[Osmf-talk] ODbL switchover at SOTM, bad idea

[Serge Wroclawski]

Martijn van Exel <m at rtijn.org> wrote:

>On Sat, Sep 1, 2012 at 4:23 AM, Serge Wroclawski
><serge at wroclawski.org>wrote:
>
>> State of the Map is an internal community event. In fact it's been
>shown
>> that the more that SoTM stays from that, and tries to use it as an
>> "outreach" event, then it's less well attended, when while the
>community
>> at large grows.
>>
>
>I disagree. SOTM is a community event, sure, but it has been much more
>than
>that at least since 2009, when we decided to add a third day to the
>conference which was then dedicated to businesses and governments using
>or
>wanting to use OSM.

Yes, this controversial move was the first step in shifting SoTM away from the community and towards a perceived audience of outsiders. 

>We were up that year to 250 attendees, up from something like 150 the
>previous year in Limerick, iirc. From the SOTMs I have seen since, the
>breadth has even increased to include more academic input and interest.
>When did attendance fall because of an expanded scope?


Denver and Tokyo are expected to be smaller than Girona, with many community members, even Europeans, deciding to go to Portland instead.

In other words, it's not the travel but the conference itself.

- Serge 
-- 
Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.