Following on from ideas from this previous email thread, and in
particular picking up on Stefano's ideas, I'd like to make the following
proposal:
I suggest that we define an OSGeo Ambassador role very widely, but also
have different levels of Ambassador - so that conference organisors can
still feel like they are getting someone distinguished and pick someone
exclusive.
The OSGeo Ambassador categories would be:
1. OSGeo Board Member
2. Ex OSGeo Board Member
These are the elite of the OSGeo community. We only have 8 active board
members in the world, which have been peer selected based upon their
outstanding leadership in the greater OSGeo community.
3. Charter member
Charter membership is obtained through a strongly contested selective
process. Members tend to be developers and leaders in one or more OSGeo
projects, and/or OSGeo business leaders, and have a deep understanding
in many of the OSGeo projects and principles of Open Source.
4. Voted position in an OSGeo community
These people hold a position of responsibility within one of the OSGeo
sub-communities. This may be a chair of an OSGeo Regional Chapter, or as
a member of a project's Project Steering Committee.
5. OSGeo community member
These people are actively involved in one or more OSGeo communities,
acting as a developer, user or supporter of OSGeo software.
Anyone fitting one of the above categories, may put themselves forward
as an OSGeo Ambassador. Each ambassador would be expected to create a
profile for themselves on an OSGeo Ambassador wiki page, which includes:
* Name
* City and Country of residence
* Phone, Email
* Photo
* OSGeo relevant experience. (~150 words)
I also propose that the OSGeo Marketing committee would be responsible
for overseeing the Ambassador wiki page, once the guidelines have been
put into place.
I welcome feedback from all, and call upon the board to make a final
vote on whether this proposal (or a variant) should be put into action.
On 21/04/12 20:47, Stefano Costa wrote:
Il 21/04/2012 12:28, Jody Garnett ha scritto:
I would hope that our charter members (who have been through a public
nomination process in part for their involvement) are already acting in
the capacity of "Ambassador" for OSGeo.
I totally agree on this point. The fact that charter members only
official role is to nominate new charter members and the Board is IMHO
a weakness. Their role as OSGeo champions (and "Ambassadors" if
there's consensus on that) should be emphasised. Quick ideas:
- personal pages on osgeo.org (osgeo.org/members/johndoe)
- @osgeo.org e-mail address (even an alias is fine) to be used as
their primary address
- interviews on the main blog
- a track record of their public activity wrt OSGeo promotion,
software development, management, documentation and what else
In this way the charter members could gain a higher visibility in the
wider geospatial community and be recognised as official representatives.
Ciao
steko
BTW is there any process in place to "remove" charter members if they
become inactive, move to another planet or are deemed unfit for the
purpose by the community?
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On 20/04/12 07:24, Cameron Shorter wrote:
On 20/04/2012 4:06 AM, Michael P. Gerlek wrote:
Do we have any policies and cost structures for the Ambassador
function yet?
I've seen a few people talking about creating an OSGeo Ambassador
role. Arnulf I think might have been the first to mention it, and I
think it is an excellent idea. I'm also aware that the OGC are
considering developing OGC ambassadors too.
So I'd like to open the floor and see what people think an
ambassador's role could involve, which leads into the qualities we
would wish our ambassador's to have, which leads into the ways we may
select an ambassador.
Let me start by noting some of the driving factors:
1. Arnulf has noted that as OSGeo president, he has spent a
significant amount of time on areoplanes travelling around the world
to talk on behalf of OSGeo. He has suggested that this role should be
shared.
Conference organisors, who have a primary goal of attracting
attendees, look for authoritative figureheads to talk at conferences.
They are expected to have a deep insight into a specific domain, such
as OSGeo. They should also speak well, even better if they are
entertaining.
2. OSGeo is a sexy topic has many conferences, and there are hundreds,
if not thousands of conferences around the world which would like to
see an OSGeo presence.
3. OSGeo is fortunate to draw membership from around the world,
including boasting a number of very healthy local chapters. As such,
we are likely to have potential ambassadors in most counties. (We
might be a bit short in Antarctica)
4. There are times when negotiating MOUs or similar with other
countries, it would be useful to have someone local speak with
authority on behalf of OSGeo.
5. Note that there are conflicting interests here of wanting to open
up the role for anyone who volunteers, verses maintaining a
selectiveness and prestige for the role which is the key selection
criteria for conferences asking for an ambassador.
As such, I think it important that ambassadors can only be voted into
the position, and not handed out to anyone. We already vote for a
board, and charter members.
I think board members should be considered ambassadors by default.
Should charter members be considered ambassadors? Charter members only
get this role after demonstrating a commitment to OSGeo, so will
likely have a reasonable depth of OSGeo knowledge. Maybe we should ask
for a history of speaking well (as demonstrated at conferences), to
the ambassador criteria.
Then lastly, do we wish to invite ambassadors from a greater circle?
At this point, I'd probably err on saying no, as if the entry bar to
becoming an ambassador is too easy, then the mystic of the role will
be lost.
--
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
http://www.lisasoft.com
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