#OSGEO IRC Log - 2009-12-04

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07:17:52 FrankW: darkblue_B: is this a good time to expand on your message from yesterday? Or would you prefer to do it by email?
07:26:08 darkblue_B: aha hi FrankW
07:26:15 darkblue_B: just getting started here in California
07:26:49 darkblue_B: when I was in graduate school for green/nonprofit business, I discovered two deep resources here in the SF Bay Area
07:27:07 darkblue_B: one is the business library on UC Berkeley Campus
07:27:46 darkblue_B: the other is called the Foundation Center, in the wealthy part of downtown San Francisco.. a small'ish place, but with periodocals and publications I had never seen before
07:28:14 darkblue_B: its really an eye opener if you have never looked at some of the material that is produced
07:28:19 darkblue_B: for example, Trade Associations, here in the US
07:28:29 darkblue_B: there is a literl phone book of Trade Associations
07:28:55 darkblue_B: somehow, there are attorneys and management that understand the legal and funding foundations of Trade Associations
07:29:04 darkblue_B: I had never seen this..
07:29:20 FrankW: I understand Tyler is going to be in the area in the not too distant future. Might he benefit from a visit?
07:29:20 darkblue_B: but apparently, its a huge thing
07:29:29 darkblue_B: well yes, thats what I was leading up to
07:29:52 darkblue_B: I am not sure how much good a single visit does in one sense.. but to know it exists
07:29:58 darkblue_B: it broadens the horizons
07:30:28 FrankW: It would be helpful to be able to tap into "resources for foundations".
07:30:28 darkblue_B: I understand OSGeo is International, however, I cant help but think there is opportunity in the US for US forms, to complement the whoile
07:30:36 darkblue_B: yes - most definitely
07:31:12 FrankW: Is there a web face to the Foundation Center/
07:31:14 FrankW: ?
07:31:18 darkblue_B: looking
07:31:48 darkblue_B: yep - www.foundationcenter.org
07:32:06 darkblue_B: the woman I work with in SF had keys, as I recall
07:32:17 darkblue_B: that was a few years ago
07:32:32 darkblue_B: so there is some kind of informal network, too
07:33:20 darkblue_B: now, mind you that foundations are the ones with the cash
07:33:37 darkblue_B: they are a tax vehicle for the very wealthy
07:33:39 FrankW: yes, we misuse the term compared to it's normal meaning.
07:33:59 darkblue_B: but they are required by law to dispurse some amount of the money per year
07:34:15 darkblue_B: .. its the goodness and light side of tax evasion ;- )
07:34:22 FrankW: lol
07:36:51 FrankW: Since our launch we had the theory that part of our income should be derived from grants from public ( government ) organizations and from private foundations, and that we would need to write ( potentially lots of ) proposals to seek such funding.
07:37:04 FrankW: But, honestly, we never really knew how to get started on this so nothing ever materialized.
07:37:27 FrankW: I assume the foundation center might serve as an information and contact resource to try and start down this path?
07:37:32 darkblue_B: yep
07:38:01 darkblue_B: actual orgs that work like this have a staff of one or two that does *only* grant writing.. 50 weeks a year
07:38:02 FrankW: Once the 501( c )3 papers work is all approved it seems like we would be well positioned to start doing this.
07:38:17 darkblue_B: absolutely
07:38:54 darkblue_B: unfortunately,we come at a time when longstanding orgs, with annual needs, are climbing over each other to survive
07:39:15 darkblue_B: .. some of this is fueled by financial sector "funny money"
07:39:23 darkblue_B: .. which has evaporated, in part
07:39:35 FrankW: understood.
07:40:31 FrankW: I think this is something that Chris Holmes might have useful advise on, as OpenGeo's base funding comes from something like this avenue.
07:40:46 darkblue_B: OpenGeo in New York City
07:40:53 FrankW: yes
07:40:53 darkblue_B: yep - that ssounds right
07:41:46 FrankW: I'm quite supportive, though realistically if Tyler is the only one doing the writing it won't get more than 25% of this time in the best case.
07:41:59 FrankW: It might make sense to get some outside support on at least a short term basis.
07:42:01 darkblue_B: sure - its a capacity question
07:42:06 FrankW: some experience and expertise in the process.
07:42:33 darkblue_B: I think, like real GIS work, those that are good at it may get out after some time...
07:42:42 darkblue_B: .. because its basically hard
07:42:51 FrankW: :- )
07:42:51 darkblue_B: but yes
07:43:20 darkblue_B: I have a resource through my school for people wanting experience..
07:43:44 darkblue_B: hwoever, there is a dark side to volunteerism, which uses people insuccession
07:44:09 darkblue_B: so personally, I think skilled people should always be paid something for their work
07:44:13 darkblue_B: even if it is not very much
07:44:21 FrankW: I was thinking that we might actually pay someone for a 1-2 month contract.
07:44:32 darkblue_B: aha - yes
07:45:12 FrankW: Not exactly a major commitment, but enough to make a serious experiment, get a couple proposals out, and hopefully transfer some skills to Tyler.
07:45:28 FrankW: ( and to the organization more broadly )
07:45:45 darkblue_B: absolutely..
07:47:25 darkblue_B: biab
07:47:49 FrankW: ok - if you would be willing to summarize in email to the board when you have a chance, I'll chime in with some support.
07:47:56 FrankW: And we can see were it goes from there.
08:36:53 FrankW: TylerM: re: dottedeyes I would think it would be reasonable to expect them to pay expenses for a guest speaker since it seems to be primarily customer oriented.
08:38:28 TylerM: Hi Frank, my thought as well
08:45:08 FrankW: I would note that there might be a sponsorship opportunity in here, with a bit of quid-pro-quo.
08:45:55 FrankW: Perhaps in return for an association sponsorship it might be possible to have you or Arnulf put in an appearance.
08:46:20 FrankW: they do sounds like a great organization, and one we want to stay connected with.
08:46:50 jmckenna: dotted
08:47:00 jmckenna: oops : )
09:39:30 TylerM: FrankW: precisely what i was thinking too... we'll see where it goes
09:39:45 TylerM: ahh, UK
12:42:43 sigq: osgeofeed: Ticket #513 ( task created ): [new icon] layer related <http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/ticket/513>
12:50:37 sigq: osgeofeed: Ticket #514 ( task created ): [new icon] grid <http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/ticket/514>
17:31:19 TylerM: Overview page of current marketing material now available... http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Marketing_Material_Samples#Deliverables
17:31:22 sigq: Title: Marketing Material Samples - OSGeo Wiki ( at wiki.osgeo.org )
17:31:34 TylerM: will be post all the latest/final versions into SVN shortly
18:35:00 sigq: osgeofeed: Changeset [2749]: adding slides from 2009 AGM - tmitchell <http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/changeset/2749>
18:35:57 CIA-27: osgeo: tmitchell * r2749 /community/presentations/ ( 4 files in 3 dirs ): adding slides from 2009 AGM - tmitchell
18:37:01 sigq: osgeofeed: Changeset [2750]: preview of presentation template <http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/changeset/2750>
18:37:09 CIA-27: osgeo: tmitchell * r2750 /marketing/present/preview.png: preview of presentation template
18:41:56 CIA-27: osgeo: tmitchell * r2751 /marketing/present/ ( OSGeo_template_2009.odp preview.png OSGeo_template_2009.pdf ): setting mime types
18:43:02 sigq: osgeofeed: Changeset [2751]: setting mime types <http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/changeset/2751>
19:27:54 TylerM: trying a large commit... cross our collective fingers
19:28:37 : * FrankW scurries to watch monitoring tools...
19:29:08 FrankW: load average climbing, but only very modestly...
19:30:22 FrankW: what is the commit?
19:30:57 FrankW: I am concerned that we are at times putting inappropriate things in svn and this increases out sensitivity to bots and big checkouts.
19:56:31 TylerM: could very well be...
19:56:46 TylerM: it's a bunch of marketing document files - jpg, pdf, etc
19:57:48 TylerM: it is stuff we actually end up changing, so i'm hoping svn will work without too much difficulty since we don't have much other choice for collaboratively managing these files
19:59:15 TylerM: btw it's about 900MB of files.. about 500 files
19:59:33 FrankW: A freaking gig?
19:59:38 : * FrankW resigns from SAC.
19:59:46 FrankW: ok, maybe not, but ouch.
20:00:19 FrankW: You know that is a serious amount of disk space still for osgeo1.
20:15:08 TylerM: yeah i keep an eye on it.. the good thing is that this will replace a whack of what's on there and already larger i'd guess
20:15:25 TylerM: looks like it failed anyway :/
20:15:43 TylerM: Transmitting file data .......................svn: Commit failed ( details follow ):
20:15:43 TylerM: svn: PUT of '/osgeo/!svn/wrk/7761db3d-74e3-4587-98ab-08409999eb8c/marketing/material_2009/Brochure/Inkscape%20Files/AI%20Files%20for%20Inkscape/Geo%20Brochure%20FIN%20( Letter )1-1.dat': Could not send request body: Network is unreachable ( http://svn.osgeo.org )
20:15:58 TylerM: i'll take a different lighter approach then : )
20:16:54 FrankW: :- )
20:17:10 FrankW: I'd note that replacing doesn't mean much in the world of svn where everything exists forever.
20:17:27 TylerM: guh good point
20:17:45 FrankW: but don't pay too much attention to me. I'm on my second post-work beer and mainlining http://xkcd.com.
20:17:46 sigq: Title: xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe ( at xkcd.com. )
20:17:49 TylerM: I basically got a small DVD in the mail of our marketing deliverables.. so trying to find best way to make it accessible
20:18:02 TylerM: lol
20:18:15 : * FrankW suggests download.osgeo.org/osgeo/marketing
20:18:25 FrankW: Though backing that up is also at times non-trivial
20:18:50 TylerM: i can imagine
20:18:51 FrankW: I found the foss4g area pretty bulky today when I ran my mirror script for the first time in a month or so.
20:20:19 TylerM: lol - I can imagine, all the presentation workshop stuff in there by now i guess
20:20:45 FrankW: I'm reasonably confident this is a good thing, but some of them are pretty bulky.
20:21:39 FrankW: But tonight I am feeling to funky/fuzzy to be the voice of retro-conservatism.
20:21:40 TylerM: wow a quick check of svn.. the osgeo/local, journal, education, marketing all breached 2G, 1G, 0.5G, 3.4G - that's some heavy lifting
20:21:55 TylerM: ( respectively )
20:22:06 FrankW: ouch
20:22:47 TylerM: well at least some of this stuff in many of these branches could very well afford to lose all their history once a year when/if space becomes an issue
20:23:36 TylerM: that's the file space on _my_ system.. without the marketing stuff truly committed yet ( whew )
20:23:39 FrankW: egad, I've got 25GB under my mirror of the livedvd directory.
20:23:49 FrankW: ( from download.osgeo.org )
20:23:59 FrankW: but I don't think my rsync script is deleting old stuff.
20:24:03 TylerM: hope no jets fly between your house and the satellite
20:24:08 FrankW: I don't mirror svn.
20:24:41 FrankW: I wonder about the impact on hobu's svnmirror server which I believe is at telascience.
20:25:23 TylerM: I only ever touch the osgeo one.. I assume some others get a lot more action than it ?
20:26:19 : * FrankW runs "du" over the /var/www/svn/repos directory....
20:26:38 TylerM: just realising my mirror is out of date too..
20:26:52 TylerM: lots more marketing/flyers for each project in there, in german.. cool
20:27:57 FrankW: Now that "du" is driving up the load average.
20:29:45 FrankW: http://osgeo.pastebin.ca/index.php
20:29:46 sigq: Title: pastebin - Type, paste, share. ( at osgeo.pastebin.ca )
20:30:10 FrankW: I'm afraid the osgeo repository wins the "pig" sweepstakes.
20:30:22 TylerM: ~snort~snort~
20:31:19 TylerM: half that's the local chapter stuff.. stuff i've never even seen lol
20:32:12 : * FrankW fears what will happen to the server when some bot requests some of *those* changesets from trac.
20:32:15 TylerM: oh man, the livedvd vm is in there too
20:32:22 FrankW: in svn?
20:32:28 TylerM: yeah :S
20:32:29 : * FrankW backs away slowly...
20:32:47 TylerM: hopefully only .sh files an d.html
20:32:51 TylerM: and .html
20:32:58 TylerM: but a bunch of zip too
20:33:00 FrankW: ah, not so bad.
20:33:20 TylerM: just updating my end right now
20:33:27 FrankW: Well, I'm going to go do dishes or something till my wife gets home from work lest I crack open another beer.
20:33:37 TylerM: ewww night shift?
20:33:43 FrankW: evening.
20:33:46 TylerM: good night - take it easy
20:33:51 FrankW: Night is 11:00pm to 7am
20:33:53 FrankW: later
20:34:21 TylerM: cya
20:34:33 TylerM: time for me crash too - fencing tournament tomorrow - en garde!
20:34:41 FrankW: !
21:06:07 wildintellect: really someone put the vm in svn
21:06:13 wildintellect: that seems odd
21:06:51 wildintellect: uh yes the the sh scripts and some text files should be there, but no actual image
21:35:51 TylerM: no, you guys are better behaved than me ;- )