[Osmf-talk] OSM Foundation representative for Open Data Commons' Advisory Council

[Frederik Ramm]

Mike,

Mike Collinson wrote:
> The Open Data Commons is the sponsor of the ODbL (Open Database
> License) that we are considering adopting. They have asked the OSM
> Foundation to nominate a representative to their Advisory Council
> [...] I have offered to fill this role.

This means that you are either extremely stress resistant or you're 
offering to sign away years of your life ;-)

The position is likely to be a lightning rod for everybody's quarrels 
with the ODbL and the OSMF's handling of the issue so far.

The OSMF's communication with project (or foundation) members has been 
extremely flaky in the past. The whole process severely lacks someone 
who credibly represents OSMF not only to ODC but also to its own people; 
remember that the OSMF position is not "what OSMF board members think" 
but "what OSMF board members think the OSMF members want". The board is 
not the foundation - we (the people on this mailing list) are. (And 
thanks again for setting it up!).

If you feel up to this task then you're the best person I can think of 
to do that.

I would also like to second Peter's statement that first and foremost, 
we need a license that works. You stress that your core aim is unity in 
the project. This is laudable, as our community is much more valuable to 
us than our map data. But if it should come to a point where such unity 
can only be achieved by window-dressing and make-believe then we must 
not hesitate to apply the brakes - we owe that much to our community.

It is not yet clear whether OSM will ever adopt ODbL. But getting ODbL 
into a shape where we can honestly say that we believe it will work for 
OSM would be the best possible outcome. This requires that someone in he 
OSMF actually reads and understands the community input and has the 
skill and patience to discuss the issues with ODC and the OSMF lawyer. I 
know this is verging on the super-human but if the process would also 
consider input from third party lawyers like the analysis commissioned 
by ITO (or at least make sure that the other lawyers involved read 
that!) that would give me a much better feeling.

You have everything to make this work, so thumbs up from me.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"