OSGeo Ambassador

This is a draft page and does not represent regular OSGeo policy. Once stabilized it will be proposed for approval by the Board.

Introduction

OSGeo Ambassadors are people who have volunteered to talk authoritatively on behalf of the OSGeo foundation. Ambassadors should be able to speak well, even better if they are entertaining.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of conferences around the world which have an interest in seeing presentations from authoritative speakers, with deep insights into topics related to Open Source Geospatial Software. Luckily, OSGeo is fortunate to draw extensive membership from around the world, and has access to such authoritative figures within most countries.

Understanding OSGeo roles

Below is an explanation of roles which Ambassadors might have been involved in as part of OSGeo:

OSGeo Board Members

We only have 8 active board members in the world, which have been peer selected based upon their outstanding leadership in the greater OSGeo community.

OSGeo Charter Members

Charter membership is obtained through a strongly contested selective process. Members tend to be developers and leaders in one or more OSGeo projects, and/or OSGeo business leaders, and have a deep understanding in many of the OSGeo projects and principles of Open Source.

Voted position in an OSGeo community

These people hold a position of responsibility within one of the OSGeo sub-communities. This may be a chair of an OSGeo Regional Chapter, or as a member of a project's Project Steering Committee.

Developers and Committee Members

This is where the real work gets done developing and coordinating development of OSGeo Software.

OSGeo Community Members

These people are actively involved in one or more OSGeo communities, acting as users, promoters or supporters of OSGeo software. These people often have a practical understanding about how OSGeo software works.

OSGeo Ambassadors

This section lists current OSGeo Ambassadors:

TBD: Add members profiles here

Lapsed Ambassadors

This section lists prior listed ambassadors who have not recently updated their profiles. These prior ambassadors might have refocused their interests in other areas.

Process for becoming an OSGeo Ambassador

• Anyone fitting one of the OSGeo Ambassador categories, may put themselves forward as an OSGeo Ambassador.
• Each ambassador is expected to create a profile for themselves under the relevant heading on this wiki which follows the OSGeo Ambassador template (TBD define template). The template is expected to include:

• • FirstName LastName
  • City, Country (of residence)
  • OSGeo Roles: Current/Previous {OSGeo Board, Charter Member, Committee Chair, Committee Member, Project Project Steering Committee}
  • Phone, Email
  • Photo
  • OSGeo relevant experience. (~150 words)
  • Profile last updated: DD MMM YYYY

Annual Refresh of Ambassador list

• The list of OSGeo Ambassadors will be refreshed annually, after the annual voting of OSGeo Charter Members. This will be achieved by removing Lapsed Ambassadors, then moving all Current Ambassadors into the Lapsed Ambassador section. All Ambassadors will be invited to update their profile, and move their profile back into the current Ambassadors section.

Other Resources

Links to other organizations running a similar process.

• http://www.ogcnetwork.net/node/1585