[OSM-talk] SotM11 will be held in Denver.

Julio Costa Zambelli julio.costa at openstreetmap.cl
Sat Oct 23 07:22:39 BST 2010


Dear Serge,

I will reply to your message tomorrow because right now it is 3:20AM
here and I just can not keep my eyes open and mind focus anymore.

Cheers,

Julio Costa

On 22 October 2010 20:38, Serge Wroclawski <emacsen at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 4:35 PM, Julio Costa Zambelli
> <julio.costa at openstreetmap.cl> wrote:
>
>> Henk,
>>
>> I do not want to argue since this just a personal opinion from someone
>> that has gone just to one SOTM and only thanks to the OSI Scholarship,
>> but:
>>
>> What was the election criteria? I guess easy access by public
>> transport, low-budget airlines, and visas for the OSI+OSMF Scholarship
>> beneficiaries are not in the list.
>
> The planning committee's notes are here:
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_Of_The_Map_2010/Organisation/Meetings
>
>>   I know the cost of getting to Europe
>> for many of us is huge, but the truth is that most of the people that
>> goes to the event is from Western Europe, and that it is not because
>> the event is done near them, but because those are the countries with
>> the biggest and most active communities (again some may argue that
>> they have those big and active communities because events like this
>> one are made near them).
>
> If that were really true, they'd all be in Germany; not Spain, not the
> Netherlands.
>
>> So we can not expect to have the event near
>> us at the cost of most of the people interested in participate paying
>> more to get to it or just no going to it.
>>
>> Can we expect the Department of Homeland Security to be any less
>> "obstructive" with the scholarship beneficiaries than the agencies in
>> Europe?
>
> As mentioned by someone else, the visa issues last year were mostly
> due to the citizens of the countries themselves, with very few
> exceptions.
>
>> I do not want to make an stereotype of the officers of this
>> agency, since they have treated me so well every time I have gone to
>> the states, but to be honest if the Spaniards denied 7 visas, I will
>> bet money that this guys will deny the same or more.
>>
>> I agree in the fact that the US market/community needs to be
>> developed/encouraged, and that the sponsorship of American companies
>> may be a strong argument to take the event there, but complicating
>> things for most of the most active community members does not sound as
>> the wisest step to me. My two cents*
>
> Julio, I don't disagree with any of your substantive points and I've
> expressed by opinions on where I'd like SoTM to be privately, but the
> time for lively debate is before the decision is made. The decision
> making process was widely advertised and public. Once the decision is
> made it's not the time to undermine the process by criticizing the
> choice, and my extension the organization and the people who are doing
> their best.
>
> Just my .02.
>
> - Serge
>



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