Hi all,
At the request of Stephane Henriod, I am forwarding a contribution to this
email which was first posted on the HOT US Inc memberships list since
Stephane was not on the other mailings lists (osmf and talk) where this
dicussion has been unfolding those past 10 days.
Stephane is currently working in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), like most of us he
is caught by heavy work deadlines and had no time to subscribe and email
directly. He therefore contacted me to make his view known by OSMF members
and mappers on osmf and talk lists in the context of this current OSMF
Board election.
Here goes Stéphane's email below.
Best,
Nicolas
On Thu, Dec 3, 2015 at 4:51 AM, Stéphane Henriod wrote:
Dear all
I believe we have disgressed quite a lot during these email exchanges.
My understanding is that the main initial topic concerned the risk oh
having "too much" of HOT (or HOT-US inc) at the board of OSMF. I do agree
with this statement and would like to quickly explain why. But first, let
me say what this statement doesn't mean:
- it doesn't mean that people are bad
- it doesn't mean that people are dangerous
- it doesn't mean that people are not competent
- it doesn't mean that HOT (as a community or as an NGO) is bad /
dangerous / vicious
It only means that every global organisation needs some balance. In
Switzerland, we have a college of 7 Ministers, who are elected by our
Parliament respecting the (although weakening) so-called "Magic formula".
This means that the main political parties must be represented according to
the results of their parties but it also means that we try to keep a
balance between the linguistic / cultural areas of our country.
I definitely do not agree with all these ministers. But I do believe
that this balance is essential, for thousands of reason that I don't want
to detail here (for the sake of keeping this email short enough).
For the OSMF election, I believe that the same principle is beneficial.
Saying that "too much HOT is dangerous" only means that the OSMF board
needs more plurality: people who use OSM in a different way, for other
purposes, maybe even with a different philosophy.
Exactly in the same way, I wouldn't be happy with 7 ministers elected
from my hometown. That would be probably quite cool on the short term but
it's definitely dangerous on the long term and would lead to quite some
instability.
Thanks all
Cheers
Stéphane
On Fri, Dec 4, 2015 at 10:58 AM, Paul Norman wrote:
> On 12/2/2015 2:12 PM, Jean-Guilhem Cailton wrote:
>
>> It also happens that I have stopped renewing my membership to the OSMF
>> after an election where a candidate was excluded from the vote because his
>> views on a controversial subject (related to license change) were strongly
>> different from those of the majority of the previous Board. Note that Mr.
>> Maron was already a member of this outgoing Board, that had a conception of
>> basic democracy different from mine, according to which it should have been
>> up to the voters not to vote for a candidate if they didn't agree with his
>> views. So, anyway, I cannot write to that list.
>>
>
> Although I wasn't on the board at the time, I was around then, and the
> situation was a bit different.
>
> In 2012 two people tried to run for board without being members (i.e. they
> couldn't), and then someone tried to pay or register for their membership
> on their behalf. The board at the time rejected their application.
>
> I can't find any minutes from the time and can't speak to the views of the
> board at the time, but there was a view that the person attempting to pay
> was doing it solely to cause problems.
>
> The board at the time was Steve Coast, Henk, Oliver, Mikel, Matt Amos,
> Dermot, and Richard Fairhurst.
>
> I didn't know the background on one of the individuals, but I'd have
> rather seen the other become a member the normal way (paying themselves),
> run for board, and lose.
>
> Under the AoA the board cannot stop a member from running in a board
> election, and a member can only be removed for a small number of reasons,
> and they have a right of appeal to the next general meeting. There are also
> provisions under the Companies' Act for OSMF members to remove board
> members.
>
>
> ___
> talk mailing list
> talk@openstreetmap.org
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
>
--
Nicolas Chavent
Projet OpenStreetMap (OSM)
Projet Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT)
Projet Espace OSM Francophone (EOF)
Mobile (FRA): +33 (0)6 52 40 78 20
Mobile (CIV): +225 78 12 76 99
Email: nicolas.chav...@gmail.com
Skype: c_nicolas
Twitter: nicolas_chavent
___
talk mailing list
talk@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
