FOSS4G 2009 Get Involved

Back to FOSS4G 2009...

''You are excited to see FOSS4G come to Sydney and would like to get involved? Excellent. Here are some ideas and business drivers you can run past your boss.''

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Venka Raghavan recently asked, "What can local chapters do to help FOSS4G?". It took me a while to answer, because there are so many things involved in staging a successful conference, and FOSS4G's success derives from the breath of people and their skillsets who step up to help.

What defines a successful conference?
A successful conference is one where:
 * Delegates find people, products and techniques to solve their business problems, which they take home and implement.
 * Delegates have an enjoyable time, see the sights of the hosting country and catch up with friends in the industry.
 * Sector Sponsors (like government departments, OSGeo and the OGC) increase the effectiveness of the Geospatial sector, by training delegates in the techniques, case studies and tools presented at the conference.
 * Industry Sponsors reach targeted customers which results in future work.
 * The conference is financially successful, by attracting sufficient sponsors and delegates.

Addressing all these requirements takes a team of people with different skillsets.

Make FOSS4G better
FOSS4G initiates work best when they are prepared for, press releases sent, participants questions answered, participants engaged, and then successfully and smoothly executed during the conference. Which initiative best suites your skillset?

Live DVD
FOSS4G will be producing a Live DVD, to be handed out to all delegates, which can be booted up into Linux with pre-installed Geospatial Open Source software. In also contains windows installers, sample datasets, and probably a few other things that we will throw in for free.

This Live DVD will be significantly more valuable than just being a hand out at conferences, because it will be used by the OSGeo community to promote Geospatial Open Source at other Open Source events and as a teaching tool.

We need a number of technical people to bring this Live DVD up to the latest version of Software, provide latest documentation, and generally polish the live DVD.

http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Disc

Climate Challenge Integration Plugfest
The OGC are leading an initiative to install a suite of Standards based geospatial software (both Open Source and Proprietary) and demonstrate integration through a Climate Change scenario. Many of the conference workshops, tutorials and presentations will use this CCIP as their basis.

Again, this initiative will be rolled out by the OGC at future conferences and events, ensuring the CCIP is more valuable than just the FOSS4G conference.

If you are technically minded, please help install and tweak packages in the CCIP, or create presentations that use it.

If you are organising a future conference, please commit to incorporating the CCIP in your conference. Knowing that the CCIP will live on will attract more sponsors and developers to the CCIP. (We already have commitment from FOSS4G 2010, and strong interest from some others).

http://external.opengis.org/twiki_public/bin/view/ClimateChallenge2009/WebHome

Workshops, Tutorials, Presentations, etc
FOSS4G needs to attract good presenters and topics and promote them to delegates and sponsors. Maybe you have a worthy presentation to give, can help attract good presenters, or can coordinate one of the presentations, tutorial or workshop streams.

House Keeping
There are hundreds of small tasks which give FOSS4G a professional touch. We volunteer for them on the foss4g email list. http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2009

Attract Speakers
=OSGeo Geeks=

=Australian Universities=
 * 1) Provide students to help man the conference.
 * 2) Help with the coordination and management.
 * 3) Provide students to man the conference.
 * 4) Supply Labs (UNSW). Computer labs are very popular as they give people the chance to get their hands dirty trying out the latest technology.
 * 5) Provide presentations. Present case studies and research.
 * 6) Shape program. Have representatives involved in the conference organisation and setting of the program. Ensure the program includes issues of relevance to your organisation.
 * 7) Promotion. Promote FOSS4G through your organisation and publicity channels.
 * 8) Sponsorship. Have your name associated with the conference through sponsorship or in kind contribution.

=Government Agencies= OSGeo's theme is "User Driven" and Governments are a big geospatial user, so this conference has a strong focus on you. Your agency will have a lot to gain by having employees rub shoulders with the best Open Source developers in the world, and having them help solve your problems in real time. So what can a Government agency do to promote the conference:
 * 1) Shape program. Have representatives involved in the conference organisation and setting of the program. Ensure the program includes issues of relevance to your organisation.
 * 2) Provide presentations. Present case studies and research.  This will encourage other agencies to follow in your footsteps which will increase sponsorship in your technologies.
 * 3) Send attendees. I've heard of one organisation offering a trip to FOSS4G as a prize.
 * 4) Supply Labs. Computer labs are very popular as they give people the chance to get their hands dirty trying out the latest technology. You may have access to computers which can be made available.
 * 5) Live CD. Effective use of labs require a common environment which can be installed easily and used by all. Development or sponsorship of this would be an excellent contribution which has long lasting value.
 * 6) Promotion. Promote FOSS4G through your organisation and publicity channels.
 * 7) Sponsorship. Have your name associated with the conference through sponsorship or in kind contribution.

''The increasing maturity of open source software and open source platforms offers significant potential benefits to the Australian Government and the wider community. Open source software development, using open standards, can support greater interoperability between systems and enable system sharing. It can offer original solutions to problems not addressed by proprietary software and it has the potential to lead to significant savings in Government expenditure on information and communications technology (ICT).''

Australian Government Information Strategy Office, "A guide to Open Source Software for Australian Government Agencies", April 2005, http://www.agimo.gov.au/_sourceit/sourceit/oss.

=Commercial Agencies=