Sounds good to me. Cheers, Seb
On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 12:29 PM, Christopher Schmidt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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, > -- > Christopher Schmidt > MetaCarta > _______________________________________________ > Dev mailing list > [email protected] > http://openlayers.org/mailman/listinfo/dev > _______________________________________________ Dev mailing list [email protected] http://openlayers.org/mailman/listinfo/dev
