[foundation-board] Request for board approval to start working towards OKF Austria

Wed Nov 10 10:55:42 UTC 2010

I'd like to request board approval to start the process for to
establish an Austrian OKF chapter along similar lines to work being
done to establish a German chapter. Details are below.

They would really like to have some indication of whether or not this
is possible (not definite) ASAP so they can get moving in time for an
event in December.

Can I give them the green light? -/+ 1s very much appreciated!

All the best,

Jonathan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:  <m.kaltenboeck at semantic-web.at>
Date: 2010/11/8
Subject: Austrian Chapter of OKFN
To: Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org>, rufus pollock
<rufus.pollock at okfn.org>
Cc: Jordan S Hatcher <jordan at opencontentlawyer.com>, Thomas Thurner
<t.thurner at semantic-web.at>

Dear Jonathan,

as discussed in Luxembourg last week we here at SWC / OGD Austria would like to
set up an Austrian Chapter of the OKFN - as also discussed with Rufus in Vienna
in April 2010...

The idea ist so create a legal entity in the form of a registered
association (non profit - what
is called a 'Verein' in German language) - and for the beginning
concentrate on the open (gov) data topic -
said this means to run the OGD Austria (www.opendata.at) by the
Austrian OKFN chapter...

In longer-term we would like to convert people in Austria for
additional 'open knowledge issues' as the
OKFN stands for more than Open Data - as you know we have a lot of
cultural heritage institutions
here as well as libraries, well known academia etc - that are
interested in the topic of sharing knowledge
also in several other topics then the gov data domain!

As discussed we would be happy to have - for instance - Rufus in the
Advisory Board of the Austrian OKFN
- and vice versa someone from the Austrian chapter in the UK advisory
board - as I know you have managed
this similar with Sören Auer for the German OKFN chapter?!

I think the structure will be similar to the OKFN itsself - having an
Advisory Board and an Executive Board
within the institution - as well as some officials that we need for
the legal entity - that would be me and
Thomas and someone from the OGD Austria.

The current executive board of OGD Austria will be invited to come
into the executive board of the Austrian
OKFN - as follows you can find the people I am talking about:

Andreas Langegger (previously Keppler University Linz)
Wolfgang Halb (Joanneum Research)
Robert Harm (Open3)
Tobias Bürger (Salzburg Research)
Bernhard Schandl (University of Vienna)
Bernhard Krabina (KDZ - center for public administration)
Johann Höchtl (eGovernment department of Danube University Krems)
Thomas Thurner (SWC)
Martin Kaltenböck (SWC)

Furthermore we have already contacted possible members for a Advisory
Board - we think (amongst others)
of the following people:

 - Prof Dr. Michael Meyer (head of NPO institute, university of
economics Vienna)
 - Dr. Hans G. Zeger (head of ARGE Daten - institution that supports
privacy in Austria)
 - Some professors of the above mentioned organisations / institutions
 - As well as some additional people that stand for 'open knowledge' -
we are discussing at the moment
e.g. someone from Open Source Alliance and/or from the Ars Electronica
Center etc...

The Advisory Board will conatin about 6-10 people from different
domains that stand for 'open knowledge'
as well are well known in the public to generate also attention...

The aim of the OGD Austria would be overtaken by the Austrian Chapter:
you can find this (in German language only) on the
www.opendata.at website - the main objective here at the moment os to
push the open (gov) data topic in Austria
as well as working on this together with several OGD stakeholders
(economy, administration, politicians, citizens, academia,
media & publishers..) - to to this together with the Austrian official
public administration and also together
with an European & worldwide network of similar initiatives.

As also discussed this could intensify our collaboration - in several
ways we could work optimised - work on joint projects,
do harmonised PR, look for funding etc.

Please discuss this internally and come back to me on this asap -
because we would like to announce the Austrian Chapter of OKFN
on the semantic web winter meetup on 1.12. 2010 in Vienna - as Rufus
comes for the LOD2 session at ESTC2010 on 2.12.2010
to Vienna it would be great to have him at this event on the 1.12.2010
in the evening to give a few words etc!! We also would like
to announce this again 2 days later at the eGov2.0 barcamp on the 3rd
of Dec 2010 in Vienna!

I hope the given information is sufficient for your discussion on this
- we are looking forward to hearing from
you about the possibility of an Austrian Chapter of the OKFN soon -
please do not hesitate to contact me
if any questions on this are arising - many thanks in advance!

Best regards!

Martin

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