OSGeo-BE-meeting-20150415

=Summary of the meeting on April 15, 2015=
==Present==
* Ruben Cappel - Bruxelles-Mobilité
* Marc Ducobu - Champs-Libres
* Dirk Frigne - Geosparc
* Gaël Kruwialis - Bruxelles-Environnement
* Moritz Lennert - Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
* Tommy Oozeer - Geobusinet
* Johan Van de Wauw - RealDolmen
* Maëlle Vercauteren Drubbel - Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
==Main points discussed==
* Role of a Belgian OSGeo Chapter
* Legal form of the chapter
* Organisation of a FOSS4G-BE
* Other activities
===Role of a Belgian OSGeo Chapter===
Much in line with the general role of OSGeo:
* Community-building and networking
* Organisation of events
* Lobbying
* Networking with other OSGeos (notably OSGeo-fr and OSGeo.nl)
* Support to higher levels of OSGeo
* Possibly: OSGeo focal point for EU-related activities
===Legal form of the chapter===
4 alternatives:
* Integrate the umbrella of Open Knowledge Foundation Belgium
* Create own non-profit
* Create own non-profit that could also host an OSGeo-EU focal point
* Create a structure together with OSM-Belgium
Dirk Frigne will explore the different alternatives and report back on advantages / disadvantages and necessary steps for each.
===Organisation of a FOSS4G-BE event===
* Date: end of October, beginning of November 2015 - possible dates are 27/10, 29/10, 17/11, 19/11
* Duration: One-day conference
* Possible venues: Bruxelles-Environnement (), ULB, Brussels central administratif building CNN
* Audience: +/- 150 participants (possibly more)
* Costs: ca 50€/participant, total budget around 7500€
* Language: should be in FR and NL, but we will have to find translation facilities
* Translation: ask Brussels administration/parlement or translation schools for possible translators
* who will take the lead? Who wants to volunteer.
====Sponsors====
Any administration, institution or company that wants to sponsor, can sponsor.
We will provide different sponsoring levels
Ideas mentioned vaguely and made more concrete while writing these minutes:
* Highest (Gold ?): booth at the event, logo on website and in printed program (if we make one)
* Middle (Silver ?): logo on website and in printed program (if we make one)
* Lowest (Bronze ?): mentioned in list of sponsors on website and in printed program (if we make one)
* Maybe OSGeo is interested in a booth for the first FOSS4G BE event?
====Content of the conference====
The conference should be the launch event of the new OSGeo-BE. It should not be a dev-conf, but should target a broad audience. It should include a plenary session with general topics presenting OSGeo and show cases about successful usage of FOSS4G as well as interactive workshops/debate sessions with more specific questions. For this first event, we will not include practical tutorial workshops.
====First session presenting OSGeo====
* What is OSGeo ? Presenting OSGeo-BE: objectives, structure, future activities; OSGeo as a guarantee for quality of software.
* presenting OSGeo-Live: guide people through the different possible OSS solutions and/or libraries. Learn when to use which project.
====Ideas for themes for a call for presentations for the plenary session====
* Show cases
** How have you used open source software in your:
*** administration (notably for the implementation of INSPIRE-related infrastructures)
*** company
*** courses
*** research (notably for issues related to climate change and smart cities)
** What issues have you encountered in migrating from closed source to open source software ? In the co-existence between closed and open source software ?
** How has open source allowed you to successfully customize software to your needs ? How has open source software helped you to leverage budgets for customization instead of license costs ?
====Ideas for workshops/debates about how OSGeo can help====
** Issues and obstacles in the introduction of FOSS4G into an organisation
** How to build a successful open source solution ? How to chose between different solutions ?
** How to set up a successful open source software project ?
====News from projects====
In parallel to the workshops/debates we could have an ongoing presentation session in the large plenary room allowing projects to present their products and latest news.
====Participants enquiry====
The event should also be used to survey the participants about their vision concerning the role and possible activities of OSGeo-BE.
===Other activities===
* small, but regular tutorial/presentation sessions on different OSGeo projects
* specific information event for high-level administration on FOSS4G
* A codesprint, ideally before/after FOSDEM
==Next steps==
* Set up wiki section (done)
* Create mailing list (Johan)
* Evaluate possible legal form (Dirk)
* Organise FOSS4G-BE
** Finding a lead for the organization
** list of volunteers
** Venue (Gaël for Bruxelles-Environnement; if not possible, Maëlle&Moritz for ULB)
** Call for papers
** Call for sponsors
** Website
** Organisation of registration
==Future contacts==
Even though we can still organise face-to-face meetings, other means (video conference, chat, mailing list) should be privileged.
Category:Local Chapters
Category:Belgium