[intl-discus] International user groups

[Frank Warmerdam]

Tyler Mitchell wrote:
> One thing I would really like to see in the mid/long-term is the
> foundation supporting the development of regional, national and
> international user groups.

Tyler,

I certainly can agree with the above.  The caveat I would offer is
that there are often already such groups and in those cases I think
we need to work with them, rather than try to duplicate them.  This
was part of the rationale for the list at:

   http://www.fossgis.de/osgeo/index.php/Like_Minded_Regional_Organizations

> Some countries and cities already have successful ones.  We have a
> successful international conference.  Other groups just need some more
> moral support, guidance/encouragement or maybe some infrastructure to
> help get things going.  My dream is to have at least one OSGeo user
> group representative from every country

Every country!  That seems extreme.

 > and then provide casual venues
> for them to meet together in a regional context.  I'm thinking about
> this at the moment because of the international
> membership/representation issues being brought up.  Having a relatively
> small number of members in the foundation means we can't expect to have
> extremely broad international representation among the membership.  Even
> if we strive to, it will be hard for members to vote for new
> international members who they've never met or dealt with before.

Right.  While I hope for a fairly dispersed set of voting members, it is
important to remember that participation in committees, projects and so
forth is in no way limited to voting members.

> While I think it is a good idea to have broad international
> representation, it is going to be hard to get so early in the game.  We
> had representatives from at least 5 countries in Chicago - I believe
> that's a very good start.  Two board members are from Europe, that is
> very good as well.

Well, at least it makes it not a US-only effort, but still very
western, and all in English.

Best regards,
-- 
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent