OGC Individual Membership
I’ve complained before about the practicalities of OGC membership for individuals or small companies. When I saw today’s mention in Directions Magazine about the new OGC Individual Membership I was intrigued. After reading the conditions I returned to being disappointed.
- Non-voting participation in the Technical Committee (TC)
- Non-voting participation in working groups of the TC.
- Can be a Participant in OGC Interoperability Initiatives on an in-kind resource basis, without monetary compensation.
If I’m reading that correctly it means you can offer your time and expertise for free, but you cannot influence the outcome when it comes to a vote. Mmm..
- Applicant must certify that they are a self-employed consultant or individual who has not assigned their intellectual property rights (IPR) to another person or legal entity (employer, university, research institution, etc).
- Applicant must certify that they are not a full-time contractor to a single employer (except when that employer organization is a member of the OGC).
In the geospatial domain, how many self employed consultants are there on the planet who do not assign their IP rights to their clients, and who are not full time contractors?
Anyone who works for a government agency in Australia usually has to sign over their IP. Is it not the same in other countries?
Overall, these conditions look like they would exclude almost all those who might want to contribute. What am I missing?