Board Member Nominations 2009 - Revision history

Pramsey: /* Tim Schaub */

2009-09-26T22:53:37Z

Tim Schaub

Pramsey: /* Claude Philipona */

2009-09-26T21:07:13Z

Claude Philipona

Pramsey: /* Andrew Ross */

2009-09-26T16:27:52Z

Andrew Ross

Pramsey: /* Chris Schmidt */

2009-09-25T23:40:51Z

Chris Schmidt

Pramsey: /* Markus Neteler* */

2009-09-25T21:19:37Z

Markus Neteler*

Pramsey: /* Peter Batty */

2009-09-25T15:27:32Z

Peter Batty

Wiki-Pmbatty: /* Peter Batty */

2009-09-25T12:26:43Z

Peter Batty

Jmckenna: /* Jeff McKenna */ add statement

2009-09-24T15:13:36Z

Jeff McKenna: add statement

Pramsey: /* Ned Horning */

2009-09-24T14:36:08Z

Ned Horning

Pramsey at 16:11, 23 September 2009

2009-09-23T16:11:30Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:53, 26 September 2009
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	== Tim Schaub ==		== Tim Schaub ==
		+
		+	:I echo the statements of other board nominees in saying that it is an honor to be considered for the position. While it is a position that I would accept with great enthusiasm, I feel inclined to withdraw my name from consideration.
		+
		+	:I have enjoyed watching OSGeo mature into a solid and well recognized organization. As a newly elected Charter Member, I will consider it my challenge to get more directly involved and work for the continued success of the foundation.
		+
		+	:I honestly hope the opportunity to serve on the board presents itself again. In the meantime, I will increase my efforts to advocate for the foundation and the projects it represents.
		+
		+	:I look forward to seeing many of you in Sydney next month. Now, off to attend to a crying child ...
		+
		+	:'''From: Tim Schaub'''

	Tim has been committed to open source geospatial software for many years, and is an active developer on a number of different javascript projects. His leadership in these project has been recognized: he currently serves as the Chair of the Project Steering Committee of OpenLayers, and is a founding PSC member of GeoExt (which aspires to be a full OSGeo project).		Tim has been committed to open source geospatial software for many years, and is an active developer on a number of different javascript projects. His leadership in these project has been recognized: he currently serves as the Chair of the Project Steering Committee of OpenLayers, and is a founding PSC member of GeoExt (which aspires to be a full OSGeo project).

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:07, 26 September 2009
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	== Claude Philipona ==		== Claude Philipona ==
		+
		+	:I have been involved in Free and Open Source since the mid-90's, when I created a social website dedicated to ski touring and mountaineering aficionados, where people could exchange live information about snow condition (avalanche), path, trails and routes. At that time already, not only the free software was important to me, but also all the aspect to freely exchange, distribute data and information coming from the community or different sources. The www.camptocamp.org websites are still alive and are now managed by a not for profit foundation.
		+
		+	:I spent most of the last 8 years with the creation and management of Camptocamp.com, a Free and Open Source company based in Switzerland and France, active mostly in geoinformatics.
		+
		+	:I've been participating in OSGeo conference committee since the beginning of OSGeo as I was strongly involved in the organization of FOSS4G 2006 in Lausanne.
		+
		+	:With my background, I'm at the crossing of Open Source business, project communities and academic world. I think that I really could contribute to OSGeo future with these multiple point of views. I'm sure that there is still a lot to do to improve synergies between communities and projects made by companies, agencies using FOS Software. One of my goal at the board would be to work on those aspects, because I'm convinced that, with the quality and maturity of OSGeo software stack, communities deserve a better and higher return rate from the quite big projects using FOSS now days.
		+
		+	:Finally I give also a special thank to Yves Jacolin, who spontaneously asked me if I would accept a nomination for the board election and who is doing a very good job for OSGeo-fr chapter and the French localization of several pieces of software.
		+
		+	:'''From: Claude Philipona'''

	Claude is a co-founder of Camptocamp, and is one of the founding members of OSGeo. He already		Claude is a co-founder of Camptocamp, and is one of the founding members of OSGeo. He already

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:27, 26 September 2009
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	== Andrew Ross ==		== Andrew Ross ==
		+
		+	:I am deeply honoured to be considered for an OSGeo board position. The other nominees are people I greatly respect and if I am worthy enough to be elected, I look forward to working with.
		+
		+	:My offering is a good sense and demonstrated track record for pragmatic balance of Industry, community, academia, and government interests. I continue to be excited by opportunities for collaboration between these four pillars. This is both a principle and practice in my life - where I work for an open source company, teach with open source software at a University, and contribute heavily to the open source community.
		+
		+	:The education piece is one that I am especially passionate about. As evident in my work with a number of Universities, companies, non-profits, and concerned citizens around the world resulting in significant amount of excellent educational content made available freely from http://fosslc.org, it is possible to be successful in this area.
		+
		+	:Thank you in advance if I am worthy of your vote.
		+
		+	:'''From: Andrew Ross'''

	Andrew has been involved with the open source geospatial community for the past three years, and in this time has demonstrated extensive commitment and leadership in his involvement with OSGeo and its projects.		Andrew has been involved with the open source geospatial community for the past three years, and in this time has demonstrated extensive commitment and leadership in his involvement with OSGeo and its projects.

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:40, 25 September 2009
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	== Chris Schmidt ==		== Chris Schmidt ==
		+
		+	:I'm Christopher Schmidt. I feel proud to have been nominated for the OSGeo Board, and would gladly serve on it in order to help OSGeo continue to grow and mature as an organization which is able to represent the best in Open Source GIS software.
		+
		+	:I have participated in many projects across the OSGeo sphere since my (relatively recent) introduction to GIS software in general. My background prior to that was mostly in web development, and I have especially worked to help create and extend the possibilities for web mapping with Open Source software. Some of the projects I've participated in are well known in this field: as a founding member of OpenLayers, TileCache, FeatureServer, an author of the GeoJSON specification, and a contributor to other software like MapServer, GDAL, and more, I feel that I have a broad base of experience of the OSGeo community and software.
		+
		+	:In addition, I have worked as a member of the Systems Administration Committee, worked as part of the Geodata committee, and more, to help enable OSGeo to continue to provide the excellent resource that it does today.
		+
		+	:I believe that OSGeo is reaching a point in its life where the next several years will help truly define what the organization is in the long term. As the organization reaches maturity, I think it's important that we establish a clear direction for growth into the future.
		+
		+	:Many graduating students have heard the phrase: "Today is the first day of the rest of your lives: Make the most of it". I think that this sentiment applies to OSGeo at this time, and I think that I am well suited to helping usher OSGeo towards a future which is beneficial to all of its projects.
		+
		+	:I look forward to seeing the results of the board election this year. If anyone has any questions for me as a board candidate, I welcome them to either my personal email address, or you can find me on IRC, as 'crschmidt'.
		+
		+	:'''From: Chris Schmidt'''

	Christopher has led the development of OpenLayers, but more important to me he has also led the development of the community around OpenLayers. His efforts and time dedicated to the community are really impressive. So we have here a good example of someone who is a main developer and also takes the time to make sure the community around the project grows. And that is the cherry on top of the cake! Today as we all know OL is one of the most used GIS web clients around, if not the most used.		Christopher has led the development of OpenLayers, but more important to me he has also led the development of the community around OpenLayers. His efforts and time dedicated to the community are really impressive. So we have here a good example of someone who is a main developer and also takes the time to make sure the community around the project grows. And that is the cherry on top of the cake! Today as we all know OL is one of the most used GIS web clients around, if not the most used.

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:19, 25 September 2009
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	== Markus Neteler* ==		== Markus Neteler* ==
		+
		+	:I feel honored to be renominated again for the upcoming board election - this election is important to continue the work done for OSGeo and to meet the new challenges. This year we have a great choice between many new nominees and two board member standing for re-election.
		+
		+	:For those not knowing me: I am one of the founding members of OSGeo and involved in FOSS4G since 1993 (as user) and since 1998 (as developer) with most activities dedicated to the GRASS GIS project.
		+
		+	:I am very community oriented which means that I try to avoid making OSGeo any kind of elite group or the like. Moreover I work on integration, trying to connect people not knowing each other and trying to lower the barriers to contribute to OSGeo projects, be as ordinary user, be as power user or even more. "Growing developers" was the motto of one of the FOSS4G conferences which I like very much.
		+
		+	:If you are interested, you can find the collection of proposals I made in OSGeo, here: [[User:Neteler]] ... some done, some in progress, some more to come :)
		+
		+	:Important for me is also the fact that most folks here are not native English speakers. Local chapters are important (I was involved in the establishment of the German and the Italian FOSS4G associations which later became OSGeo chapters) and need to be partially better connected to OSGeo-international. Furthermore, software needs to be translated to different languages. Here good progress was done but it needs to become easier to contribute. We'll work on that.
		+
		+	:Finally, I am interested (and contributed) to OSGeo-Edu and OSGeo-Geodata which I pushed a lot in the very beginning of OSGeo in 2006 to avoid a pure software foundation. I am sure that we could deliver a great portal to the existing community and especially newcomers with a good material collection. For OSGeo-Edu it has been started, for OSGeo-Geodata we may have a catalog in future.
		+
		+	:In this sense I'll continue to contribute!
		+
		+	:'''From: Markus Neteler'''

	Markus certainly does not need introduction to the OSGeo community -- as the coordinator of the GRASS GIS development for more than 10 years, current member of the board of directors and member of several OSGeo committees he has been an active representative of the OSGeo foundation since its inception.		Markus certainly does not need introduction to the OSGeo community -- as the coordinator of the GRASS GIS development for more than 10 years, current member of the board of directors and member of several OSGeo committees he has been an active representative of the OSGeo foundation since its inception.

@@ Line 97: / Line 97: @@
 == Peter Batty ==
-I agree with others that we have a very strong group of board candidates this year, and that is a great sign for the strength of OSGeo. I would like to thank Tyler Mitchell for nominating me.
+:I agree with others that we have a very strong group of board candidates this year, and that is a great sign for the strength of OSGeo. I would like to thank Tyler Mitchell for nominating me.
-I don't have the long and illustrious background in open source that many fellow nominees have, I have just got involved with open source geospatial solutions in the past few years. But I feel I can bring value to the board because I do bring a different perspective from most other board members and board nominees. I have worked in the geospatial industry for over 20 years, and have been CTO of two of the top three (closed source) geospatial software companies, Intergraph and Smallworld (still the leader in utility GIS, now part of GE). I am well known and well respected in the broader geospatial community outside the open source world, I regularly speak at conferences around the world and have a well read blog called geothought (in fact I just gave the opening keynote talk at AGI GeoCommunity, the main GIS conference in the UK, and have been tied up there for the past couple of days which is why I have not been able to post this statement sooner). This puts me in a good position to help increase awareness of OSGeo and I do this regularly in my conference talks. As someone who has a background in closed source software but has used open source geospatial software for my latest startup, I am in a strong position to help explain to other closed source software users why they should switch to open source solutions.
+:I don't have the long and illustrious background in open source that many fellow nominees have, I have just got involved with open source geospatial solutions in the past few years. But I feel I can bring value to the board because I do bring a different perspective from most other board members and board nominees. I have worked in the geospatial industry for over 20 years, and have been CTO of two of the top three (closed source) geospatial software companies, Intergraph and Smallworld (still the leader in utility GIS, now part of GE). I am well known and well respected in the broader geospatial community outside the open source world, I regularly speak at conferences around the world and have a well read blog called geothought (in fact I just gave the opening keynote talk at AGI GeoCommunity, the main GIS conference in the UK, and have been tied up there for the past couple of days which is why I have not been able to post this statement sooner). This puts me in a good position to help increase awareness of OSGeo and I do this regularly in my conference talks. As someone who has a background in closed source software but has used open source geospatial software for my latest startup, I am in a strong position to help explain to other closed source software users why they should switch to open source solutions.
-I have served on the boards of multiple non-profit organizations, including the geospatial educational organization, GITA, best known for its conferences; the executive management team of several small and large companies; and the advisory boards of several startups. I have been involved in organizing many conferences, small and large, including the recent WhereCamp5280 in Denver, and was one of the leaders of the Denver bid for FOSS4G 2010, and we will re-bid for 2011. I believe I am good at helping organizations take a strategic view of where they want to go. I am from the UK originally but have lived in the US for the past 15 years, and have had global roles at both the large software companies I worked at, and have traveled extensively in those roles, so I feel I have a good view of geospatial users and markets around the world. From my experience working on various boards, I think it is important to include people with a diverse range of backgrounds and experience.
+:I have served on the boards of multiple non-profit organizations, including the geospatial educational organization, GITA, best known for its conferences; the executive management team of several small and large companies; and the advisory boards of several startups. I have been involved in organizing many conferences, small and large, including the recent WhereCamp5280 in Denver, and was one of the leaders of the Denver bid for FOSS4G 2010, and we will re-bid for 2011. I believe I am good at helping organizations take a strategic view of where they want to go. I am from the UK originally but have lived in the US for the past 15 years, and have had global roles at both the large software companies I worked at, and have traveled extensively in those roles, so I feel I have a good view of geospatial users and markets around the world. From my experience working on various boards, I think it is important to include people with a diverse range of backgrounds and experience.
-Tyler asked where people would like to see OSGeo in five years, and I would answer somewhat differently to many of those who have made pretty detailed responses. I would like to see that the number of organizations using open source geospatial software has grown dramatically over the next five years, and I would like to see a much larger ecosystem of companies providing solutions using open source geospatial software, and helping fund continued development. I believe it would be good for the geospatial industry as a whole to see greater competition, and I think that open source solutions are now mature enough that they can provide a much greater challenge to established closed source solutions than they have in the past. In order to do that we need to get additional people with commercial as well as technical experience engaged in OSGeo, and I would help with that as a board member. We need to also do this in a way that respects the spirit of the community, but I believe we can do that (partly by looking to larger open source communities than our own for lessons on how they have grown).
+:Tyler asked where people would like to see OSGeo in five years, and I would answer somewhat differently to many of those who have made pretty detailed responses. I would like to see that the number of organizations using open source geospatial software has grown dramatically over the next five years, and I would like to see a much larger ecosystem of companies providing solutions using open source geospatial software, and helping fund continued development. I believe it would be good for the geospatial industry as a whole to see greater competition, and I think that open source solutions are now mature enough that they can provide a much greater challenge to established closed source solutions than they have in the past. In order to do that we need to get additional people with commercial as well as technical experience engaged in OSGeo, and I would help with that as a board member. We need to also do this in a way that respects the spirit of the community, but I believe we can do that (partly by looking to larger open source communities than our own for lessons on how they have grown).
-Thank you for your consideration, and please feel free to email me if you have any questions.
+:Thank you for your consideration, and please feel free to email me if you have any questions.
-''From: Peter Batty''
+:'''From: Peter Batty'''
 Peter has been CTO of two leading geospatial software companies (and

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:13, 24 September 2009
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	== Jeff McKenna ==		== Jeff McKenna ==
		+
		+
		+	:I must say that it is quite an honor to be considered in the same class as the 13 other nominees. Each one is hard-working and extremely dedicated. It's a good sign of a strong and mature OSGeo community.
		+
		+	:Well this is a good time to reflect on what the OSGeo community means to me. Without the community I would just be another geographer; but with the community I am allowed to share ideas, work with brilliant people across the globe, and hopefully help new users as they start down the OSGeo path. And you know what the best part of it is? I enjoy it. I truly do.
		+
		+	:I have been very active with OSGeo's annual FOSS4G event since its inception. I am very proud to be involved in spreading the passion for OSGeo to communities such as last years event in Cape Town, South Africa and coming up in Sydney, Australia. As chair of the OSGeo conference committee, I'm excited about the possibilities for 2011 and beyond. Every year the decision of where to host the event becomes more difficult, as our OSGeo community grows more mature and spreads across the globe. How exciting!
		+
		+	:If I am voted onto the OSGeo Board, I will bring my excitement and passion that's for sure, but I will also make sure that we never forget our roots - the community.
		+
		+	:Thank you for this opportunity. I must also specifically thank fellow charter members Julien-Samuel Lacroix and Gérald Fenoy for their kind words in nominating me.
		+
		+	:'''From: Jeff McKenna'''

	Jeff has been active in OSGeo since being voted as a founding charter member. He leads the conference committee and has assisted in each of the annual FOSS4G events since 2004.		Jeff has been active in OSGeo since being voted as a founding charter member. He leads the conference committee and has assisted in each of the annual FOSS4G events since 2004.

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:36, 24 September 2009
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	== Ned Horning ==		== Ned Horning ==
		+
		+	: I have been a user, advocate, and supporter of open source geospatial software for more years than I care to remember. My impact may not have been all that great in the global scope of things but I have worked hard to raise awareness especially within the conservation community. I still have a lot of work to do. As a board member I would like to help OSGeo work more on expand funding opportunities for open source initiatives. One way to do this is to improve awareness within government and non-government organizations that fund projects that develop or use OSGeo products so they consider the benefits of OSGeo software and eduction/outreach resources when determining which projects they fund.
		+
		+	: If elected to the board I will try to be an active member and will dedicate the necessary time to fulfill the duties that come with the position.
		+
		+	:'''From: Ned Horning'''

	Ned Horning has 25 years of experience working with remote sensing, GIS, and other geospatial technologies. His work history includes nine years at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and nine years working as an independent consultant. He is currently the Director of Applied Biodiversity Informatics at the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) where he has worked for over seven years. At the CBC he has focused his efforts on transferring technical knowledge to conservation practitioners around the world. Part of that work has been to encourage the use of open source geospatial and other software both at the Museum and also in their training efforts. Recently he has conducted such trainings in Vietnam and Lao P.D.R. He has also been an active member on the OSGeo educational committee and an avid supporter of OSGeo in general.		Ned Horning has 25 years of experience working with remote sensing, GIS, and other geospatial technologies. His work history includes nine years at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and nine years working as an independent consultant. He is currently the Director of Applied Biodiversity Informatics at the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) where he has worked for over seven years. At the CBC he has focused his efforts on transferring technical knowledge to conservation practitioners around the world. Part of that work has been to encourage the use of open source geospatial and other software both at the Museum and also in their training efforts. Recently he has conducted such trainings in Vietnam and Lao P.D.R. He has also been an active member on the OSGeo educational committee and an avid supporter of OSGeo in general.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:11, 23 September 2009
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	== Charlie Schweik ==		== Charlie Schweik ==
		+
		+	:I've been involved with OSGeo for several years now, trying to help move our educational committee forward.
		+
		+	:Recently, in the U.S., I attended the Gov 2.0 summit in Washington D.C. put on by Tim O'Reilly and others (www.gov2summit.com) which had a number of discussions/presentations with some of the major U.S. Federal CIO people, among others. (I'm planning on writing an OSGeo edu blog entry on some of the things I saw there...). But what was an overarching theme that was resonating throughout that conference was "openness as innovation." An example used multiple times was the innovation that has emerged (private sector) as a consequence of the GPS system as a "platform" for innovating at the endpoints. The importance of geocoding and geospatial was another theme, as was openness of data. People on this list, of course, know this, and many countries are farther ahead in this than the U.S.
		+
		+	:The reason I raise this is because OSGeo and the federation of projects it represents is a global leader in this area and I see the next 5 years as a critical era for the organization.
		+
		+	:To me, education around open technologies is key toward this future growth. Over the last 2-years, I've been learning a little about the challenges of leading a community of volunteers interested in OSGeo education. I don't know how successful I've been -- lots of demands on my time like everyone else -- but I've tried. We do have a searchable database of educational content that I think many of us should be proud of as an example of what we can do as a community.
		+
		+	:But one of the things I think we need to do better as a community is somehow working with the various software projects on education initiatives. Education efforts will promote the software developed by OSGeo affiliated projects. In addition, we've started recently a conversation about trying to define an educational curriculum around OS Geospatial. In my view, we need to be trying to identify "core competencies" for OSGeo developers as well as users of the various software packages and move, as a community toward developing some system of developing these materials together, and sharing and deriving new material based on other material.
		+
		+	:Empirical work I have not yet published in my forthcoming book on Open Source collaboration with statistical analysis of 107,000 Sourceforge projects is showing me that projects that are "successful" -- meaning they continue to worked on and are not abandoned -- are very often made up of small teams of developers. But what we have found to be statistically significant is the successful projects have at least 1 more developer compared to abandoned projects. This tells me that you don't need large teams to be productive. But you do need to be able to "link" or "connect" two or three people globally who have a passion for a project or an idea and also have some of the skills to tackle that problem. OSGeo has the "platform" and the global reach to make such connections in my view, whether it be in developing software, or developing educational material.
		+
		+	:My goal, whether it be on the board or in my role trying to move the education group forward, is to see if we can harness this productive energy.
		+
		+	:'''From: Charlie Schweik'''

	Charlie Schweik is chair of the OSGEO education committee and an effective advocate for the use of open source geospatial software in academia. He is an Associate Professor with a joint appointment shared between the Department of Natural Resources Conservation and the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is also the Associate Director of the National Center for Digital Government, and an affiliated researcher with the Science, Technology, and Society Initiative at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.		Charlie Schweik is chair of the OSGEO education committee and an effective advocate for the use of open source geospatial software in academia. He is an Associate Professor with a joint appointment shared between the Department of Natural Resources Conservation and the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is also the Associate Director of the National Center for Digital Government, and an affiliated researcher with the Science, Technology, and Society Initiative at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.