Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Board Digest, Vol 94, Issue 24 (actually: president's role in OSGEO)
Dear all, some thoughts on the discussion of the role of the president in OSGEO, as the discussion is going on in the board-list. First of all, I hope that this is a discussion of interest for all OSGEO members and thus I cc:discuss. Secondly I think I agree mostly with Michael Gerlek's point in his e-mail of July 17th, so I think that there are ways to lighten the President's burden. A small example: there are very competent board members coming from Europe, they can easily and successfully represent the board in European based events. The same is true for Australia and South America. So less work for the president and fewer expenses for the board and the budget even if these trips are covered (which could even not be the case if the specific board member would attend anyway). Moreover this brings back an older suggestion that we need to officially establish regional chapters that will also be directly connected with the regional events like FOSS4G-Europe. This would ease a lot of those discussions. Thirdly, reading Arnulf's account for his term, one can only say wowowow and thank you to Arnulf and Jeff for the (both personal and financial) burden they have taken so far. Forthly, I think that the organization should cover the expenses of any members going on an official business, given that the board agrees on that. For me it goes without saying that some limits should be set (e.g. X* hotels) and as others pointed out maybe also a yearly overall limit not to be exceeded in any case. Of course again and as usual in OSGEO everything funded should be public. Lastly, I think that increasing the president's term will only discourage people to apply for that position. Two years is enough and if he/she wants can reapply - Eli's suggestion of putting a two terms limit is also good. I prefer a more flexible scheme that could include a president elect or some sharing of responsibilities with other members of the board, e.g. establishing a vice-president's position. My 2cs and thanks for listening, Dimitris ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
[OSGeo-Discuss] Board meeting 2014-07-17: minutes
Hello all, here are the minutes and logs of yesterday's Board meeting: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2014-07-17 (Minutes and motions are yet unapproved.) There has been discussion over elections 2014, strategic funding, OSGeo and Europe, and finally OSGeo's business model. My comment is that this has been one of the (few) meetings where there was less of the usual large consensus. Therefore I feel important to get thoughts from OSGeo members other than the current Board, as it is already happening in last emails. At the moment we have no better way to collect opinions and comments besides mailing lists and in-person discussions, that are notoriously difficult to summarise. (A wiki page is good to summarise, but not to discuss.) Nevertheless, I encourage members to speak up on these important topics. Best regards, Anne -- http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Aghisla signature.asc Description: PGP signature ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Board Digest, Vol 94, Issue 24 (actually: president's role in OSGEO)
Hi Dimitris, Although your points make sense, the reality is that the President is requested specifically for many things, in person, or on a Skype call, writing a support letter, shaking a hand, giving a talk, etc etc. This is why I am so busy lately, and obviously why Arnulf was as well. For a second, imagine if Arnulf was the president all those years *without* ever having a fulltime employee (which was the case for many years, as Tyler was here as a paid Executive Director); the reality is different now, where our foundation has no employees and things in fact do trickle up (this is natural). So I am ok with more specific definitions of roles in our organization, but let us be realistic, is all that I ask. :) -jeff On 2014-07-18, 11:26 AM, Dimitris Kotzinos wrote: Dear all, some thoughts on the discussion of the role of the president in OSGEO, as the discussion is going on in the board-list. First of all, I hope that this is a discussion of interest for all OSGEO members and thus I cc:discuss. Secondly I think I agree mostly with Michael Gerlek's point in his e-mail of July 17th, so I think that there are ways to lighten the President's burden. A small example: there are very competent board members coming from Europe, they can easily and successfully represent the board in European based events. The same is true for Australia and South America. So less work for the president and fewer expenses for the board and the budget even if these trips are covered (which could even not be the case if the specific board member would attend anyway). Moreover this brings back an older suggestion that we need to officially establish regional chapters that will also be directly connected with the regional events like FOSS4G-Europe. This would ease a lot of those discussions. Thirdly, reading Arnulf's account for his term, one can only say wowowow and thank you to Arnulf and Jeff for the (both personal and financial) burden they have taken so far. Forthly, I think that the organization should cover the expenses of any members going on an official business, given that the board agrees on that. For me it goes without saying that some limits should be set (e.g. X* hotels) and as others pointed out maybe also a yearly overall limit not to be exceeded in any case. Of course again and as usual in OSGEO everything funded should be public. Lastly, I think that increasing the president's term will only discourage people to apply for that position. Two years is enough and if he/she wants can reapply - Eli's suggestion of putting a two terms limit is also good. I prefer a more flexible scheme that could include a president elect or some sharing of responsibilities with other members of the board, e.g. establishing a vice-president's position. My 2cs and thanks for listening, Dimitris ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
[OSGeo-Discuss] [Election 2014] Elections starting tomorrow
Hi all, OSGeo elections are about to start. The nomination period for new Charter Member starts tomorrow Saturday 19 of July. Please, consider nominating new Charter Members within the next two weeks and help keep the Foundation to be even more diverse, represented by people from even more countries, languages, profiles (e.g. Academic, Private, Government, etc.) and interests. For sure you know people that could bring new points of view and energy to OSGeo, so tell them about the elections and convince them to join such a vibrant community! Elections page: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Election_2014 News item: http://www.osgeo.org/elections_2014 Tweet: https://twitter.com/OSGeo/status/490096191346987009 https://twitter.com/OSGeo/status/490096191346987009 Please help spread the word and also reach out to communities who have not yet been connected with OSGeo. Best Regards Jorge (your CRO) -- Jorge Sanz http://www.osgeo.org http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Jorge_Sanz ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Board meeting 2014-07-17: minutes
Thank you Anne, to give us the possibility to speak up on these important topics. I was on the FOSS4GE[6] conference this week and had the opportunity to talk to several other members of the organisation. I also attended (remotely) the BOF OSGeo business meeting yesterday and I did some reading (f.i. the blog of Steve Feldmann [1]) So here are my 2c on the different topics: about the trivial aspects: - First some easy things (where everybody is agreeing) - the conclusion of the BOF OSGeo business meeting is the creation of an industry list[2] and everybody interested in the topic is welcome to register on this list. I forwarded this mail also to that list as to kickstart the discussion. about grant early bird price to FOSS4G for Charter members[4] - I agree. It is important for an organisation that people have the chance to meet face to face with each other to build trust relationships and friendships. We are a community of #people and human beings. about the travel budget and other costs for the organisation: - - As indicated above, I think we should discuss this topic more deeper in the above list[2]. But to enable me to try to formulate an answer that makes sense on the budget discussion I feel free to post a statement here. So please react on this statement in the industry list, as this is the right place to further discuss this topic. *axiom 1* OSGeo is a non for profit organisation of #people with a passion about #Geo#opensource (see also my mail concerning membership fees [3] ) *bydefinition* Business should remain *outside* OSGeo (as it doesn't fit with a non profit organisation) (but some members of OSGeo - if not all - are involved in business processes, as users, customers, developers or part of an administrative, academic or industrial organisation, sometimes in different roles) *axiom 2* OSGeo is a professionally governed organisation Well, in a professional governed organisation, you have a board, representing the organisation, responsible and acting on behalf everything the organisation does. The board is allowed to do that and get the trust to do that every year expressed on the general assembly. *axiom 3* OSGeo aims to be and stay a growing, strong and Healthy organisation An organisation such as OSGeo is just like a living organism. Like all living organisms, an organisations starts, grows, falls, stands up learning from previous mistakes, becomes stronger and survives for living a long and prosperous live. In this process it is important that, from a financial point of view, you earn more than you spend. This also applies to non for profit organisations as for profit organisation. Today OSGeo is already 10 years old (young). This is not yet a mature individual, an important period of teenager is coming into sight. A necessary process to become an adult. Like a child of 10 year old, I think we should progress handling issues as money and business and relationships. Money is important to cover the necessary costs, at a minimum. So here I follow the decision of the board to use a certain amount of travel budget to represent the organisation physically on places where this is appropriate to do. I think the board is wise enough to make these decisions on her own. Also other costs to fix broken servers, or do something else that is necessary for the good continuation of the organisation fall under these decisions. Of course the board is responsible not to spend more than the income statement allows. But this way of working is only temporary in my eyes. It is also the task of the board to help the 10 year young OSGeo organisation to transform into a professional, open and transparent governed mature vehicle. (without losing the strong points of childhood). i.e.: - a clear vision should be formulated about the further direction of the organisation points like: - how to help the OSGeo projects in their shared mission - how to treat all the OSGeo projects as equal - how to motivate new projects to become a full incubated OSGeo project - how to respond to non OSGeo GIS projects, convincing them to join OSGeo - how OSGeo should embrace her members - how OSGeo should treat her sponsors - how OSGeo should partner with other organisations - how OSGeo should look to and promote #respectfull and #transparent business - ... [] - an estimate should be made of the to expecting income in 2015 (before the FOSS4G conference 2014 preferable - but ambitious, better do this for 2016) - an estimate should be made of the expecting costs in 2015. - the exercise should be made to have more income than costs. - the result of this exercise is the budget for next year. This can be presented on the general assembly, so all the members can approve
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Board Digest, Vol 94, Issue 24 (actually: president's role in OSGEO)
+1 I agree with Jeff that it is necessary for an organisation such as OSGeo to be present at certain important events to represent the organisation and do some necessary networking. I invite all interested parties to further discuss what the etiquette should be for OSGeo representatives in function. member presentations, OSGeo project presentations (presentation of proper company logo allowed or not, etc ...) Is marketing for company or organisation allowed, if so how much slides, etc ... In general I think the current members are handling thsi very respectfull, but clear rules can only help for everybody... I suggest to discuss this in the industry list (here also in cc) and I invite everybody to join these important discussions. D. Have a nice weekend! On 18-07-14 13:31, Jeff McKenna wrote: Hi Dimitris, Although your points make sense, the reality is that the President is requested specifically for many things, in person, or on a Skype call, writing a support letter, shaking a hand, giving a talk, etc etc. This is why I am so busy lately, and obviously why Arnulf was as well. For a second, imagine if Arnulf was the president all those years *without* ever having a fulltime employee (which was the case for many years, as Tyler was here as a paid Executive Director); the reality is different now, where our foundation has no employees and things in fact do trickle up (this is natural). So I am ok with more specific definitions of roles in our organization, but let us be realistic, is all that I ask. :) -jeff On 2014-07-18, 11:26 AM, Dimitris Kotzinos wrote: Dear all, some thoughts on the discussion of the role of the president in OSGEO, as the discussion is going on in the board-list. First of all, I hope that this is a discussion of interest for all OSGEO members and thus I cc:discuss. Secondly I think I agree mostly with Michael Gerlek's point in his e-mail of July 17th, so I think that there are ways to lighten the President's burden. A small example: there are very competent board members coming from Europe, they can easily and successfully represent the board in European based events. The same is true for Australia and South America. So less work for the president and fewer expenses for the board and the budget even if these trips are covered (which could even not be the case if the specific board member would attend anyway). Moreover this brings back an older suggestion that we need to officially establish regional chapters that will also be directly connected with the regional events like FOSS4G-Europe. This would ease a lot of those discussions. Thirdly, reading Arnulf's account for his term, one can only say wowowow and thank you to Arnulf and Jeff for the (both personal and financial) burden they have taken so far. Forthly, I think that the organization should cover the expenses of any members going on an official business, given that the board agrees on that. For me it goes without saying that some limits should be set (e.g. X* hotels) and as others pointed out maybe also a yearly overall limit not to be exceeded in any case. Of course again and as usual in OSGEO everything funded should be public. Lastly, I think that increasing the president's term will only discourage people to apply for that position. Two years is enough and if he/she wants can reapply - Eli's suggestion of putting a two terms limit is also good. I prefer a more flexible scheme that could include a president elect or some sharing of responsibilities with other members of the board, e.g. establishing a vice-president's position. My 2cs and thanks for listening, Dimitris ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss -- Yours sincerely, ir. Dirk Frigne CEO Geosparc n.v. Brugsesteenweg 587 B-9030 Ghent Tel: +32 9 236 60 18 GSM: +32 495 508 799 http://www.geomajas.org http://www.geosparc.com ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Board Digest, Vol 94, Issue 24 (actually: president's role in OSGEO)
On Jul 18, 2014, at 5:31 AM, Jeff McKenna jmcke...@gatewaygeomatics.com wrote: Although your points make sense, the reality is that the President is requested specifically for many things, in person, or on a Skype call, writing a support letter, shaking a hand, giving a talk, etc etc. Those are all things we would all *like* to do, yes, but the reality of volunteer time available and funding limitations means that we cannot always do everything we’d like to do. If we were a Big Organization with Lots of Money, things would be different, perhaps. But we’re not that, so we need to prioritize. -mpg ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
[OSGeo-Discuss] [Election 2014] Elections starting tomorrow - no upper cap to number of new charter members
Hi all, Further to the last email, Cameron suggested I highlight the key improvement to OSGeo Charter voting this year. That is, **there is no upper limit** to the number of new charter members who can be incorporated into OSGeo. So if you are involved in OSGeo, and display positive OSGeo attributes [1], then please consider approaching an existing charter member [2] who can vouch for you, and encourage them to nominate you. (Note, we have just updated the Election 2014 page which hadn't been updated to reflect this change when I sent my prior email) Thanks Cameron for being alert on this rookie CRO :-) Best regards [1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Membership_Process#Positive_Attributes [2] http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/members/voting_members.html -- Jorge Sanz http://www.osgeo.org http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Jorge_Sanz ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] [Charter-members] [Election 2014] Elections starting tomorrow
Dear all, with all my respect to OSGeo and the CRO process, I would like to retire from this process as I realise I cannot be helpful anymore. my best regards Lorenzo On Fri, Jul 18, 2014 at 2:08 PM, Jorge Sanz js...@osgeo.org wrote: Hi all, OSGeo elections are about to start. The nomination period for new Charter Member starts tomorrow Saturday 19 of July. Please, consider nominating new Charter Members within the next two weeks and help keep the Foundation to be even more diverse, represented by people from even more countries, languages, profiles (e.g. Academic, Private, Government, etc.) and interests. For sure you know people that could bring new points of view and energy to OSGeo, so tell them about the elections and convince them to join such a vibrant community! Elections page: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Election_2014 News item: http://www.osgeo.org/elections_2014 Tweet: https://twitter.com/OSGeo/status/490096191346987009 https://twitter.com/OSGeo/status/490096191346987009 Please help spread the word and also reach out to communities who have not yet been connected with OSGeo. Best Regards Jorge (your CRO) -- Jorge Sanz http://www.osgeo.org http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Jorge_Sanz ___ Charter-members mailing list charter-memb...@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/charter-members ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
