Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] OSGeo, OSGeo projects, OSGeo-live, open data, nature conservation

2014-06-19 Thread Jorge Sanz
2014-06-19 23:10 GMT+02:00 Helmut Kudrnovsky :

> hi,
>
> just for the record:
>
> a new article (sorry in german) about OSGeo, OSGeo projects, OSGeo-live,
> open data and nature conservation:
>
>
> http://www.anl.bayern.de/publikationen/anliegen/doc/an36113kudrnovsky_2014_open_data.pdf
>
> best regards
> Helmut (OSGeo charter member ;-))
>
>
>
>
Great Helmut, thanks for sharing!


-- 
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

[OSGeo-Discuss] OSGeo, OSGeo projects, OSGeo-live, open data, nature conservation

2014-06-19 Thread Helmut Kudrnovsky
hi,

just for the record:

a new article (sorry in german) about OSGeo, OSGeo projects, OSGeo-live,
open data and nature conservation:

http://www.anl.bayern.de/publikationen/anliegen/doc/an36113kudrnovsky_2014_open_data.pdf

best regards
Helmut (OSGeo charter member ;-))









-
best regards
Helmut
--
View this message in context: 
http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/OSGeo-OSGeo-projects-OSGeo-live-open-data-nature-conservation-tp5146854.html
Sent from the OSGeo Discuss mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
___
Discuss mailing list
Discuss@lists.osgeo.org
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss


Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Proposed process for selecting OSGeo charter members

2014-06-19 Thread Peter Baumann

Hi all,

good - and important! - discussion!
Being Charter Member I am somewhat concerned:

- I am surprised that the common democratic procedure of election is perceived 
as creating "dissent".

- yes, democracy is expensive, but generally it is considered worth the effort.
- is "lifelong membership" compatible with community participation?
- "Recognised OSGeo Community Leaders" seem to get determined in a very special, 
selective way (as compared to standard election procedures).


Altogether, the criteria seem to make OSGeo a self-sustaining group:
insiders will remain insiders for a lifetime, outsiders will...well, face a 
hurdle.

So the contrary of "open".

Just an idea: what about applying the OSGeo incubation checklist to OSGeo itself 
to determine feasible procedures?


cheers,
Peter



On 06/19/2014 07:28 PM, Dimitris Kotzinos wrote:

Dear all,

some thoughts on the proposed changes on the Charter Member election process.
I will divide my comments into two parts, first some issues about the process 
itself and then some comments on the proposed changes.


(A) the process per se:
1/ I think that whatever change in the election process should be validated by 
the Charter Members themselves, so I fully agree with Arnulf that we need to 
vote on that and not just the Board. And of course this contains no offense 
for the Board; it is just that I think that it is fair that the body who is 
affected by the changes to take the decisions.
Moreover the charter members are the ones who elect the Board so it seems 
quite awkward to me that the smaller governing body will take such decision.
2/ I think that whatever decision taken should be enforced in next year's 
elections; members need some time to evaluate that. So it is good to conclude 
this process now but enforce it from next year.


(B) the proposed changes:
Before discussing the proposed changes I think that we should understand where 
the current system has failed. Do we have cases where recognized community 
leaders failed to be elected? If so please bring them forward. I doubt so 
though since if I recall correctly the last two years all charter member 
nominations were accepted without voting! Moreover the notion of a "recognized 
community leader" that cannot be elected as a charter member is a 
contradiction by itself. So why change?
I am not against the idea of having some people becoming OSGEO Charter Members 
ex officio but for one I do not like the idea of having members of different 
categories and secondly I need to have a look at the data: how many of the 
committee chairs, PSC members, official Chapter chairs are not already OSGEO 
Charter members (and they wanted to be and failed)? Why are they not nominated 
to become ones and to be voted?

And I don't see how the problem described here:
"In previous years the Charter Member selection process has been a little
contentious. We typically receive numerous nominations from high caliber
members of our community, and insufficient positions to accept them all.
This typically results in unnecessary disappointment and dissent."
will be resolved: again we will have some people not becoming Charter Members 
if the seats are not enough. So some of us will still be disappointed, etc. So 
if the numbers are the same the only difference I see is that now we choose 
beforehand whom to disappoint and people working in the community but in not 
"official" positions will have less chances to be elected.
If we want to open up the numbers, this is OK, more seats are offered every 
year anyway. But what else?
And of course the first come first served approach if the recognized community 
leaders are more than the seats is a bit odd: to lighten up the discussion I 
cannot imagine people with the finger on the mouse waiting for the process to 
open in order to submit there nominations.
Finally, for the voting process I completely disagree with the ability of a 
member to vote multiple times for the same person. This removes from the 
process the requirement of someone to be widely recognized within the 
community and potentially allows "a couple of friends" to elect whoever they 
want.


I think that the discussion is interesting and thanks to the board and Arnulf 
:) for initiating it!
I think that other solutions could also be considered if we feel that we need 
to differentiate on how charter members get elected, e.g. agree on a bonus 
percentage that a "community leader" gets when he goes through the standard 
process, so he still has to be voted by many...


I apologize for the length of the e-mail and thanks for listening,

Best regards,

Dimitris Kotzinos






Within 2 weeks we intend to start our annual process for selecting new
OSGeo charter members.

In previous years the Charter Member selection process has been a little
contentious. We typically receive numerous nominations from high caliber
members of our community, and insufficient positions to accept them all.
This typically results in unn

Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Proposed process for selecting OSGeo charter members

2014-06-19 Thread Paul Ramsey
http://www.aag.org/cs/membership/individual_membership
http://www.aag.org/cs/membership/individual_membership/dues

Both simpler, and better for the bottom line of OSGeo, if you want to
be a member, sign up as a member, collect your t-shirt, see you @
foss4g.

P.

On Thu, Jun 19, 2014 at 10:28 AM, Dimitris Kotzinos  wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> some thoughts on the proposed changes on the Charter Member election
> process.
> I will divide my comments into two parts, first some issues about the
> process itself and then some comments on the proposed changes.
>
> (A) the process per se:
> 1/ I think that whatever change in the election process should be validated
> by the Charter Members themselves, so I fully agree with Arnulf that we need
> to vote on that and not just the Board. And of course this contains no
> offense for the Board; it is just that I think that it is fair that the body
> who is affected by the changes to take the decisions.
> Moreover the charter members are the ones who elect the Board so it seems
> quite awkward to me that the smaller governing body will take such decision.
> 2/ I think that whatever decision taken should be enforced in next year's
> elections; members need some time to evaluate that. So it is good to
> conclude this process now but enforce it from next year.
>
> (B) the proposed changes:
> Before discussing the proposed changes I think that we should understand
> where the current system has failed. Do we have cases where recognized
> community leaders failed to be elected? If so please bring them forward. I
> doubt so though since if I recall correctly the last two years all charter
> member nominations were accepted without voting! Moreover the notion of a
> "recognized community leader" that cannot be elected as a charter member is
> a contradiction by itself. So why change?
> I am not against the idea of having some people becoming OSGEO Charter
> Members ex officio but for one I do not like the idea of having members of
> different categories and secondly I need to have a look at the data: how
> many of the committee chairs, PSC members, official Chapter chairs are not
> already OSGEO Charter members (and they wanted to be and failed)? Why are
> they not nominated to become ones and to be voted?
> And I don't see how the problem described here:
> "In previous years the Charter Member selection process has been a little
> contentious. We typically receive numerous nominations from high caliber
> members of our community, and insufficient positions to accept them all.
> This typically results in unnecessary disappointment and dissent."
> will be resolved: again we will have some people not becoming Charter
> Members if the seats are not enough. So some of us will still be
> disappointed, etc. So if the numbers are the same the only difference I see
> is that now we choose beforehand whom to disappoint and people working in
> the community but in not "official" positions will have less chances to be
> elected.
> If we want to open up the numbers, this is OK, more seats are offered every
> year anyway. But what else?
> And of course the first come first served approach if the recognized
> community leaders are more than the seats is a bit odd: to lighten up the
> discussion I cannot imagine people with the finger on the mouse waiting for
> the process to open in order to submit there nominations.
> Finally, for the voting process I completely disagree with the ability of a
> member to vote multiple times for the same person. This removes from the
> process the requirement of someone to be widely recognized within the
> community and potentially allows "a couple of friends" to elect whoever they
> want.
>
> I think that the discussion is interesting and thanks to the board and
> Arnulf :) for initiating it!
> I think that other solutions could also be considered if we feel that we
> need to differentiate on how charter members get elected, e.g. agree on a
> bonus percentage that a "community leader" gets when he goes through the
> standard process, so he still has to be voted by many...
>
> I apologize for the length of the e-mail and thanks for listening,
>
> Best regards,
>
> Dimitris Kotzinos
>
>
>
>
>>
>> Within 2 weeks we intend to start our annual process for selecting new
>> OSGeo charter members.
>>
>> In previous years the Charter Member selection process has been a little
>> contentious. We typically receive numerous nominations from high caliber
>> members of our community, and insufficient positions to accept them all.
>> This typically results in unnecessary disappointment and dissent.
>>
>> In response, the OSGeo board has agreed to trial tweaking the voting
>> process. The aim is to automatically accept recognised OSGeo community
>> leaders, while continuing with our existing process which attracts the
>> many valuable community members who contribute in other ways. Community
>> comments are encouraged, and will be considered over the next week.
>>
>> *Design

[OSGeo-Discuss] Proposed process for selecting OSGeo charter members

2014-06-19 Thread Dimitris Kotzinos

Dear all,

some thoughts on the proposed changes on the Charter Member election 
process.
I will divide my comments into two parts, first some issues about the 
process itself and then some comments on the proposed changes.


(A) the process per se:
1/ I think that whatever change in the election process should be 
validated by the Charter Members themselves, so I fully agree with 
Arnulf that we need to vote on that and not just the Board. And of 
course this contains no offense for the Board; it is just that I think 
that it is fair that the body who is affected by the changes to take the 
decisions.
Moreover the charter members are the ones who elect the Board so it 
seems quite awkward to me that the smaller governing body will take such 
decision.
2/ I think that whatever decision taken should be enforced in next 
year's elections; members need some time to evaluate that. So it is good 
to conclude this process now but enforce it from next year.


(B) the proposed changes:
Before discussing the proposed changes I think that we should understand 
where the current system has failed. Do we have cases where recognized 
community leaders failed to be elected? If so please bring them forward. 
I doubt so though since if I recall correctly the last two years all 
charter member nominations were accepted without voting! Moreover the 
notion of a "recognized community leader" that cannot be elected as a 
charter member is a contradiction by itself. So why change?
I am not against the idea of having some people becoming OSGEO Charter 
Members ex officio but for one I do not like the idea of having members 
of different categories and secondly I need to have a look at the data: 
how many of the committee chairs, PSC members, official Chapter chairs 
are not already OSGEO Charter members (and they wanted to be and 
failed)? Why are they not nominated to become ones and to be voted?

And I don't see how the problem described here:
"In previous years the Charter Member selection process has been a little
contentious. We typically receive numerous nominations from high caliber
members of our community, and insufficient positions to accept them all.
This typically results in unnecessary disappointment and dissent."
will be resolved: again we will have some people not becoming Charter 
Members if the seats are not enough. So some of us will still be 
disappointed, etc. So if the numbers are the same the only difference I 
see is that now we choose beforehand whom to disappoint and people 
working in the community but in not "official" positions will have less 
chances to be elected.
If we want to open up the numbers, this is OK, more seats are offered 
every year anyway. But what else?
And of course the first come first served approach if the recognized 
community leaders are more than the seats is a bit odd: to lighten up 
the discussion I cannot imagine people with the finger on the mouse 
waiting for the process to open in order to submit there nominations.
Finally, for the voting process I completely disagree with the ability 
of a member to vote multiple times for the same person. This removes 
from the process the requirement of someone to be widely recognized 
within the community and potentially allows "a couple of friends" to 
elect whoever they want.


I think that the discussion is interesting and thanks to the board and 
Arnulf :) for initiating it!
I think that other solutions could also be considered if we feel that we 
need to differentiate on how charter members get elected, e.g. agree on 
a bonus percentage that a "community leader" gets when he goes through 
the standard process, so he still has to be voted by many...


I apologize for the length of the e-mail and thanks for listening,

Best regards,

Dimitris Kotzinos






Within 2 weeks we intend to start our annual process for selecting new
OSGeo charter members.

In previous years the Charter Member selection process has been a little
contentious. We typically receive numerous nominations from high caliber
members of our community, and insufficient positions to accept them all.
This typically results in unnecessary disappointment and dissent.

In response, the OSGeo board has agreed to trial tweaking the voting
process. The aim is to automatically accept recognised OSGeo community
leaders, while continuing with our existing process which attracts the
many valuable community members who contribute in other ways. Community
comments are encouraged, and will be considered over the next week.

*Design guidelines:*

* We want a process which is simple to understand and implement.
* We want a process which encourages recognised OSGeo community leaders
to become OSGeo charter members, while continuing to accept members from
the many other valuable OSGeo roles.
* We want a process which is difficult to abuse.
* For the first iteration, we should err on being more selective in our
criteria, with potential widening of selection criteria in future years.