'Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Open Source Lurkers'

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List:       osgeo-discuss
Subject:    Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Open Source Lurkers
From:       Ravi <ravivundavalli () yahoo ! com>
Date:       2009-08-31 21:44:31
Message-ID: 896920.15808.qm () web65612 ! mail ! ac4 ! yahoo ! com
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Hi,
In India, OpenJUMP has a very good following on windows, as it is much simpler than \
some costly commercial flavors of GIS. They can at best be called as 'passive users', \
who even do not (care to) know that a list exists on the internet. Some Indian \
universities have started using OpenJUMP for vector GIS.  Ravi Kumar

--- On Sat, 22/8/09, Daniel Ames <amesdani@isu.edu> wrote:

> From: Daniel Ames <amesdani@isu.edu>
> Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Open Source Lurkers
> To: "OSGeo Discussions" <discuss@lists.osgeo.org>
> Date: Saturday, 22 August, 2009, 10:24 AM
> Landon, et al.
> 
> I'm aware of this phenomenon in the MapWindow community
> as well. It is particularly prominent with non-English
> speaking folks who, for a number of reasons (mostly
> described by Bill below) don't feel comfortable joining
> the conversation and openly participating in the project.
> 
> 
> I think there is another clear reason for this behavior...
> they sometimes just don't know that they are
> welcome/invited. This might be more of a pronounced problem
> for those of us developing specifically for Windows because
> Windows users have historically been told that they are not
> allowed to participate. 
> 
> 
> However it's also a phenomenon of GIS in general. When
> was the last time that the major GIS software vendor asked
> it's customers to actively join in writing
> documentation, answering forum questions and - heaven forbid
> - fixing bugs. 
> 
> 
> So how do you fix this. Well all I can think is to
> continually invite invite invite. Everytime someone posts a
> forum question, give an answer and then invite them to
> answer other people's questions. When people ask for bug
> fixes, invite them to fix a big - or to hire someone to do
> it.  Any time you get a personal communication, invite them
> to do something on the project.
> 
> 
> This has helped a lot with our project, and I think
> we've landed some awesome project participants (some of
> whom are likely reading this now!) by letting them know how
> much we need them, and inviting them over and over to
> participate.
> 
> 
> That's my suggestion anyway,
> 
> Dan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 4:53 AM,
> Bill Thoen <bthoen@gisnet.com>
> wrote:
> 
> I've been a moderator for a
> commercial desktop mapping forum for more than 10 years and
> this behavior is quite common. I think it has more to do
> with how people adapt to a social network than it has to do
> with anything unique in the Open Source world. Like Chris
> mentioned, the majority of subscribers prefer to lurk below
> the public visibility horizon in a way that resembles an
> iceberg where only the tip remains above the waterline while
> the majority of its bulk lurks below.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> People lurk for many of the reasons you suggest, but I
> think the most common one is that they don't feel expert
> enough to contribute anything useful to a thread, and the
> risk of saying something "stoopid" --in public...
> and worse, thus revealing to their GIS/mapping peers the
> depth of their ignorance-- is just too embarrassing to
> contemplate. Especially when compared with the perceived
> safety of remaining anonymous in the shadows where they can
> drink in new knowledge like free beer while also being
> entertained by the interplay of the forum's regularly
> featured fools and sages.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If we assume that Maslow was right about what motivates
> people (self-interest) then lurking in an open source
> community and not participating is exactly the wrong thing
> to do. If your business depends on some FOSS tool, then
> it's in your self-interest to expand the environment in
> which it operates as much as possible. Because if what you
> sell depends on tools like OpenJUMP, you want OpenJUMP well
> supported with a lively user group, a good supply of free
> data, technologically competitive, and actively being
> developed. This is the key to making money out of bits
> instead of atoms. If you sell services, give away the
> software and the infrastructure of the environment it runs
> in. This expands the market for your services and since the
> tools are free, the more people who download them the bigger
> your market share gets. If you sell software, give away
> services that leverage it. But if you lurk and don't
> contribute to its development or the development of the
> environment in which it operates, then you're sort of
> stepping on your own air hose.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> - Bill Thoen
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Landon Blake wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would like to get some comments on a phenomenon I have
> discovered among the OpenJUMP community. I know for sure of
> one (1) company that maintains a separate fork of OpenJUMP,
> but which monitors our mailing list and likely grabs patches
> form our source code repository. They never participate in
> the forums or make known their use of OpenJUMP in any other
> public manner.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think there is at least one other company that does
> this.
> 
> 
> 
> I only learn of these companies when I am contacted by
> private e-mail to work for them on OpenJUMP development,
> usually by some headhunter. I actually did a little work for
> one of these companies (which was not a great experience,
> but that is another story) and I was surprised at how
> important OpenJUMP was to their operation. They even
> distributed it to their customers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why this company
> wouldn’t take a more active role in supporting the
> OpenJUMP community. I’m not necessarily talking about
> money here, but about writing documentation, contributing
> their own patches, or answering questions on the mailing
> lists. Our community is very informal and open, and an
> organization could likely have a large influence on the
> direction the program took with an investment of some
> resources.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is OpenJUMP the only community with these open source
> lurkers? How many of these companies do you think there are?
> (I’m not talking about one guy who downloads an open
> source app and uses it. I’m talking about actual companies
> with more than one employee.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Why don’t they get more involved? Are they embarrassed?
> Do they not want their competition to find out about the
> open source program they are benefiting from? Are they
> violating the terms of the license and don’t want to get
> busted? Do they not understand that their involvement is a
> key part of the program’s survival?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This has become an important question for me recently as
> the active development of OpenJUMP has slowed. We don’t
> have any organizations actively participating in
> development. (Well, maybe one or two, but they have been
> quiet lately.) I’m the only one working on serious
> improvements or changes, and not just bug fixes. I would
> really like to reach out to these lurkers to get them more
> involved. Ultimately, the survival of the project may depend
> on it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What do you think? Send an e-mail to the project list with
> an invitation to contact me privately about getting more
> involved? Are these lurkers worth the time?
> 
> 
> 
> Landon
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> -- 
> Daniel P. Ames, Ph.D. PE
> Associate Professor, Geosciences
> Idaho State University - Idaho Falls
> amesdani@isu.edu
> 
> www.hydromap.com
> www.mapwindow.org
> 
> 
> 
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