[Ottawa_users] Proposal to expand Chapter

[shawn barnes]

I've been watching this discussion and have stayed out of it until now,
as i'm a delinquent member of the ottawa chapter (I'm usually in toronto
on thursdays).   The greatest benefit of the ottawa chapter is the
monthly meetings. 

In fact i would hazard to suggest that our chapter could be called a
social club....look through our mailing list archives and the majority
of the traffic is the organizing of the next meeting.  And this is a
good thing...face to face meetings with like minded people over a beer
is a great thing.  Morphing into a national/canadian chapter would
change this dynamic and possibly not for the best.  

A canadian chapter is a good idea, for the reasons Tyler, Daniel, Tom
and others have mentioned.  I don't think our chapter should turn into a
canadian chapter but, there is no reason why we couldn't spear head the
creation of a national chapter, that is more administratively focused
than socially focused.  

just my 2 cents.

Shawn



On Thu, 2007-11-10 at 12:56 -0400, Kralidis,Tom [Burlington] wrote:
> That's very Torontonian ;)
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ottawa_users-bounces at lists.osgeo.org on behalf of Jeff McKenna
> Sent: Thu 11-Oct-07 12:50
> To: Ottawa (Canada) Local Chapter List
> Subject: Re: [Ottawa_users] Proposal to expand Chapter
>  
> sooooo, i think the results of this discussion are fairly predictable: 
> those in the ottawa region (except myself) don't see the benefit, but 
> those outside ottawa do.
> 
> --
> jeff
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo) wrote:
> > On 9-Oct-07, at 9:54 AM, Daniel Morissette wrote:
> > 
> >> 1- The main value I see in a local chapter such as the Ottawa Chapter 
> >> is the monthly get-together. Get away from your desk for a few hours 
> >> and chat informally with people who have similar interests to yours.
> >>
> >> 2- There are already plenty of lists to discuss OSGeo technical or 
> >> policy questions/issues online, we don't need to replicate that at a 
> >> local or even national level. However all that electronic 
> >> communication lacks something that the local chapter can offer: face 
> >> to face communication.
> > 
> > And on a similar note, having a broad umbrella for Canucks to gather 
> > under, will undoubtedly help other local people find each other.  This 
> > could help start local chapters as parts of the national community start 
> > to find each in a more meaningful way than simply asking on the discuss 
> > list.  With that in mind I encourage all Canadians to at least put their 
> > name on the Canada wiki page.
> > 
> >> 3- The main value I would see in a Canadian chapter would be the same 
> >> kind of get-together once or twice a year
> > 
> > I agree and think many others have it in the back of their mind hoping 
> > we'll do something.  Since there is no U.S.A. chapter, we could also 
> > invite them to come up ;-)
> > 
> > I won't belabour the point here, but there are particular OSGeo 
> > fundraising opportunities that could only be done, or be done 
> > better/easier, if there was a Canadian chapter.  Of course this is 
> > administrative level stuff and not so much focused on getting people 
> > together.
> > 
> > Tyler
> > 
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