Hi all, I like what Atz is saying here and agree. HLT and Katipo are also watching this debate very carefully with regards to Kete which is slowly building as a community. (kete.net.nz) I too am worried about trying to formalize this Koha governance to much. I think librarians do tend to try and over organise things although we are very good at sharing. The OS developers are like thoroughbreds and need a really light rein! I also think that it will be hard to have any teeth and in how will it actually govern when anyone can decide to fork-off anytime they like. Goodwill and collaboration and peer pressure are the tools which will work. However, that isn't to say that someone relatively laid back and neutral (HLT) shouldn't step up and take steps to secure the domain name, trademarks etc for the greater Koha community to use and own. Keeping them safe from misuse if you like. I like the model which has worked surprisingly well over the last decade, other than this last big hiccup, and don't really want to throw the baby away with the bathwater. The model may need tweaking rather than abandoning. Cheers Jo. Joe Atzberger wrote:
On Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 5:39 AM, MJ Ray <mjr@phonecoop.coop <mailto:mjr@phonecoop.coop>> wrote:
Joann Ransom <jransom@library.org.nz <mailto:jransom@library.org.nz>> wrote: > I think forming a combined 'open source in libraries' foundation is > definitely worth considering. I don't know much about Code4Lib as an > organisation, but is that a body tat may have arole to play here? I need > more information!
I thought code4lib was a conference, email list and website, not a non-profit corporation, so turning that into a FOSS-for-libraries association (please not a foundation) would be about the same amount of work.
Sharing overheads would be good, but I wonder if the different history of Evergreen may mean the communities are too different, that we would be looking for different things. For example, conferences and extending development seem high on their list of priorities, but not near the top of our doodle straw-poll. That may just be because we've had independent conferences and new developers often already.
Probably worth exploring though. Anyone willing to try leading that effort? If so, please add it to http://wiki.koha.org/doku.php?id=kohaheldbyfoundation in the "New FOSS Libraries association or foundation" column.
Code4Lib members have typically resisted formalization of the community structure overall, while still supporting more defined working subunits (Conference planning, T-shirt committee, the Journal, etc.). We are likely to find allies in that group, but not a home for a Koha Foundation.
I think there should be some Koha association (call it "Koha Foundation", "Koha Core", "Koha Crew", "Kohaxors Intl." -- the name is unimportant to me) to serve as the more democratic and active version of what was initially conceived as the role of Kaitiaki. This seems to me the natural fit, and not overreaching.
If there is a joining of forces between Koha and Evergreen, I think it should be (at least at first) as a working group, at a low level. "What can we do to help each other? What code components can we share?" It is far too soon to talk about merging projects or codebases... let alone hypothetical foundational bodies.
It does not seem reasonable to expect the high level foundation/governance questions to be ironed out simultaneously between both communities when neither has them clarified internally. Indeed, like MJ, I suspect that neither community would much appreciate a formal governance body, in particular since it is hard to see where it would get (1) resources or (2) developers. Even if a unified body promoted both ILS's, I would still want individual groups that focused on each project, so basically, I think each community should pursue it's own group.
In fact, I can see broader FOSS4LIB type group forming and being active (over more than these 2 projects) more quickly and more effectively than a Koha/Evergreen group (over *just* those 2 projects).
--Joe Atzberger ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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