FOSS4G 2008 Governance

FOSS4G2008 Governance

The FOSS4G 2008 conference shall be managed by the FOSS4G 2008 Local Organising Committee (which is distinct from the OSGeo Conference Committee). The discussions of the FOSS4G 2008 conference committee shall take place primarily on the public foss4g2008 mailing list (http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2008loc) on IRC #foss4g2008 and by conference calls.

Decision Making

• All non-material decisions can be taken by the chair or his delegates. The committee can refine the distinction between material and non-material from time to time. Where not clearly defined, it will be at the Chair's discretion.
• All material decisions must be passed by the committee, to ensure acceptance. In the interest of efficiency, absence of disagreement to a request will be interpreted as acquiescence.
• Material decisions where there is a split in opinion will be handled by a majority voting system.
• All material financial decisions must be accepted by the OSGeo board rep (ie, OSG has veto). So the committee can approve them "in principle" but the decision cannot be acted upon until the board rep actually signals it is OK (or vetoes it and returns it to discussion).
• The conference committee may open some questions to the OSGeo Conference Committee, GISSA National Council or other bodies, but this will be a solicitation for feedback, and the decision will still be made by the FOSS4G 2008 Local Organising Committee.

Membership

The FOSS4G 2008 conference committee initially consists of the following, and can be changed at the will of the committee. The following are all voting members.

GISSA Local representatives

• Gavin Fleming (FOSS4G 2008 Chair; Mintek)
• Carrin Martin (GISSA National Chairperson; African Vision Research Institute)
• Daina Mudimbu (Ehlazeni District Municipality)
• Inge Netterberg (Saha International)
• Dawn Newman (Gauteng Provincial Government)
• Ravi Pillay (State Information Technology Agency - SITA)
• Sarel Naude (SITA)
• Burnie Nawn (IBS)
• Graeme McFerren (CSIR)
• Magda Roos (Council for Geoscience)
• Russell Hope (City of Cape Town)
• Alize Botha (CSIR)

OSGeo Representatives

• Jeff McKenna (OSGeo conference committee Chair)
• Paul Ramsey (Board Rep, 2007 Representative)
• Tyler Mitchell (Executive Director)

Other interested parties are encouraged to join the FOSS4G2008 <http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2008loc> LOC mailing list to keep track of activities, and to provide feedback.

The OSGeo board of directors can replace the committee if it is determined not to be operating appropriately.

Financial Commitments

GISSA (GeoInformation Society of South Africa) has contracted PeopleSA (Pty) Ltd as professional conference organisers, represented by Karryn Gracey and Petro Farrell. They are participants on the LOC but not voting members.

PeopleSA (Pty) Ltd will maintain a working bank account for the conference from which conference related financial activity will be operated. PeopleSA will be responsible for providing a detailed accounting of transactions on a regular basis to the FOSS4G 2008 LOC. The LOC (with its GISSA and OSGeo representatives) will approve all budgets and authorise all payments as per the decision-making hierarchy described above.

GISSA and OSGeo will enter into a separate agreement to define their relationship. The verbal agreement is that OSGeo and GISSA will split any loss equally and that any profit will be split in thirds, one to OSGeo, one to GISSA and one to the PLATO education fund, a South African bursary fund for postgraduate geospatial studies.