Press Release Process

Press Release Process - Draft
The goal is to have a simple and understandable process for creating, reviewing and issuing press releases.

Once initiated, the process will be driven by a member of the Visibility Committee. There are five basic steps:

1) Conception
Something newsworthy happens - a new software release of an OSGeo project, for example. The "owner" of said event wishes to publish this development to a wider audience.

2) Creation
The owner of their OSGeo-related newsworthy event or their proxy writes the release to the wiki using the Press Release Template and notifies the foundation of the url by emailing dev@visibilitycommittee.osgeo.org and board@visibilitycommittee.osgeo.org.

3) Review and Approval

 * Review and approval - members of the Board and the Visibility Committee will have two days to review and comment on the content of the release.


 * Legal review - because the foundation is a legal entity a quick review by our legal representative (on the board alias), will also be performed. This need will be reduced depending on the content of the release and as we ascend the learning curve.


 * If other organizations are mentioned in the release, then they will also need to be included in the review process.

The review and approval process is driven by a member of the Visibility Committee, in concert with the initiator.

4) Distribution
A) The press release gets published to the osgeo-news-publisher alias. This alias will be seeded with journalists and others known to be interested in OSGeo activities.  About 100 additional press contacts will also be invited to join the alias.

B) The press release will also be submitted to:


 * GeoPlace.com online
 * news:comp.infosystems.gis
 * submit.news@consortiuminfo.org (see: http://www.consortiuminfo.org/bulletins/ )
 * http://slashgeo.org/submit.pl
 * http://linuxtoday.com/contribute.php3
 * http://www.newsforge.com/submit.pl
 * http://programming.newsforge.com/submit.pl
 * http://osx.macnn.com/ (email to news tips)
 * http://www.gis-news.de/ (news AT gismngt.de)
 * http://www.giscafe.com/ (link: submit material, needs registration)
 * http://www.freegis.org
 * http://www.directionsmag.com/pressreleases.php (News -> Post Press Release)
 * http://www.gismonitor.com/news/submit_news.php
 * http://www.gisdevelopment.net (click on 'Submit Press Release')
 * http://news.eoportal.org
 * http://www.foss4g.org/FOSS4G/modules.php?name=Submit_News

C) The Visibility Committee will also investigate the feasability and desirability of using an electronic news service such as http://www.prnewswire.com that reaches AP and UPI. Accounts are free, but distribution costs are $300-400 per release.  Content gets submitted as a Word file.

5) Translation
The final press release will be posted on the OSGeo site for translation by volunteers for localization and distribution to local news agencies.