User:Eugene/manifesto
This is Eugene's manifesto for 2011 Board elections
Introduction
I've been with the project for almost 4 years now, first contributing anonymously and then as a registered user since February 2008. During that time I've seen Russian community growing from several dozens of people to over 7000 members. I took an active part in this process, explaining and promoting the project, buying OpenStreetMap.ru domain name and running website for OSM newbies there. I've started the discussion with satellite imagery provider Scanex which eventually lead to close collaboration with it and donation of more than 5 million square kilometers of 6 m IRS imagery. I served as a contact person during Rambler Internet holdings hardware donation negotiation between it and OSMF Board.
I rather quickly (in 2009) became a member of OSMF believing that it will help the project grow. Since the first days of Strategic Working Group work I took part in it and now I'm one of 3 people who are actively preparing a new version of Articles of Association.
As a member of Board, I will support the following:
- OSM long-term strategy creation and implementation
The project needs to find its place in developing neogeography area to stay successful. Most activities in the OSM community are more related to fun like mapping, inventing new tags or coding than to the success of the project itself. While the OpenStreetMap project attracts more and more users, most activities are not compared against a long-term strategy. The vision, mission and values of the project need to be distilled and transformed into words so they could serve as guideline for short- and mid-term decisions as well as inspire even more people to join the OpenStreetMap project as active contributors.
- lowering entry barriers for new members and users, improving communication between existing
This well-known problem is still here and there's no need to describe it. In order to let the project live well we need to do a lot: explain license for potential data users, improve software, provide more information. But besides that, we need better support of community projects and communication between them and we need to support local chapters and non-English-speaking communities in general.
- making OSMF an important and recognized representative of the project
Since more and more people are using OSM, someone needs to be its representative and contact person. Obviously, OSMF serves as such organization. It has to negotiate new data donations with governments and imagery providers, provide 24/7/365-working hardware, do a lot of other administrative work and be transparent at the same time. What is also important, it has to protect OSM data in potential case of license violation. This amount of tasks can be fulfilled only by hired staff. Hiring staff makes OSMF management more easier and at the same time gives additional expertise in problem areas.