On Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:33:15 +0000 Grant Slater <openstreet...@firefishy.com> wrote:
> > Elizabeth, I tried to start a discussion with you offlist a few months > ago, instead you decided to belittle me about my age. (I haven't had > that since I was in my twenties so maybe I am just being overly > sensitive.) > Since you have stated: "I will continue to be somewhat disruptive on > the lists and remain polite while doing so." > I found a similar statement in a prominent developer's wiki page too :D > Lets leave the past and restart... > > Could you kindly restate your questions and I will attempt to answer > them to the best of my ability. > > Regards > Grant 1. Discussions are public. They go into a place where they are archived. 2. The questions continue, exactly the same while differing a little with time. A. From where does OSMF get a mandate to change the licence? There was a plebiscite of OSMF members only, and of those eligible to vote, less than half wanted to go with ODbL. B. What is the real timeline? At what time will a decision be made one way or the other? It's Ok, I read in the minutes of OSMF Board that the 'way to go' was by attrition. C. What are the real amounts of data that OSMF Board is willing to remove to achieve its aim of licence change? Is this a global quantity? Is it OK to decimate the map in a smaller place eg Chile or Australia if the rest of the world goes ODbL? Or is not OK? Let's talk real advice, from the old white haired lady, who has been on non-profit Boards and for-profit Boards over the last 15 years. 1. OSMF needs a written out strategic plan. Where the Board would like to see the organisation be in 3 or 5 years; how they plan to get there (usually vague); how success will be measured; who is responsible for achieving success. So if the goal is to have every potential source of aerial imagery freed up for tracing purposes - is this a legal battle to prove that traced work does not infringe copyright OR perhaps the system of persuading those who buy imagery to share their wealth with OSM. Who negotiates, how do we measure success are noted. 2. OSMF needs a business or annual plan, written out. Take the above goals and decide how much we can bite off this year, be precise about the goal. So the Board might authorise Mr Coast to negotiate with Bing to get access to imagery. The Board would decide if any concessions are offered to the donor, or no concessions at all. 3. OSMF Board members need to state their conflicts of interest and these must be recorded in the minutes. This is a legal requirement where I live, and I think it would be in the UK, where OSMF is registered. Following the declaration of conflicts of interest the Board then decides how to handle the conflict of interest. It is common practice for people to leave the room or the teleconference at these points, but not obligatory. The Board needs to make these decisions knowing that they need to withstand the scrutiny of company members. 4. OSMF Board must be prepared to admit when things aren't going as planned and discuss whether a change of priorities is in order. Following these principles would put an end to a large amount of bickering. I wouldn't read emails which can be summarised as "just a little bit longer, and it will be all right". Reference could be made to the business (annual) plan and then the statement would be "we expect to be at point XYZ at date ABC, and if we do not reach this the Board will have to review progress formally". There are other ways of reviewing the progress of the organisation. Reviews of potential threats and new opportunities need to happen. Some Boards do this formally because they have staff to go through such things. Others make sure that the question appears on the meeting agenda so that members are prompted to mention new matters. Volunteer based organisations and volunteer boards have difficulties getting people with enough time to make sure that the organisation runs smoothly. The legal status of a volunteer board is the same as one of a large public company, and the government office with oversight of registered companies will not accept a defence of "we're volunteers and we didn't have time or we didn't know better". Specifics vary between jurisdictions, so I don't want to write an essay on governance of an organisation Australian style when the details may be quite wrong for OSMF. _______________________________________________ Talk-au mailing list Talk-au@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-au
