[ZOO-PSC] Requesting funds to go the FOSS4G 2017

[Jeff McKenna]

Update: Mike Smith transferred the 2k of funds to the ZOO-Project paypal 
this morning.  This will help both Gérald and myself attend 
FOSS4G-Boston, give the ZOO-Project workshop, develop MS4W+ZOO, and 
attend the Boston sprint.  Pretty good bang for the buck indeed.  Thanks 
all,

-jeff



On 2017-07-26 5:43 PM, Maria Antonia Brovelli wrote:
> +1 Gerald or/and Jeff. Best!
> Maria
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my Samsung device
> 
> 
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>
> Date: 26/07/2017 15:30 (GMT+01:00)
> To: zoo-psc at lists.osgeo.org
> Subject: Re: [ZOO-PSC] Requesting funds to go the FOSS4G 2017
> 
> On second thought, my email just adds confusion to this.  Please
> disregard it.
> 
> I am +1 for Gérald going to Boston.
> 
> Have a nice week everyone,
> 
> -jeff
> 
> 
> 
> On 2017-07-26 10:14 AM, Jeff McKenna wrote:
>> Dear Gérald and ZOO-PSC members,
>> 
>> I have been quiet on this issue, because I agree with the points made by 
>> Markus, Daniel and others; and, I'm very disheartened by the high costs 
>> of FOSS4G Boston.
>> 
>> Yesterday I received a direct message from the Boston co-chair, Michael 
>> Terner.  He said that the local committee noticed my big smile at 
>> FOSS4G-Paris, and they would like to offer a complementary "full pass" 
>> for the registration to me.  They would also like me to be there to 
>> present this year's Sol Katz award.
>> 
>> That is a kind offer.   And one that made me really think, of somehow 
>> attending (very similar to Gérald's situation).  A full registration is 
>> a thousand Canadian dollars, yikes.  Unfortunately the Canadian dollar 
>> is very low compared to the USD.
>> 
>> Part of my thinking on this, is also the fact that I'll be working on 
>> the ZOO-Project these coming weeks, before Boston, to add ZOO into the 
>> base MS4W installer.
>> 
>> And on my mind also is how useful it was for me to be at the ZOO-Project 
>> workshop in Paris, where I spoke for about an hour on MapServer and ZOO 
>> to the workshop attendees.
>> 
>> Therefore I've been looking and looking for a cheap flight since I 
>> received Michael's invite yesterday.  The best I can do is to arrive 
>> Monday evening, in time for the ZOO-Project workshop (Tuesday 
>> afternoon), and hope to sleep on someone's hotel room floor for the 
>> week, and attend the code sprint on Saturday.  The flight cost would be 
>> 470 USD. I would not be buying rounds of beer there of course, and 
>> cutting costs wherever I can.
>> 
>> So I am proposing to join in on Gérald's use of the code sprint funding, 
>> only to cover the cost of my flight (I can sleep on Gérald's hotel room 
>> floor likely, to cut costs).
>> 
>> I do worry that the OSGeo Board might not approve the use of this 
>> funding for the one-day FOSS4G-Boston sprint, for the ZOO team (which I 
>> think both Markus and Daniel said as well); but on the other hand, it 
>> can't hurt to try.
>> 
>> What do others think of this idea?
>> 
>> This is definitely confusing.  Especially as I realize that the 2k might 
>> just be enough for to cover Gérald's flight and hotel costs.
>> 
>> But I do want to stress that I strongly feel that Gérald should be at 
>> FOSS4G Boston.  He deserves this after so much work for FOSS4G-Paris.
>> 
>> -jeff
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On 2017-07-10 10:31 AM, Fenoy Gerald wrote:
>>> Dear ZOO-PSC members,
>>> I do apologize to come back to you so late about this specific query 
>>> but at this point there is no other way around, so I have to send you 
>>> this email.
>>>
>>> I would like to request for funds for being able to attend the FOSS4G 
>>> 2017 in Boston. Indeed, as you have probably noticed we have been 
>>> accepted for both the ZOO-Project and the MapMint workshop.
>>>
>>> Thanks to this acceptance, we got free tickets to attend the 
>>> conference. Then for the MapMint workshop we asked for refund after 
>>> the conference, this should make 750 $US when this money is send.
>>>
>>> Still, this does not even cover the fees I have advanced already for 
>>> the flight tickets …. (bought in january this year for having cheap 
>>> price).
>>>
>>> I have also booked a hotel, but for the first time in my life when 
>>> preparing my journey to the global FOSS4G I have selected a hotel that 
>>> I can cancel few days before the conference. Only the hotel for the 
>>> minimum number of nights is around 1200€ which sounds not very 
>>> reasonable for someone like me that is only willing to promote the 
>>> software.
>>>
>>> Obviously there will be a Code Sprint there, and we have filled the 
>>> fund request to OSGeo at the end of the last year (if I recall 
>>> correctly the dates) for attending code sprint.
>>>
>>> So I would like to request for the full amount of money that we have 
>>> asked to the OSGeo, so 2000€, for attending the global FOSS4G this year.
>>>
>>> I hope to hear from you and we can accept my proposal, in other case I 
>>> will have to inform the FOSS4G LOC that both MapMint and ZOO-Project 
>>> workshops and the ZOO-Project presentation will be canceled. Looking 
>>> at the price for attending the conference, I still wonder if our place 
>>> is there or not as selecting attendees on the money they are able to 
>>> expense during the summer period is probably far from our initial 
>>> vision … ( when I say « our place » I mean a place for any free 
>>> software).
>>>
>>> I hope to hear your thoughts on this matter.
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Gérald Fenoy
>>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Djay
>>>
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Jeff McKenna
> MapServer Consulting and Training Services
> http://www.gatewaygeomatics.com/