[CREATE] Decision for LGM 2011 venue — Action required

[Paulo Silva]

On Sun, Jun 27, 2010 at 8:21 AM, Yuval Levy <create07 at sfina.com> wrote:
>> We need the data to analyse it and come up with a recommendation so act
>> now, please! :)
>
> Cher Louis, dear all,
>
> I've been away from almost everything Free graphics for too long and don't
> expect my availability to improve soon :(
>
> I saw a lot of traffic on this ML, my apology for following it only with
> the DELETE key.  Here my 2 cents to the wiki pages linked, hoping they are
> helpful to you.
>
>
> *1* Guidelines http://create.freedesktop.org/wiki/Conference_2011
>
> the guidelines mostly make sense to me, with exception of three issues:
> A. reinvention of the wheel
> B. politics
> C. ueberburocratization
>
> Details below.  Beyond these three issues I see a discussion about venue
> alternation.  I consider venue alternation to be a mildly political topic.
>  Alternation, or rather variety, is desirable.  But it should not be a
> determinant factor in itself.  More important are the quality of the
> venue; and the time and money factors.  Variety in this context does not
> mean change for change sake.  It means sharing the burden of travel so
> that it is not always the same group of people that has the "home
> advantage".
>
>
> A. reinvention of the wheel
>
> Over the past few years the wheel has been reinvented too often / too
> much.  One of the main points of Free software is not to rewrite code.
> Fine-tuning is OK, but after six editions there is enough LGM code that
> can be re-used / adapted to future LGM.  IMHO the "LGM code" got rewritten
> too much / too often with no obvious/tangible benefit.
>
>
> B. politics
>
> We all have opinions and they belong in the appropriate forums.  Not here.
>  While the guidelines identify serious factors and risks, they fail IMHO
> to clearly state that politics, including politics toward Free software,
> has nothing to do here.  Drop the hot potato before it burns your hands.
> The people involved in LGM / Free Graphics can't be held responsible for
> the political issues in their countries.  And since there are political
> issues in every country, and they are relative / a matter of perspective,
> we better focus on what unites us (Free Graphics) than on what divides us
> (political issues).
>
>
> C. ueberburocratization
>
> The two years process is a good idea and I like that the "LGM code" gets a
> little bit more stability / continuity through the board envisioned in [0]
> but a 9-members board is IMHO excessive bloat.  There is enough discussion
> and consultation at the public (ML and project teams) level.  Keep the
> board focused on decision, and on passing down the DNA that we know works
> to avoid re-invention of the wheel.  I would suggest 3 to 5 permanent
> board members. add 1-2 representative of the local org each year.
>
> [0] http://create.freedesktop.org/wiki/Ideas_for_a_LGM_Board
>
>
> *2* Evaluation of proposals
>
> the above said, looking at the three proposals and given the information
> provided in the proposals, my pecking order would be:
> 1. Canada
> 2. Vietnam
> 3. Brazil
>
> It was a difficult choice - I feel I am lacking some critical information,
> and of course I am biased.  As much as I would like to visit Vietnam or
> Brazil as a tourist, I think this is first and foremost about getting
> things done (conference) and not about leisure & tourism.
>
> @Brazil: how much for a hotel room?  how much for a meal?  how much for a
> flight from Europe? from Asia? from North America ?  how would we be
> clustered locally / distance between hotels and conference? local traffic?
>  I feel uncomfortable with the not yet secured venue.

We must not forget that Brazil is potentially interesting for LGM, not
only because their economical growth, as well their government are
strongly supporting software libre development and migrations, as
rarelly in the world. And in Brazil there are lots of software-libre
entusiasts, slightly or significantly above the world average.

If i could be pessimistic about, i think would be a good idea while
brazilian government is still from Lula da Silva, having that good
support on LGM, and maybe more directly as expected (and, who knows,
maybe Lula wants to visit LGM as far he does on FISL? some people may
think this can be too much political, but would be great as well)

And there are a very known anual software libre event as FISL, but
FISL is too generic, not focusing on graphic-design and arts related
software-libre as focused from LGM


>
> @Vietnam: realistically, do you think we'll sleep in the 10-15$/night
> place, or in the 100$/night place in "district 1"?  I don't want to guess,
> I do want "developed country" level budget comfort (e.g. no cockroaches).
> Allergy from airco does not bode well for health... and having a long
> commute from the hotels to the conference venue does not appeal to me.
>
> @Canada: OK, you've hosted LGM twice, you have the advantage of "better
> the devil you know" from my perspective.
>
> a rather longish 2cents.
> HTH
> Yuv
>
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