Re: [OSCOM] REMINDER: Nomination deadline Sept 16

2006/9/11, Paul Everitt <[email protected]>:
>
> Hi all.  Just a reminder, we're in the nomination process for a new
> board.  The current nomination deadline is this Saturday, Sep 16.  If
> you are interested in serving on the board, send an email to
> [email protected] saying you'd like to run for the board, the kinds
> of things you think need to get done, what interests you, etc.

Hi OSCOM,
I'd like to add my name to the list of potential board members. I
believe OSCOM is an important initiative, and I was disappointed to
witness a possible demise. It's gratifying to see people are motivated
to reinvigorate OSCOM, and I'd be happy to contribute to that effort.

I run a company called Infrae[1] that has an open source business
model. More information is available on our site, but the company
operates mainly in Europe, with a couple customers on other
continents. Our market is largely academic and government
institutions, and the open source aspect is a key issue for these
users. We make a CMS called Silva[2] which is written in Python with
Zope as an application server. We're also active in the Plone[3]
community and have core developers on board.

Infrae has participated in OSCOM for some time. We initiated
development of the Kupu editor, with funding from ETH Zurich, which
eventually became an OSCOM project[4]. We've attended and presented at
the later European conferences and joined various sprints.

Being involved in an organization like OSCOM is a two-way street. It's
a valuable learning and networking conduit, but it also confers a
measure of credibility to a company and its people. It shows that we
see beyond local borders. Those borders are various: geographic,
technical, financial, and cultural, and transcending them is key to
the success of any global effort.

I think it's essential that open source content management and its
related activities has an organizational voice. Consensus may be
difficult to achieve but having an architecture for interaction
creates opportunities.

The various OSCOM initiatives have potential. Some of the original
ambitious goals may not have been reached, but the intention was
genuine and progress was made. Sometimes initiatives need to be
refactored. Maybe the original OSCOM was a prototype. I think it
worked, and I'd be pleased to contribute to the next development
cycle.

Kit Blake


1. http://infrae.com/
2. http://infrae.com/products/silva
3. http://plone.org/
4. http://kupu.oscom.org/


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kit BLAKE · Infrae · http://infrae.com + 31 10 243 7051
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