Some people from the community asked for a couple of word on vision/plans from the Board candidates, so here is my vision and a few things about me to supplement the kind presentation provided by Professor Venkatesh.
My Vision In the last decade OSGeo has matured and cemented his role as an important leading actor in the geospatial sector, often driving changes and bringing innovations thanks to the impressive work done by the community in a broad sense: the board, the committees, the local chapters, the projects and the people. Since Bangkok 2004, that we can consider as the father of all the FOSS4G conferences, the community had the feeling that Open Source Software were underestimated and that to compete with proprietary software we would had need to demonstrate that “our” software is stable, reliable and of great quality. All this has been achieved, thanks to the commitment of many people, and we can see today the effect of this effort: FOSS4G software used in production in critical services of Governments, Administrations, Organizations, Universities and Industries. At the same time, with the above mentioned attainment, the community has massively grown. So much that today we can count on developers, passionate advocates, users and curious from all over the world which provide an impressive kaleidoscope of expertise (engineers, architects, geologists, urban planners, computer scientists, designer, educators, biologists… and many others) and represent an incredible variety of cultures (Anglo-Saxon, Latin, African, Indo, Islamic, Arab, Sinosphere, European, Asiatic… and many others). We are a kind of Utopia of biodiversity, and we all know that from high biodiversity come high productivity and stability. My vision is that in the next years FOSS4G will become more and more important bringing innovation and reliable solutions in particular it will facilitate the widely implementation of Open Geo Data, the management and analysis of Big Geo Data, the implementation of the Digital Earth and Smart Cities: all this with the ultimate goal to effectively impact the societies and the quality of life of people located all over the globe. Succeeding means striking a balance between OSGeo communities, sectors and cultures. As board member my priorities will be: - Foster FOSS4G education: teaching Open Source has been in the past a key feature in creating FOSS4G advocates that massively contributed to the realization of OSGeo. In the future we should go further: reaching more countries and offering courses of outstanding quality, in the same way we do for projects. - Lower the barriers to attend FOSS4G: conferences are one of the few moments where we have the opportunity to meet up, discuss face to face and take inspiration by attending talks, workshops and sprint codes. Unfortunately costs has become higher, year after year, and I believe that this is a undesired barrier for many: particularly for students, people from developing countries or individuals which do not attend in the name of any organization or company. - Encourage continental chapters: OSGeo strongly rely on local chapters to act locally and spread FOSS4G. This approach allows to correctly address the specificity and needs of different countries or region. Nevertheless in the last years we have seen the natural growing of continental conferences (FOSS4G North America, FOSS4G Europe, FOSS4G Asia, FOSS4G South America) which I believe should grow more as an important moment to address issues, needs and opportunities which are particularly meaningful for that continent or that may not apply to other part of the world. They could also be an option to lower barriers to attend international meetings. - Listen to individual: like it has always been in OSGeo, the community is OSGeo and ideas and needs expressed by each single member are the gas of our community. I will be committed to bring those to the board discussion table. About me Thanks to the type of projects I have carried out I used to consider myself academic with a private company perspective. I am Professor in Geomatics and head of the Geomatic Division, which is one of the established ICA-OSGo-labs, at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) [1]. I 'm 43 and I have a long participation record in what is the OSGeo community today: I had the chance to participate in all the FOSS4G conferences, from Bangkok to Nottingham. I approached FOSS4G during my master thesis, then I strengthened its knowledge during my PhD and my visit at DM Solutions and finally I cemented in the last decade. Applied Science University in Switzerland are committed to provide education, applied research and services in support of the local region, this allows me in the last decade to carry out different type of works, for example: mandates from the local administration on critical services, international R&D projects of large dimensions, world bank projects and several courses in base and continuing education. [1] http://www.supsi.ch/home_en.html -- *Massimiliano Cannata* Professore SUPSI in ingegneria Geomatica Responsabile settore Geomatica Istituto scienze della Terra Dipartimento ambiente costruzione e design Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana Campus Trevano, CH - 6952 Canobbio Tel. +41 (0)58 666 62 14 Fax +41 (0)58 666 62 09 [email protected] *www.supsi.ch/ist <http://www.supsi.ch/ist>*
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