How do we better organize to support the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team organization, staff, membership, and community? We have been on a journey to open up and consider what is the best way forward for HOT’s Governance. Now that we have the HOT Living Strategy, we have more incentive to imagine how we might evolve. We are taking stock of our governance and investigating how we might be able to encourage more people to engage in the governance of HOT.

The HOT Governance Working Group (GWG) started the process of research and engagement with the HOT membership in January 2023. We’ve documented this process in the GWG meeting minutes. Together we designed a terms of reference to hire support to help us research some initial bylaw adjustments and wider organizational needs and structures.

Our first big research is exploring how we govern with the board and to better support the membership chair. There will be future steps and research to consider the role of the membership and how we collaborate with the Open Mapping Hubs.

The board and membership asked us to consider the following topics: the possibility of appointed board members, board member stipends, and membership chair term. See the current HOT bylaws

Why the proposed changes

The HOT voting members have a wide range of skills, and have brought much insight and change to the organization. Currently, HOT’s board is elected from and by the voting membership. Over the past years, HOT board and organization have identified gaps in key expertise for the board, including legal, finance and large-scale fundraising. This has been documented in various OSM diary posts, the HOT board election discussions, and the Board and GWG meeting minutes.

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Editor note: Written by Heather Leson, Dinar Adiatma, and Can Unen

Having the most up-to-date and accurate map data is crucial for emergency response. The OpenStreetMap community and partners create this to support humanitarians. The OSM data is shared on the Humanitarian Data Exchange and is used to develop information management (IM) products for decision-makers responding to emergencies.

This short note is to help new mappers get started and to encourage data quality. The local Turkish community, Yer Çizenler, and HOTOSM coordinate this activation. For Syria, mapping is more complex as it is a conflict zone. HOT is working closely with OSM colleagues and partners to assess any HOT tasks in Syria carefully. As it is a conflict zone, we will collaborate to ensure that HOTOSM Task Manager OSM contributions cause no harm. We are here to help the helpers. We know that many want to help. We ask that you talk with other mappers to learn and help the responders while respecting the local guidance.

Data quality is important in OpenStreetMap (OSM) because it directly affects the accuracy and usefulness of the map. All data should be fit for purpose, and to make it fit purpose, it requires a minimum gap. Poor data quality can lead to incorrect or outdated information, negatively impacting the people relying on OSM for navigation, planning, and decision-making. Learn more here.

Contacts - The HOT Activation Coordinator contacts can be found on the OSM wiki

New Mappers

Are you new to OSM? This is a complex emergency, and we are glad to help you get started:

1. See basic videos on how to map via MapGive
2. Review Learn OSM and see the OSM wiki guidance for this emergency
3. Observe the daily live stream and join a mapathon
4. Use the MapRoulette challenges of Yer Çizenlerto tag the collapsed buildings from verified datasets.
5. Join the HOTOSM slack channels for #disastermapping and #mappersupport
6. Ask for help - the community is here to support your OSM journey

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Like many open projects/communities/organizations, we are asking questions about how we better organize and engage. We are asking how to get more people involved in our efforts. This post is about seeking help from the community as we shift governance models in Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT). (There is also an update about the Etiquette/Moderation guidelines (see below).)

The “Call to Action” in December 2021 noted the need across OSM’s communities to 1. shift etiquette/moderation (codes of conduct) and 2. adjust governance. In 2021, I participated in a effort to update etiquette and moderation in OSM/OSMF. This year I am leading efforts, as chair of the HOT’s Governance Working Group, to focus on revising HOT governance. As much as I have questions about OSMF and OSM organizational and membership work, this post and my diary entries on governance (going forward) will focus on HOT’s governance.

Both HOT and OMSF have board of directors. There are contributors, supporters, members, partners, and allies across both organizations and the wider community of communities. Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) has a Board of Directors and a Governance Working Group. Overall, getting involved as a volunteer in the organization change and leadership can be daunting. We want to open up and help be more diverse, equitable and inclusive in our governance - the people, the models and the overall way we work.

How you can help

The HOT Governance Working Group (GWG) is exploring how we can be more open, what changes do we need to our governance models and membership engagement. Our goal is to help more people shape our future and potentially be board members or take up other governance roles in the future. For example, the HOT GWG used to be a membership only group. We changed that. The HOT community and allies are most welcome to join us. This year we have some goals:

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