Foundation/AGM2024/Election to Board/Answers and manifestos/Q01 Motivation and Objectives
Motivation and Objectives
Why do you want to join the OSMF Board, and what do you hope to accomplish as a board member over the next two years?
Craig Allan - Q01 Motivation and Objectives
I am already a Board member, so if re-elected, my big projects for the next two years will be to continue with my current work on building our strategies, building operational processes to implement strategies and by doing that make the work of the Foundation better and more robust. I will also be doing a lot of work around improving processes around budgets, which will help financial accountability and transparency, and improving the infrastructure that supports fundraising, which will help with expanding our fundraising reach. And to help everyone's motivation I would want to encourage all the Board members to be positive, to be supportive of each other and to be willing to take on work.
Brazil Singh - Q01 Motivation and Objectives
As a candidate for the OSMF Board, my primary motivation is to actively contribute to the strategic direction and growth of OpenStreetMap (OSM). I have been deeply involved in the OSM community, particularly through my work with YouthMappers, and I've seen how open mapping can bring about positive change, especially in areas that don't get much attention. I want to ensure that voices from all regions are heard and included in decision-making processes. I believe that diverse perspectives are crucial to OSM's growth and sustainability. As a board member, I want to foster a more inclusive and welcoming environment within the OSM community. I aim to bridge gaps between experienced mappers and newcomers, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their background or expertise, feels empowered to contribute.
What I Hope to Accomplish: Over the next two years, I want to focus on strengthening local OSM communities by providing more resources, training, and support. This includes promoting capacity-building initiatives and creating opportunities for community members to lead projects that address local challenges. Using my experience with YouthMappers, I plan to advocate for greater youth participation in OSM. I believe that engaging the younger generation is key to ensuring the long-term success of OSM, and I will work towards creating more programs and partnerships that encourage youth involvement. I want to enhance communication between the OSMF Board and the broader community. By increasing transparency in decision-making and actively seeking feedback, I aim to build trust and ensure that the board's actions align with the community's needs and aspirations. My goal as a board member is to contribute to a more inclusive, engaged, and empowered OSM community, where every member has the opportunity to make a meaningful impact.
Courtney Cook Williamson - Q01 Motivation and Objectives
This is answered in my manifesto.
Maurizio Napolitano - Q01 Motivation and Objectives
I have been deeply connected to the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project throughout my career, and it has provided me with numerous opportunities for both personal and professional growth. Joining the OSMF Board represents my desire to give back to the community and the project that has been so instrumental in shaping my work. With my background in geospatial technologies, open data, and my experience leading initiatives in collaboration with public institutions, I believe that I can help foster dialogue between OSM and larger entities, particularly the European Commission. My goal is to contribute to OSM’s evolution as a vital digital common, ensuring it continues to grow in relevance and quality as an essential public resource. By bridging the gap between the OSM community and large institutions, I hope to strengthen the recognition and support for OSM as a best example as digital commons.
Can Ünen - Q01 Motivation and Objectives
Over the years I have accumulated valuable experience in multiple facets of NGO program management with Yer Cizenler in Turkey and with HOT globally. I have collaborated with partners and trained OSM communities from numerous countries. I identify myself within the global OSM community and I think I am now ready to give to my community more than just editing the map or teaching other people how to. Saying I want to be a part of a board that will accomplish 100% of the goals stated in the strategic plan within the next two years would not be realistic. But I want to see myself in two years as a board member who has taken tangible actions and having gears in motion for OSMF to have progress in the positive direction. I want to be a board member who had contributed to increased local community-OSMF interactions, who had contributed to strengthening the institutional structure of the foundation, and who had contributed to the visibility and the positive image of OSM at the end of these two years.
Michael Montani - Q01 Motivation and Objectives
General motivation can be found in my manifesto.
Since I started mapping and building OSM communities and frequenting open data communities like those in Wikimedia, I understood one thing: the more you generously listen, help, train, volunteer for and genuinely bring a positive impact to other contributors, independently from the outcomes, the more you will, also personally, benefit in the long run. I have been both volunteering and working as paid contributor in OSM for the last 8 years almost full-time, and I feel I benefitted a lot from the project as it shaped my professional career and life. So I feel like I need to pay back some time volunteering for free and I believe to have a good background to help the OSMF Board advance on some aspects, especially in the field of institutional adoption and community engagement.
If I get elected at the OSMF Board, I plan to actively work on community development and in particular institutional relationships (intergovernmental agencies, national governments) increasing the visibility and reputation of OSM.
I can see a future where OSM is entirely or partially adopted by many national cartographic agencies, and OSM (project, governance and editing) is actively taught in geography classes in highschools and universities across the world. This could possibly help opening additional funding lines different from private companies, attracting new contributors and increase the editing quality of those already within the project.
More generally, I am satisfied with the current proposed strategic plan for the OSMF and I would continue working to accomplish it.
Andrés Gómez Casanova - Q01 Motivation and Objectives
I want to strengthen LatAm's voice on the Board, as historically, it has yet to have much representation. I would also like to develop the concept of OSM as a brand to make the project better known so we can have more contributors and increase recognition. This includes strengthening OSM's presence in the communities.
Laura Mugeha - Q01 Motivation and Objectives
I am interested in joining the OSMF Board because I truly believe in the transformative power of OpenStreetMap & its wonderful community in creating positive change around the world. I have been actively involved within the community in several ways in the last few years, and I believe my perspective as a young leader from the African region can bring valuable diversity to the board, helping to ensure that OSM truly serves and represents its global community. Over the next two years, I hope to accomplish the following:
- Expand and diversify OSMF's Membership: I'm committed to working on and improving measures that ensure everyone, regardless of their background or location, feels welcome and empowered to contribute to OSM.
- Strengthen youth engagement at the OSMF: I would like to enhance the involvement of younger contributors at the foundation level by leveraging my experiences working with YouthMappers and other youth networks to create opportunities for learning and active participation.
- Foster collaboration and partnerships: I am also excited about working with fellow board members to strengthen existing partnerships and seek and create new ones within and beyond the geospatial space, all of which would benefit the project and community.
I am optimistic that these would ensure that OSM remains sustainable by strengthening OSMF's financial stability and organizational capacity.
Héctor Ochoa Ortiz - Q01 Motivation and Objectives
I started mapping in 2011, joined my local community in 2016, co-organized my first event abroad in 2019, and attended my first SotM in 2022. I feel that now is the time to take the next step forward. Because I have lived in 5 countries (Spain, Turkey, Germany, Austria, and Italy) and helped organize OSM events in all of them, I feel that I can bring a pan-European representation to the board while, at the same time, bringing a young yet experienced voice.
As a board member, I want to continue the effort to see that every community is represented. It pains me to see that my country, Spain, is not yet represented in the OSMF via a local chapter. Therefore, I can imagine how other countries and communities feel when a similar thing happens and their voices are not heard. I will work on pursuing more ways to ensure organizations can become affiliated with the foundation, and find ways to support local communities in their journey.
I also want OSM to be a space where all contributors feel welcome. The Strategic plan explains an important point to make the community more diverse. I agree with this point and would like to extend this beyond individual contributors. In the field of commercial entities contributing to the project, there is a current majority of tech-savvy companies both using and contributing. I aim to support non-technical and small and medium businesses contributing to OSM. This could be achieved through OSMF’s support of an easy-to-use editor to keep your business data up-to-date (it could be built on existing tools like https://www.onosm.org/, and https://osmybiz.osm.ch/) and increased visibility of how OSM can be beneficial for them. This would allow for the diversification of organizational actors and their contributions and the improvement of OSM’s POIs data with local knowledge, which has always lagged behind roads and buildings. Monitoring the tool will be essential in its early stages to ensure proper use, to avoid spammy and wrong data, and fix it while keeping it usable and useful for business owners and the overall community.
The OSMF currently supports iD as its core editor. But as mobile surveying is growing in popularity, should it also support a mobile editor to keep up with the times? I believe that a conversation should follow in this direction.
Finally, to achieve all of these, fundraising efforts should be improved. I propose learning about other community projects like Wikimedia and Open Source Software and their fundraising approaches, combined with approaching more commercial organizations, as OSM has the particularity of most of its users coming from third-party services and not directly through OSMF’s offered tools. I feel that we should not be afraid to innovate and try new fundraising approaches. All of the board members and WGs have amazing ideas that they would like to implement, which would benefit the project, but more resources are needed.
Español
Empecé a mapear en 2011, me uní a mi comunidad local en 2016, coorganicé mi primer evento en el extranjero en 2019 y asistí a mi primer SotM en 2022. Siento que ahora es el momento de dar el siguiente paso. Como he vivido en 5 países (España, Turquía, Alemania, Austria e Italia) y he ayudado a organizar eventos de OSM en todos ellos, siento que puedo aportar una representación paneuropea a la junta y, al mismo tiempo, aportar una voz joven pero experimentada.
Como miembro de la junta, quiero continuar el esfuerzo para que todas las comunidades estén representadas. Me duele ver que mi país, España, aún no está representado en la OSMF a través de un capítulo local. Por lo tanto, puedo imaginar cómo se sienten otros países y comunidades cuando sucede algo similar y sus voces no son escuchadas. Trabajaré en buscar más formas de asegurar que las organizaciones puedan afiliarse a la fundación y encontrar formas de apoyar a las comunidades locales en su camino.
También quiero que OSM sea un espacio donde todos los colaboradores se sientan bienvenidos. El plan estratégico explica un punto importante para hacer la comunidad más diversa. Estoy de acuerdo con este punto y me gustaría extenderlo más allá de los colaboradores individuales. En el campo de las entidades comerciales que contribuyen al proyecto, actualmente hay una mayoría de empresas tecnológicas tanto usando como contribuyendo. Mi objetivo es apoyar a las pequeñas y medianas empresas no técnicas para que contribuyan a OSM. Esto se podría lograr mediante el apoyo de la OSMF a un editor fácil de usar para mantener actualizados los datos de su negocio (podría basarse en herramientas existentes como https://www.onosm.org/ y https://osmybiz.osm.ch/) y una mayor visibilidad de cómo OSM puede ser beneficioso para ellos. Esto permitiría la diversificación de los actores organizacionales y sus contribuciones, y la mejora de los datos de POIs de OSM con conocimiento local, que siempre ha quedado rezagado respecto a carreteras y edificios. Monitorear la herramienta será esencial en sus primeras etapas para asegurar un uso adecuado, evitar datos erróneos y spam, y corregirlo mientras se mantiene útil y usable para los dueños de negocios y la comunidad en general.
La OSMF actualmente apoya a iD como su editor principal. Pero dado que la cartografía móvil está creciendo en popularidad, ¿debería también apoyar un editor móvil para mantenerse al día? Creo que debería empezarse una conversación en esta dirección.
Finalmente, para lograr todo esto, los esfuerzos de recaudación de fondos deben mejorarse. Propongo aprender sobre otros proyectos comunitarios como Wikimedia y proyectos de software libre y sus enfoques de recaudación de fondos, combinados con acercarse a más organizaciones comerciales, ya que OSM tiene la particularidad de que la mayoría de sus usuarios provienen de servicios de terceros y no directamente a través de las herramientas ofrecidas por la OSMF. Siento que no deberíamos tener miedo de innovar y probar nuevos enfoques para recaudar fondos. Todos los miembros de la junta y los grupos de trabajo tienen ideas increíbles que les gustaría implementar, lo que beneficiaría al proyecto, pero se necesitan más recursos.
Arun Ganesh - Q01 Motivation and Objectives
Exploring the world around me and mapping on OSM has remained an active hobby for me for the last 16 years. The impact it has had on me is significant, and volunteering for the board seems like a duty that would allow me to give a little back to an amazing project that has given me so much.
Over the term, my wish would be to represent the interests primarily of those who contribute to the map primarily from field observations, which is the most valuable type of data that makes OSM unique as a data source.
OSM Foundation's board election 2024: official questions
Q01 Motivation and Objectives
| Q02 Conflict of Interest Management
| Q03 Transparency and Accountability
| Q04 Strategic Vision and Sustainability
| Q05 Decision-Making and Collaboration
| Q06 Fundraising and Resource Development
| Q07 Handling Legal and Political Challenges
| Q08 State of the Map
| Q09 Your Community Contributions
| Q10 Promoting Community and Attracting Volunteers
| Q11 Technology and Innovation
| Q12 Data Quality and Protection
| Q13 Perspective on Open Source
| Q14 Perspective on Overture Maps
All board candidates' manifestos
2024 OpenStreetMap Foundation's: Board election - Voting information and instructions - Annual General Meeting
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