized group 
going. Now at least the efforts can be shared along with others, or 
people can remain anonymous as our group is large enough for those type 
of individuals. If one person fails to organize a meeting because of 
scheduling or personal issues the group still moves on now. Otherwise 
you might loose momentum if the key person/people are not there.

I do think one step in the right direction is for us to demonstrate what 
a local chapter can do to benefit the larger community. We can continue 
to increase our presence at local geo related events. I am still waiting 
for the right time for people to join together in a Ottawa specific data 
project. We can start to hold information nights dedicated to bringing 
in new people / companies to the wonders of FOSS4G. I'd like to see some 
increased converage of FOSS4G in Ottawa's plethora of tech magazines and 
e-ines too. There are no shortage of ideas, but we must not stretch 
ourselves too thin. To get these ideas rolling on a national scale with 
the small group we have have now I think would burn out alot of already 
over tasked people. Besides, chapter related activities are supposed to 
be beneficial all around as we volunteer our time and energy.

If a critical mass of FOSS4G supporters (30+) can come up with a 
commitment to make a Canada wide representation then perhaps that should 
happen. Moreover, if 30 people exist outside the National capital region 
I think that we could but on our geographers hat and find clusters where 
it would make sense to have separate chapters, and then we can help them 
along the way. Each chapter would need a key motivator though.

Right now as I see it Ottawa is the only place in Canada where they have 
decided to organize. If others are looking to organize with us then they 
can join vicariously through the list and visit whenever they can. A 
Canadian list should not however address the same questions or concerns 
that the regular OSGEO list does or the same issues that an Ottawa 
specific list would. If people want a Canada wide coverage I think they 
should go and form local chapters first and then we all decide together 
what would best suit Canada. Remember that some countries can be crossed 
in a few hours, Canada is large enough to necessitate many small groups.

Lastly, as we found with the OGC conference in town we can attract 
people by planning our meetings timely around large conferences.

In short, a name is a name. A group is defined by its members, and right 
now the force that makes us eat, drink and present is from the Ottawa 
Region. As for others joining the list, they have always been welcomed, 
if  someone is visiting town and wants to drop in that works too (eg 
Refractions group). The fact that there is discussion about opening our 
local group to wider audience tells me the demand for local chapters is 
not being met. How can we assist in helping others meet that demand?


Those are some of my thoughts.