Michael - Let me start with where we agree! I share your enthusiasm for Martijn's position statement (and I am basing that on the position statement itself - NOT Martijn's contribution history) and I will concede that it would make sense for *one* of the OSM US board members to have in-depth mapping experience (though, honestly, if none of the elected board members end up having in-depth mapping experience they can call upon established community members for guidance.)
However, as others have said, OSM US needs a diverse board with different skillsets. I have worked with and served on many boards and the best functioning boards have a variety of perspectives represented (I second Mike Thompson's list above as a good starting point.) In fact, I specifically do NOT want a board with only "heavy mappers" represented - because to grow our community we need new mappers, and new-ish mappers will understand their perspective better than established mappers. There are also many valid reasons why someone may not make a lot of edits to OSM. To give one example - perhaps, like myself, they are a community organizer. There have been several times that I have intentionally *not* mapped something, because I know that someone else in my city who has been curious about OSM has an interest in the place. Instead of doing the fun work of adding to OSM under my own name, I will often do the hard (and - based on your post - apparently thankless?) work of introducing OSM to someone else, telling them something like, "hey - here's a perfect thing to add! your favorite restaurant isn't on the map yet." In other words, the number of edits made does NOT correlate to a person's investment of time and energy into OSM as a map *and* a community of people. The OSM US board needs to inspire and support a community of people - their job is not to edit the map. Thanks, Eleanor PS: I also appreciate that Randy Meech mentioned gender in his post - I believe that encouraging women to join, contribute, and *stay involved in* the OSM US community (because it isn't just a "pipeline" problem) is critical to OSM US's long-term growth, and electing competent women to the board (like the candidates running!) is one way we can encourage participation. On Wed, Oct 14, 2015 at 11:56 AM, Mike Thompson <miketh...@gmail.com> wrote: > Michael, I appreciate your interest, research and opinions. Thank you for > sharing it with us. > > To continue to build on the success of OSM in the US, we need people with > diverse skill sets. Alex has already listed some of them. Here is a list, > in no particular order: > * yes, editing the map > * software development > * server administration > * documentation creating/ wiki editing / tutorial creation > * outreach > * communication / pr > * legal > * ability to organize events / projects > * ability to teach others about osm > * ability to inspire others to join OSM / use OSM > * ability to form partnerships with third parties (governmental, non > governmental, commercial, other open projects) > * "supervise, control, direct and manage" (part of what the bylaws call > for the board to do). > * (probably others I overlooked) > > Not everyone can be - or need be - a "heavy mapper." I will be > considering skills, experience and ideas in all of the above areas in > making my decision. > > Mike > > > On Wed, Oct 14, 2015 at 10:19 AM, Randy Meech <randy.me...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> Wow Michael, that sure is an all-male US board you're suggesting. I hope >> nobody heeds you our we have bigger problems than I thought. >> >> The question of growth in the US is complex, as is the question of gender >> and contributing to communities such as this. Communities, that is to say, >> that have zero self-awareness about the problems in a message like this. >> Who knows: maybe threads like this explain the edit history, too. >> >> One thing that's certain is that there is no correlation between the work >> of a competent board member and making edits. Things like leadership, >> fundraising, organizing, project management, events, etc. are part of the >> work of a board. >> >> It's too bad we also require the ability to don a radiation suit to deal >> with threads like this. >> >> -Randy >> Dear US electorate, >> >> Am Thu, 08 Oct 2015 20:16:50 -0700 schrieb Alex Barth: >> > And - it's not to late to run for elections! Get your name up on the >> > list by October 10th. >> > >> > https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Foundation/Local_Chapters/ >> United_States/Elections/2015#Candidates >> >> And this is my censorious analysis reviewing all candidates: >> >> https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Nakaner/diary/36098 >> >> *Summary* I think that some candidates are suitable and some are not >> suitable. It looks as the number of edits and the time since the first >> map edit is proportional to the suitability of each candidate (with some >> exceptions). >> >> You, the US community, have got some very great candidates which have >> recognized the bad situation the US community is in (see posting by >> Martijn van Exel). These candidates have realized that the board has to >> change its focus and focus on the community all over the country and not >> the so-called "community" attending SotM US. A good map needs a large and >> active community and not an annual conference which is present in the >> media and tweets 1440 times per day. >> >> Reading some of the manifestos, I threw my hands up in horror. Some >> candidates have less experience – neither in editing nor in OSM-related >> coding. I believe that following fictional conversation might have >> happened: >> "I want to join OSM." – "Well, you just have to run for OSM US board >> elections. You'll get to know the US community after election and learn >> mapping after election, too." >> >> I myself wonder if these people just want to become a board member to >> have a nice entry in their CV. If someone is really crazy about OSM, he/ >> she invests more time into OSM than just uploading 40 changesets. >> >> This user diary entry is not neutral and shows my European-based opinion. >> That's why editing/coding experience is a very important criteria from my >> point of view. I don't pussyfoot aroung, I clearly write what's in my >> mind. >> >> Best regards >> >> Michael aka Nakaner >> >> >> PS I have already watched the first half of the virtual townhall. >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Talk-us mailing list >> Talk-us@openstreetmap.org >> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Talk-us mailing list >> Talk-us@openstreetmap.org >> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Talk-us mailing list > Talk-us@openstreetmap.org > https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us > >
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