Foundation/AGM2022/Election to Board/Answers and manifestos/Q09 OSMF and SotM conferences

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OSMF ... and SotM conferences

It has been decided not to hold a global State of the Map in 2023. What should OSM’s strategy for holding conferences be in the future?

Daniela Waltersdorfer J. - Q09 OSMF ... and SotM conferences

I think it's important to have in-person events, and OSMF should push for these whenever possible. I understand that with the internet (and the pandemic has also taught us this...) we are much more connected than before, which is great. But there is something to getting to know our community in-person. It's a special bond. If on the Board of OSMF, I would encourage the option for a hybrid conference, where we have the opportunity presented to meet in person for those who are able to, and also have digital options/sessions for those who are not able to travel. Of course, if and when offering in-person conferences, we should continue to help our community members with scholarship opportunities and helping them out with the visa application processes when appropriate.

Arnalie Vicario - Q09 OSMF ... and SotM conferences

I am part of the SotM WG so I would like to be clear that my answers here are purely my opinion and I have not discussed it yet with the WG.

As an event organizer, I am committed to providing safety and inclusivity among participants and organizers. I recognize that it is difficult to find the perfect venue that meets both criteria and that each contributor who would like to participate in SotM faces different accessibility issues that local hosts do not have control e.g. visa restriction, safety issues pertaining to race, gender, etc.

I would like us to look at finding regional balance on where SotM conferences are hosted. Our current approach is ad hoc (i.e. depending on community bids) and there are models out there to learn from, for example, OSGeo’s model for FOSS4G and Wikimedia’s model for Wikimania.

My suggestions to ensure regional balance, I would propose:

  • Four (4) superregions of rotations where international SotM’s are held: Africa, Americas (South and North), Asia-Pacific and Europe (including Russia).
  • International SotMs held in conjunction with confirmed SotM regional conferences (as could have been modeled with SotM Africa 2023 / SotM 2023).

Włodzimierz Bartczak - Q09 OSMF ... and SotM conferences

Let me start by saying that I have the utmost respect for the work of SotM WG and its individual members. However, I don't agree with the decision not to hold the 2023 conference and believe it to be wrong. Communication and transparency of activities is key to building a strong and healthy community. The SOTM is one of the tools that makes this possible. It is a celebration of OSM and should be held every year. I also understand that in building a diverse community we cannot focus only on Europe. However, when it comes to user and community activity, Europe is the most active and the organisation of events is easiest here.

The solution should be to create special panels dedicated to each community within the SOTM rather than abandoning the entire event.

Ariel Kadouri - Q09 OSMF ... and SotM conferences

I would like to thank all those involved in organizing State of the Map 2022, a wonderful event. While I am disappointed there will not be a State of the Map conference in 2023 to build on the momentum of 2022's conference, I understand the reasoning behind the decision. It is unfair to continually host conferences in countries inaccessible by many in the community due to long travel distances, visa restrictions, and LGBTQA+ safety. I trust the SoTM WG to work towards finding a suitable venue in Africa and look forward to attending SotM 2024.

While there will not be a global SoTM 2023, there are many regional state of the map or other events.

Victor N.Sunday - Q09 OSMF ... and SotM conferences

Christian Shadrack - Q09 OSMF ... and SotM conferences

It would be interesting for OSM to organize small-scale regional conferences such as State of Map Africa to maintain community cohesion and also to have more thematic meetings with simpler settings. This will help local communities to better organize themselves for the big occasions to come. Organizing on topics of discussion, participation ....

Sarah Hoffmann - Q09 OSMF ... and SotM conferences

We have a very rich conference culture. Many local groups organise regular regional conferences and the SOTM WG has done an excellent job with the global SOTM in the past. The move to a hybrid conference has made participation easier for those who cannot travel. The cancellation of next years SOTM is unfortunate but I'm confident that SotM 2024 will be all the better for it. I do not see a need to change our current strategy.

Logan McGovern - Q09 OSMF ... and SotM conferences

I think that the criteria lead to excluding too many locations, and are reflective of a Western ideal of the world. To be honest the West are in a state of decline, and this amounts to thrusting the values of the West onto much of the rest of the world. Safety should always be the first consideration when selecting a location, but people ultimately travel at their own risk. I was disappointed that Kosovo was passed on simply because it is in Europe. They have their own culture which contrasts with much of Europe that people will now be denied from experiencing.

Arun Ganesh - Q09 OSMF ... and SotM conferences

Having been an attendee of multiple SoTM and also involved with the organizing of SoTM Asia, such in-person events provide huge value to foster community building and create network connections that virtual events cannot easily replace.

It is unfortunate that many parts of the world operate under stressful economic and political conditions making it hard to provide a safe space for everyone, but that doesnt mean they should be disadvantaged by our policies.

The foundation can be doing much more to support frequent gatherings of regional SoTMs around more parts of the world and allow any venue that has a successful track record of hosting regional SoTM of a certain size to be prioritized for a global SoTM. This would enable any part of the world to host a successful SoTM one day with the ground support of a strong local community,

Mateusz Konieczny - Q09 OSMF ... and SotM conferences

I will just link https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/feedback-on-the-decision-for-no-sotm-2023/4231/9 and quote

"Having 20 good things from Europe and 1 good thing from Africa is preferable to having 1 good thing from Europe and 1 good thing from Africa. Even if the first one has worse diversity statistics. At least in situation where good things done in Europe are not done at cost of good thing in Africa - but as far as I can see, 2023 STOTM in Kosovo would not harm 2024 STOTM in Africa."

"Deciding that even the best bid from Europe will be rejected, purely due to location - after 2023 bids were submitted - is really obnoxious and insulting to people who put effort into this, just to be told that their attempt was doomed from start no matter what they did. With “some richer countries in the same continent run this event earlier” as justification."

(these comments were made based on provided info that the Kosovo bid was a strong one and rejected because Kosovo is in Europe - I have no insider information here, I was responding to earlier comments in the thread and blog post)

Craig Allan - Q09 OSMF ... and SotM conferences

It has been decided not to hold a global State of the Map in 2023. What should OSM’s strategy for holding conferences be in the future?

Cancellation:

The cancellation of SOTM23 in one of Paris, Prizren or Yaoundé was due to withdrawal, regional bias and safety reasons. See the announcement HERE.

There was some resentment expressed on our channels that Prizren was rejected because the committee wanted to avoid European-bias. As an African I applaud the SOTM Organising Committee working to avoid a pro-european bias. However, to be practical, I would probably have supported Prizren because there was no feasible global south applicant and Albania is a developing country. Yaoundé is a fascinating African city, but sadly it unsafe for LGBTQ+ delegates due to national legislation prohibiting same sex activity.

I don't know of any decision to NOT hold global SOTM conferences in future, so OSMF's strategy of holding one every year is still active.

Future SOTM conferences:

My position on running future SOTM and similar conferences is influenced by my own circumstances. Much as I'd love to, I can't attend any global SOTM because it is quite expensive to attend. I think that is true of most mappers from Africa and the rest of the developing world. It is disappointing that a SOTM venue has to be turned down because LGBTQ+ people can't attend, but also disappointing that no SOTM venue was ever turned down because poor people couldn't attend.

Conferences with greater equity and inclusiveness across most of the axes of discrimination can be held by choosing to hold some virtual only conferences. The LCCWG 2022 conference is a good example. Blended conferences (in-person and virtual) tend to ignore the virtual participants so the pure virtual format is better.

I do support an annual in-person global SOTM, despite the paywall issues. I believe that SOTM in-person meetings have great networking benefits which do impact all OSM mappers and I'm grateful for the work by the global and local volunteers who make each SOTM happen.


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