Re: [OSCOM] volunteers?

Daniel Hinderink wrote:

> I have been thinking about contributing to OSCOM for a long time.
> At the same time, I don't think reviving it can be successful with only
> improving online communication. I believe fundamentally a sense of direction
> and mission is missing (At least from my pov they are to widely defined
> right now) and I would imagine that starting with meetings makes much more
> sense.

oscom got started by drinking beers together, so your suggestion has a 
lot of merit. at the same time, we are a pretty international bunch, and 
the fact that oscom was started mostly by swiss people is a mere 
historical coincidence.

> So here is my proposal:
> - how about a re-constitution meeting (in Zurich, or Basel?) as an open
> workshop trying to define a common goal and some roadmap for (y)our
> activities for the next 1-2 years. We could collect input on this and all
> the questions of about the by-laws (which I think need improvement)
> beforehand from everybody on this list.
> 
> I have done this before and I am willing to prepare and moderate this, if
> somebody in Zurich helps with finding a location.

while i don't mind a zurich meeting, it will exclude a lot of the 
audience. i am not in zurich, for instance. it might make more sense, 
therefore, to make this an online meeting.

> What I would really like to do is to (help) organise another conference,
> this time making it more accessible and also cheaper for people to attend.
> 
> I enjoyed being in Zurich at OSCOM very much and heard some good speeches.
> What I have been missing is a bigger crowd and more interaction between the
> projects, which IMHO is due to the steep rates for attendance and not enough
> press work.

oscom4 was a failure. not enough volunteer time invested resulted in 
exactly what you are saying.

> Anyway, you might have plans already, which I could hook up with, or you
> could let me propose a time and place, complete with a calculation on the
> cost.

actually, i don't have plans for another conference. i think the 
traditional oscom conferences have run their course, and some fresh 
ideas are needed. i am personally not interested to organize another 
oscom conference at this time, but that should not stop anyone :)

> I don't have time right now to tell you more about me and my background, but
> I have experience in organising conferences and building organisations for
> some years now (I am 36).
> 
> Also, if you need help with administration, I guess I know quite a bit about
> that too.

to deal with local events, we started oscom chapters. there is a german 
one, for instance: http://de.oscom.org/

so it might make sense to have your proposed meeting within the 
german-speaking oscom community, and then use that energy to revamp all 
of oscom.

> Let me know if there is anything that should keep me from getting started to
> make proposals for those two meetings.

except for the geographical constraints, none.

-gregor

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