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

Julio Costa Zambelli julio.costa at openstreetmap.cl
Sun Oct 24 05:51:11 BST 2010


Dear Serge,

I followed the bids for the SOTM2011 and actually translated Viennas
bid. That is why I am expressing my surprise that the organizing team
selected a city that does not meet some of the conditions that where
used as the definitive elements [1] in past events, the same with the
only recommendation [2] by a non-member of the team.

I would not argue if a German city bids for the event (as long as
English is still considered the "lingua franca" for it ;) And I agree
with the idea of not making it every year in the same place, but I
have a problem accepting the idea of taking it as far as possible of
the places that we know have tons of people willing to go to the
event. I hope I am wrong and reality shows that many people is willing
to go to the event in Colorado (the local GIS industry should provide
lots of people for probing this) and take the place of some of the
people from Europe that will not be able to pay or take the time to
travel.

About the visa issue, I am not sure if you or the blog article is
right, but my bet is that the DHS will not make things any easier for
the scholarship beneficiaries either way.

I am not criticizing _the choice_ but precisely _the way_ the
previously published criteria were not completely respected. There was
no way to know in advance that this was going to happen (last year
this criteria were ruthlessly respected). I am not sure if I missed
the "widely advertised and public decision making process" (maybe I am
not subscribed to the right mailing list), but I only read the bidding
process in the wiki, not the way the team finally decided.

I am not undermining the process by asking how much the previously
published selection criteria really weighted for the final choice, on
the contrary, I am trying to make it as clear as possible for future
SOTM bidding cities.

Regards,

Julio Costa

[1] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_Of_The_Map_2011/Bid#Criteria
[2] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Talk:State_Of_The_Map_2011/Bid



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
>



More information about the talk mailing list