Dear all,
I will take the opportunity from Arnulf's excellent as always e-mail and
share some thoughts on the discussion about the use of FOSS4G logo that
started due to the organization of the forthcoming FOSS4G-Europe conference.
Let me start by saying that for me this discussion is part of the
greater (and mainly not done) discussion on how we shape the future of
OSGEO. In that respect I feel highly uncomfortable that this discussion
is not taking place in the "Discuss@osgeo" list where all members
participate and is restricted between the members of the board-list (so
I direct my e-mail there, too).
My thoughts:
-- the organization has been so far quite open, e.g. when someone wants
to start a local chapter can use the OSGEO logo without asking anyone's
permission as long as the chapter is registered in OSGEO's directory. On
the other hand we are now discussing whether and when is permitted to
use the FOSS4G logo. I find a contradiction here ... (and before someone
jumps in I understand the possibility of conflicts, I am coming to it).
So in principle I would say that if we want to regulate usage of brands
we should come up with a policy of regulating all brands that the
organization carries. But I do not see how we can stop someone to name
his/her conference e.g. "Conference of Free and Open Source Software 4
GIS in Europe" and be done with it ... So if we decide to set some rules
then it would be good to decide what we are looking for.
-- as far as conferences are concerned for me there are some more
important issues. If OSGEO "takes over" the FOSS4G conferences around
the world then we should discuss on returns. I find it quite
unreasonable that the global conference returns money to OSGEO but the
regional ones (that will be using the same brand name) will not. Why?
And then where do we stop? National??? So in my view if we make the
discussion about logos and brands let's make the discussion also about
money. Of course my view is that open source conferences are funded by
the money of all of us so they should not make money and and surpluses
should just be donated (through OSGEO) to projects/efforts in need. So
in my head that issue was resolved concerning OSGEO but it is more
evident from discussions in recent times (including the discussion about
the selection of the FOSS4G-NA location that this is not). Again not a
bad thing, I can live with that, too.
-- additionally how we can have conferences organized without having
local chapters? Who applies to use the logo? How do we choose when two
applications are there? Who decides? What happens if the conference
falls short of expectations? What happens if we have competing
conferences in the same year in close by locations? Do we need a
conference structure (like alternating years for
global/national/regional events)?
(Needless to repeat here that Arnulf's proposals resolve some of these
matters in an excellent way).
Finally, one thought on the future: it seems that there is a trend to
become a more "professionally" organized organization. This is my
impression from many of the discussions going on through the board
mailing list (including this one). I do not disagree, it might be a
necessity of the times. What I would like to kindly ask though is that
this is not done on a "need-to-do" basis but decisions should be taken
that would shape the future and that would start being implemented for
coming events/cases giving some time to the community to actually digest
and take position on them. And of course discuss "who does all that" ...
Balancing through legal issues, community needs and volunteer work is a
hard problem.
Disclaimer: needless to say that this is not a critique directed to the
board or anyone else for that matter; it is just an (probably
inadequate) expression of a line of thinking for the future.
Apologies for the length of the message and thanks to those that read
thus far.
Best regards to all,
Dimitris
Seven (aka Arnulf) wrote:
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Folks,
there has been some confusion around the brand FOSS4G, how to organize
local conferences in general, how to link back to OSGeo and so on.
As a result of these ongoings I suggest that OSGeo take more ownership
of the brand FOSS4G. The main reason is to avoid confusion, improve
transparency and make sure that the name FOSS4G continues to stand for
quality events.
Therefore I suggest that anybody who wants to use the name FOSS4G has to
first ask/announce this on this mailing list *before* making it a public
event, sign any contracts, etc.
What is "ask/announce"? Not sure, we may need to better define. From a
do-ocratic [1] point of view anybody should be allowed to go ahead. At
the same time we should strive to avoid conflicts with other events
close by, go easy on volunteer resources, etc. Maybe we can implement a
very simple rule: If nobody complains / raises issues within two weeks
of announcing on the Conference-dev list the organizer can go ahead.
Later we may also want to make sure (make it a rule) that a trusted
OSGeo person is part of the LOC.
What is a "trusted OSGeo person"? Anybody with an official role, be it
board, committee, or chair. If necessary we have to clarify. Again, I'd
like to keep it simple...
Once we have talked about this here and if we agree I would like to make
this a motion to be approved by the Board at one of their next meetings.
A general question is whether the conference committee is prepared to
take on this additional job at all. It appears to be the best place but
if you think this belongs elsewhere please advise.
Best regards,
Arnulf
[1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Do-ocracy
- --
Exploring Space, Time and Mind
http://arnulf.us
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