Re: [OSGeo Oceania] OO board meeting minutes, 10 May

[eli via Oceania]

Hi all,

I'm briefly adding my two cents on this discussion, as I was too part of it
'live' and I think that only reading the minutes could lend to some
misinterpretations: what I understood during the debate was Alex just
pointing out that if OO decides to not support at all the conference, that
could lend to the community not being satisfied by the decision, as many
would love to have the international conference in the region, and the
local committee to go ahead without OO, which could be seen as a 'break' in
the community.

That, for me, was just a 'worst case scenario' kind of thing, not something
certain to happen. Moreover, I felt that nobody in the board was opposed to
supporting the bidding at all, just rightly very worried that we could not
sustain a financial loss, and that would bring the organisation to an end.

So yes, we did discuss a lot of 'worst case scenarios' as I think we
should, but in the end we decided to throw our full support to the local
committee, even with some reserves about the budget and especially
attendance numbers. Anyway, I think the board would still be very
interested to see if there are ways to discuss with OSGeo for financial
aid, as Adam pointed out, in case our bidding is successful. What does the
local committee think of it? Adam, could you give us more information about
this?

And finally, I really want to thank our deputy chair John, who after every
single board meeting takes the time to review, clean and prepare the
minutes so everybody can access them quickly. I think it's very important
to have them out for you all to read and I'm glad they do spark some
interesting discussions!

Cheers,
Elisa

Il giorno mer 22 mag 2024 alle ore 09:08 Alex Leith via Oceania <
oceania@lists.osgeo.org> ha scritto:

> Hi Adam
>
> The minutes are very brief and don't really catch the nuance of the
> discussion, but those are the broad strokes yes.
>
> If you look at the four motions, we (the Board) were careful to first
> consider if we were comfortable being fiscal sponsors, and therefore
> providing seed funding. There was a lengthy discussion about this specific
> topic. My point was if OO aren't going to provide support, in terms of
> fiscal sponsorship (i.e., taking on the risk of a loss) then the local
> organising committee would need to find another organisation to do this (to
> be the bank). In that case, OO would not be party to the organising of the
> event. The sponsor would be OSGeo and the fiscal sponsor would be some
> other entity, by necessity. And my point was this would potentially lead to
> a split in our community, which would be a really bad thing.
>
> Also, this was me pointing out this risk, and not the auckland committee.
> (Though I am on the organising committee, or course! I wear multiple hats,
> and the potential for a perceived conflict of interest was declared.)
>
> I guess to dig a little deeper, OO could have committed to being the
> fiscal sponsor, but not the seed funder, but that's not the decision we
> made. And a lot of the contention in the meeting was really about the event
> running at a loss and OO not being able to survive that circumstance.
>
> I hope that clears it up?
>
> Cheers,
>
> On Tue, 21 May 2024 at 16:57, Adam Steer via Oceania <
> oceania@lists.osgeo.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi Alex, all
>>
>> The specific statements of interest are these:
>> ---
>> ● Q: Possible to ask OSGeo to be the backer instead of OO? Alex: risk of
>> losing money is basically zero, the bigger risk is that we split the
>> community and upset those who have worked on this.
>>  Q: How would the community be split? Alex: If OO chooses not to support,
>> the LOC would have to find support elsewhere, so OO would not participate
>> ---
>>
>> In a robust and cohsesive community, what specific risks about splitting
>> the community do the Auckland bid committee (AKLBC) see in asking OSGeo to
>> seed fund a global FOSS4G in the region?
>>
>> And: why does the AKLBC think that asking OSGeo to seed the event (rather
>> than OO) would mean OO would not participate?
>>
>> In the context of a global FOSS4G in the region it seems straightforward
>> that no matter who provided the seed funding, OO would act as a bank and
>> provide other support - without needing to take on the whole financial
>> risk.
>>
>> If any other bid committee members want to add some insight, that'd be
>> great! A global FOSS4G is a huge undertaking, important for both regional
>> and global communities - so we need to be really clear in the communtiy
>> about where the kind of statements made at the last board meeting come
>> from; and work as a community toward resolution.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Adam
>>
>> On Mon, May 20, 2024, 14:22 Alex Leith  wrote:
>>
>>> Hey John and Adam
>>>
>>> I raised the potential for a split in the community, only as a risk, not
>>> as a threat or a potential or imminent thing.
>>>
>>> My view is that we’re a coherent and broadly cohesive group. My point
>>> was only that 

[OSGeo Oceania] FOSS4G 2025 LOI

[eli via Oceania]

Hi all,

The Board would like to compliment Simon Nitz, Alex Leight and the team
behind the LOI for the international FOSS4G 2025 for the great job done in
writing the letter, and we are pleased to announce our unanimous
endorsement of this initial phase. We will deliberate on endorsing
potential subsequent stages once the results of the LOI are known in May.
Good luck team!

Cheers,
Elisa
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Re: [OSGeo Oceania] 2024 OSGeo Oceania board objectives

[eli via Oceania]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for taking the time and sending us so many interesting inputs, we'll
do our best to capture and integrate all.

Adam, to answer your question about education:

After speaking with other  members of OO, especially in the Pacific area,
we have identified what could be a potential obstacle to learning OS GIS
software. If we support only with grants, as we have tried to do up to now,
we leave to the - usually - single organiser, who could be based in remote
areas with scarce internet connection, the burden to find resources and/or
capable trainers, and that could bring the initiative to a stop, We all
know all too well how much time and energy you have to dedicate to organise
free events as volunteers!

For this reason, I think we should discuss the opportunity to provide a
basic set of resources - maybe QGIS and QGIS field training material?
Anything else? - for people interested in running free training events that
we can provide on request (along with a grant, of course). That material
would also be useful for single user members who want to upskill in QGIS
but have not the time or capability to follow a training course. There is
so much free stuff online that shouldn't take too long to put together
something, especially if people from the community are willing to help with
what they have!

In my vision, we could also help people who organise free training in the
Pacific region to get in contact with QGIS trainees willing to help them,
but I understand here we could step in a conflict of interest with private
companies that do it for work, so happy to ditch this part!

cheers,
Elisa

Il giorno lun 8 gen 2024 alle ore 23:56 Adam Steer via Oceania <
oceania@lists.osgeo.org> ha scritto:

> Hi John, everyone
>
> I didn't have the ability to comment on the document, so here goes:
>
> - create an osgeo.org gitlab instance and move all this stuff there so we
> can interact via issues:D (that one is half serious... I know the community
> doesn't necessarily want to interact with git )
>
> I have just a few thoughts on a couple of areas:
>
> Comms:
> heavy plus to more open comms. In the news OSgeo just got a discourse
> instance running, maybe check in to see if a channel can be run there? OR
> set up an OO-administered discourse instance.
>
> Finances
> Paid memberships should be avoided, even if they're optional. It'll set up
> an expectation of service which I think is long-term harmful to OO. OO
> really needs to hold strongly to its current power to make decisions in the
> interests of the whole community.
>
> Direct sponsorship of OO is a good option to explore
>
> Education
> A question really: is OO planning to deliver education / training? is this
> more oriented at support, eg a grant program?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Adam
>
> On Sun, 7 Jan 2024 at 21:45, John Bryant via Oceania <
> oceania@lists.osgeo.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi all, the OSGeo Oceania board is meeting this Friday 12 Jan, and one of
>> the agenda items is setting some objectives for 2024.
>>
>> There was some interesting input from the audience at FOSS4G SotM Oceania
>> in October, which helps guide this exercise, but we would love to get
>> further input from the community. What do you think we should focus on in
>> the coming year? And of course, what would you be willing to put your own
>> time and energy into?
>>
>> Here's what we've got so far (work in progress):
>> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L0l_I15T-zm4LyLuwePq6ZfgS3OL9LEm
>>
>> Obviously we need to pick our battles and not every idea will be a focal
>> point, but it will be helpful to hear what's important to you.
>>
>> Your thoughts?
>>
>> Cheers
>> John
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Re: [OSGeo Oceania] [FOSS4G-Oceania] FOSS4G SotM Oceania 2024: Intention to run the event in Hobart

[eli via Oceania]

Yay, great news! Count me in for helping!

Il giorno lun 20 nov 2023 alle 11:13 Alex Leith via FOSS4G-Oceania <
foss4g-ocea...@lists.osgeo.org> ha scritto:

> Hey OSGeo Oceania Folks
>
> I'm writing on behalf of a small team here in Hobart to flag our intention
> to hold next year's FOSS4G SotM Oceania Conference here in Tasmania,
> probably in November.
>
> We are talking to venues now, and will put a full proposal and budget
> together in due course, but wanted to be open about our early plans.
>
> If you'd like to be part of the committee to help organise the event,
> please let me know and I'll loop you in on our planning. You obviously
> don't need to be in Hobart to help out!
>
> I'm really looking forward to hosting everyone in my home town and I think
> we're going to have a lot of fun!
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Alex
>
>
> --
> *Alex Leith*
> m: +61 419 189 050
> https://auspatious.com
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[OSGeo Oceania] FOSS4GIS SotM Oceania 2023 - Travel Grant Programme is now open!

[eli]

Hi all,

we're happy to announce that we're now ready to accept applications for the
2023 TGP! Here
 you can
find all the information and the application form. I'm SO looking forward
to seeing as many of you as possible in Auckland this October!

Deadline for submission is the *1st of July*, so be quick!

Reach out if you have any questions.

Cheers,
Elisa
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Re: [OSGeo Oceania] [OSGeo-Conf] MOTION: Oceania TGP Application

[Eli Adam]

+0 Eli

(While enthusiastic for the TGP and the good work of OSGeo Oceania, I'm not 
sure that the conference committee is actually engaged and functioning enough 
to actually approve this - hence the initial lack of responses.  I'll assume 
that Till and Steven checked our budget.  We very much need new champions on 
the Conference Committee.)

Best regards, Eli


From: Conference_dev  on behalf of 
Steven Feldman 
Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2022 3:56 AM
To: ad...@osgeo.org 
Cc: conference ; OSgeo - Oceania 

Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Conf] MOTION: Oceania TGP Application

+1
__
Steven

Unusual maps in strange places -  
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Subscribe to my weekly “Maps in the Wild<http://eepurl.com/dKStT-/>” newsletter

On 25 Oct 2022, at 09:49, ad...@osgeo.org<mailto:ad...@osgeo.org> wrote:

Hi ConfComm,

Adam contacted me directly and asked what happened to their application.

I motion to support the chapter from the OSGeo Travel Grant Fund in the
amount of USD$3,500.

+1 Till


Till

Am 10.10.22 um 23:24 schrieb Alex Leith:
Hi Folks

For the first time The Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Council (PGRSC),
OSGeo Oceania and HOT OSM are collaborating to present the 2022 GIS
users conference in Oceania. The conference series has been running in
Fiji for about 20 years and is the largest GIS and RS Conference in the
Pacific, with content covering applications of FOSS and open data. This
year will be enriched with additional formal integration into the FOSS4G
community, combining the annual FOSS4G and SoTM Oceania event with the
PGRSC conference. Thus, a new conference name will be used to represent
this new venture: "The Pacific Geospatial Conference''.

The Pacific Geospatial Conference will be held from 28th November to 2nd
December at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji and the
theme will be “Digital Platforms, GIS and Remote Sensing to anticipate
and manage impacts of Global Warming.”

Following the success of our Travel Grant Program (TGP) in 2018 and
2019, OSGeo Oceania is offering a TGP for the 2022 Pacific Geospatial
Conference, aimed at enabling attendance for people who are
disadvantaged by economic circumstances and/or geography. Oceania is a
vast region, with a highly distributed population, a large proportion of
which is in small, lesser-developed countries. Travelling to Fiji could
be difficult and expensive, even for local communities in the most
remote areas of the country, and visas are also costly.

There is a strong need in this region for this type of program, and
there are clear economic and social benefits of spreading open
geospatial knowledge to those who stand to gain the most. The TGP’s goal
is increasing the diversity, accessibility, and reach of the conference.
We want to support worthy recipients who are interested in gaining
in-depth insight into development and application of open-source
geospatial software and are committed to making an impact in their home
country, given the opportunity provided.

To support this program, we are requesting support from the OSGeo Travel
Grant Fund in the amount of USD$3,500.

We are pleased to confirm we are prepared to more than match OSGeo's
contribution with our own funds. OSGeo Oceania has already approved a
cash contribution of AUD$5000 (approximately USD$3500) and we also hope
that OSGeo's contribution will act as a 'seed' for other funders, such
as NGOs and government grants.

There is more information available in this
document: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DYf-nTKN1NI5kAOlZHuLX1hQ750W_b_1/edit#
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DYf-nTKN1NI5kAOlZHuLX1hQ750W_b_1/edit#>
(also attached as a PDF for posterity).

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

--
Alex Leith
Treasurer, OSGeo Oceania
m: +61 419 189 050

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Re: [OSGeo Oceania] Follow up about OGS - travel funding

[eli]

That’s a really good point Adam and definitely worth a discussion! Will
raise the question to the board at the next meeting, as I too agree it
would be great to facilitate people to reach OS GIS events in the region,
not necessary FOSS4G.
And yes, we’re very glad to have you as reviewer, I’ll be in contact soon!
If anybody else want to volunteer their time for Microgrant or TGP planning
or reviewing, drop me a message!
Cheers,
Elisa

Il giorno ven 5 ago 2022 alle 06:08 Adam Steer  ha
scritto:

> A related post about two conferences in the region, not discussed
> anyplace except here:
>
> Will OSGeo Oceania consider offering travel assistance for open source
> geospatial advocates in Oceania to attend the Oceania Geospatial
> Symposium?
>
> I'm not sure if the OSGeo travel grant assistance would extend to
> non-FOSS4G events, and its OK if OSGeo Oceania decide to follow the
> same pattern.
>
> In my mind it would be a really great act of good faith if OO can
> offer help, and super useful if, say, someone near Noumea can't access
> levels of TGP funding to get to Suva, but would get to Noumea with a
> small boost.
>
> Maybe the microgrants program is also a way to help with that?
>
> Just a thought, and I also think I just volunteered myself as a TGP
> application reviewer having these kinds of ideas:D
>
> Adam
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[OSGeo Oceania] Grants on the move!

[eli]

Hi All,

as per my previous email, we're creating a new policy to grant funding to
the community in a (hopefully) easier way and in order to cover more
activities than the ones funded by the Microgrants (which are still
working, so don't forget to apply if you have any event/activity in your
agenda!).

At the moment we're still finalising the new policy but the good news is
that we've already used it to grant funding to two very active groups of
our community, the Perth open source group and the Samoa GIS user group.
They have both granted funding to help with events in the next 6 months
(for Perth) and 4 months (for Samoa).

Having the funding secured for a few months should help them save time
(i.e. they won't need to apply for a microgrant each time they organise an
event) and organise events  more easily, as they won't have to worry if
funds are approved or not each time.

It's so exciting knowing that we're all working together to grow this
community and I'm personally looking forward to receiving feedback from
both groups to see if we're on the right track.

So if you have any ideas and want to help out, or if you have a project and
think it could be funded by OsGeo Oceania, please reach out to me or any
member of the board and let us know!

Cheers,
Elisa

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Re: [OSGeo Oceania] Grants Group volunteers wanted!

[eli]

That's great! Thanks Martin, will send you a private emails with details

Il giorno ven 10 giu 2022 alle ore 15:43 Martin Tomko 
ha scritto:

> Hi Elisa,
>
> This sounds like something I have experience with. Happy to get back from
> my cocoon and help.
>
> M.
>
>
>
> *From: *Oceania  on behalf of eli <
> elipucci...@gmail.com>
> *Date: *Friday, 10 June 2022 at 1:39 pm
> *To: *OSgeo - Oceania 
> *Subject: *[OSGeo Oceania] Grants Group volunteers wanted!
>
> Hi all,
>
>
>
> hope you're good!
>
> We are in the process of setting up a bigger and bolder Grants group that
> will oversee all the Microgrants, Good Mojo/TGP, and sponsorships requested
> to OsGeo Oceania by the community. For this reason I'm looking for some
> keen people that would like to join the group and help create the new
> policies and application forms, and then screen and approve requests for
> grants.
>
> We only require a few hours (maybe 3-4) per month of your time, so if you
> think you'd like to join the group, just send me an email at
> elipucci...@gmail.com.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Elisa
>
>
> --
>
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[OSGeo Oceania] Grants Group volunteers wanted!

[eli]

Hi all,

hope you're good!
We are in the process of setting up a bigger and bolder Grants group that
will oversee all the Microgrants, Good Mojo/TGP, and sponsorships requested
to OsGeo Oceania by the community. For this reason I'm looking for some
keen people that would like to join the group and help create the new
policies and application forms, and then screen and approve requests for
grants.
We only require a few hours (maybe 3-4) per month of your time, so if you
think you'd like to join the group, just send me an email at
elipucci...@gmail.com.

Cheers,
Elisa

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[OSGeo Oceania] Microgrants updates

[eli]

Hi all,

We have two more microgrants approved this month and one under discussion.
The approved microgrants are for Joeli Varo and Carrol Chan.

Joeli is organising a community awareness and student capability building
event on the 23rd of this month and Carrol will use the microgrant to
improve the local visibility of the newly created OSM Fiji group.
Congratulations! We are all looking forward to knowing how the microgrant
helped you!

One of our successful past applicants, Mosese Sereivalu, has sent us a very
nice report of the event he organised with the help of our microgrant.I've
attached it to this email for you to look at. It really seems it was a
great day of training for the Valenicina community!

We are all very glad this program is up and running and helping the
community. Keep on submitting your applications!

Cheers,
Elisa
 ValencinaCommunityMicrogrant.pdf


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[OSGeo Oceania] microgrants udpate

[eli]

Hi all,

Just a quick update on the microgrant program: we are in full swing!
We have received 7 applications so far and already approved two, and we are
on the way of approving a third one shortly.

The successful applications are related to the following events:

1. The Perth Geogeeks QGIS meetup, held the 25/3, consisting in a series of
short talks about QGIS and some time for socialising.The event was
organised by John Bryant and we are looking forward to hear how did it go!

2. A series of training workshops for: Coordinating Disaster Risk Reduction
program for ages from 13years to 18 years in my community: Educating them
on what to do when Disaster happens. Coordinating Household Survey for my
community to identify Population, Economic Activities, Housing Details,
Functioning Challenges, Education, Agriculture and Fishing practices,
Financial Inclusion, Food Security, Shocks and Managing Strategies. Mapping
and digitization through Open Data Sources.
The workshops were held in the  Valenicina Community, Lami, Suva, Fijiand
on the 25/3 and were  organised by  Mosese Sereivalu. We are looking
forward to knowing how they went!

We are very glad to be here to give a hand to our community, a lot of great
events are taking place all around Oceania, so if you are organising an
activity and want to submit an application for getting a microgrant, fill this
form

and we'll get in contact!

Cheers,
Elisa
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[OSGeo Oceania] Microgrant program is open!

[eli]

Hi all!

We are very pleased to announce the opening of the OSGeo Oceania
Microgrants program! The program aims to help open source supporters in
organising community-driven initiatives and activities by granting up to
$250 AUD per initiative.

Do you need to buy pizzas for everybody after a hard afternoon of mapping
or coding, or a webcam and some internet data for your online training
webinar, or even some help in hiring a venue for your local event?

Just read the microgrants guidelines
and if
you think your activity or initiative is eligible for a microgrant,
complete this
form

and we will be in touch with you as soon as possible!

Cheers,
Elisa


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[OSGeo Oceania] Community Consultation: Migrogrants program

[eli]

 Hi all,

I'm very happy to tell you that the microgrants working group has created
the first draft of the guidelines for obtaining a microgrant and the Google
form that has to be used in order to apply.

Before finalising the document and sending it to the board for review and
approval, it would be great if you could spare 5 minutes to read it and
give us your feedback, especially if you think that the guidelines and form
make sense or if we have missed anything important, and if this type of
microgrants can actually help organising activities in your community.

We will accept comments and suggestions till the 12th of February, aiming
to review and finalise the document before the board meeting on the 19th.

Following  this link
 you
should be able to add your comments to the document, while here

you can find the form.

Cheers,
Elisa


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