Brian, > There are at least two or three groups working on proposals for the > incorporation or constitution of OSHCA as a democratic organisation. > Virtually all of these proposals will involve some modification to the > OSHCA charter. As a minimum, the charter needs to be ammended to > include a process for its ammendment over time and to tie it to the > proposed democratic legal entity.
This is interesting news.....would either you Brian, or those of you that are working on these proposals for the incorporation and constitution of OSHCA please identify yourselves on the OSHCA member's forum for the benefit of the rest of the OSHCA .....we are an open source organization after all! > 1) We need to allow reasonable time for people to develop their > proposals without feeling that this is a race, or that decision can be > made while they are on vacation. Specifically, I suggest that we ask for > concrete proposals from those interested to be drafted by March 31 for > e-mail discussion in the summer, for in person discussion at the OSHCA > 2002 meeting, with an electronic vote shortly thereafter. > > 2) No change in OSHCA in the meantime. Particularly, that we not create > either implicitly or explicitly a partnership. I presume this includes your previous suggestion that we partner with AMIA for OSHCA 2002... a point which I will address in a separate posting. >We should continue to > accept and use the term OSHCA supporter. We should continue to support > the independence of the OSHCA supporters from each other. No OSHCA > supporter has ever agreed to be represented by or be bound by the > decisions of other supporters and this should not change now. I'm sorry Brian but I find what you are saying quite bizarre. The speed at which OSHCA moves in any direction should be determined by its membership and not some real or imaginary self inflicted "crisis". Anyone working at creating a proposal without the full knowledge and participation of the rest of the membership is almost certain to encounter a very difficult sales effort. It sounds like you feel there is someone trying to hijack OSHCA???? > I feel that these steps would go a long way to building OSHCA and > avoiding rifts in the organisation. This presumes that there are serious rifts....yes there are various strong opinions....mostly in the area of how we should proceed with the web site...but no one has contacted me to express the notion that there are rifts....please be more explicit. >Participation at this stage of > OSHCA's development will translate into long term, committed, and well > educated support. Exclusion of anyone or any point of view would lead to > OSHCA achieving less than its full potential. I strongly agree with this point....OSHCA is its membership....it is definitely not an exclusive organization....but it does require one to commit to its charter and sign up to be a member....the more the merrier. There is a huge difference between commitment and involvement....anyone can claim to support something, it is completely another matter to be committed to something and to know that those in your "community" have also made that commitment. An identifiable and committed membership is a fundamental prerequisite of foster successful and self sustaining collaboration. Cheers, Joseph ------- Joseph Dal Molin e-cology corporation www.e-cology.ca 1.416.232.1206
