[Linux-aus] Announcing Everything Open - Conference 2023

[Craige McWhirter]

On Thu, Oct 13, 2022 at 18:39:19 +1100, Tim Serong via linux-aus wrote:
> On 13/10/22 10:29, Craige McWhirter wrote:
> > [...]
> > This no longer looks like a community event but rather a hollow vessel for
> > sponsors.
>
> Really Craige?  REALLY?  I honestly can't believe you'd even *think* LA
> would be involved in something like that, let alone put it in print.

Hey Tim :-)

"Looks" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in my quote above.

At the time of writing I had a single announcement and a website (that I went
through) both of which showed no trace of community involvement you'd expect
but here was conference that is LCA in format but uses a diferent name.

> As for the rest of your comments, I'm pretty sure they're largely
> addressed by Russell Stuart's subsequent email (thanks Russell, BTW).

Yes, largely although not completely. Stuart's response was excellent. Thanks
Stuart :-)

As other commentators have mentioned, there are significant issues around
transparency, process and other things.

My current take is that some members of the council admirably stepped into the
"no LCA" breach with a line of thought that looks a like "what if LCA but named
OE?"

The LA constitution has no mission statement because it's assumed by the
community that we know what that mission is. I'll take these notes from the
website:

"facilitates internationally-renowned events including linux.conf.au -
Australasia’s grassroots Free and Open Source Software Conference."

"facilitates the organisation of linux.conf.au, a premier international Linux
conference, in a different Australasian city each year."

"undertakes to operate at all times in an open, transparent and democratic
manner"

https://linux.org.au/about-us/

That's pretty much the reason LA exists, it's the 1 job we have.

Some of the council have technically fulfilled that assumed mission but called
it something else.

This feels pretty close to SGM territory to me.

That the overlap between LCA and OE should have been addressed at the council
level but wasn't is of concern to me. "This is LCA, just call it that".

At the very least we should consider adopting a mission statement - as over the
last 6 years or so it's become an increasingly obvious the membership and
subsequent councils (including myself and councils I've served on) are not
entirely clear on LA's purpose.

That's why we find ourselves in this position.

A mission statement will at least laser our focus in on whether we are
"Linux Australia" or "Conference Australia".

A suggested mission statement could read something like:

"Linux Australia facilitates the internationally-renowned conference -
linux.conf.au - Australasia’s première grassroots Free and Open Source Software
Conference in an open, transparent and democratic manner.

Linux Australia also facilitates conferences that share the common values of Free
and Open Source Software"

Such a mission statement makes it clear what we do and what our priorities are:
LCA first, others as a nice bi-product of LCA's success.

It also makes it clear that "OE" should have been named LCA or rejected because
it is LCA by another name and as such would represent a conflict of interest.

--
Craige McWhirter
Signal: +61 4685 91819
Matrix: @craige:mcwhirter.io
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