OpenStreetMap
I mentioned my candidacy for the OSMF Board, and as part of the election process, the community suggested questions, and long time OSMer Mike Collinson collated & edited them down.
The answers to the official list of questions has been published! Read here → Answers and Manifestos to the OSMF 2019 AGM
My answers to the questions will have more detail. My manifesto (also on the wiki page) is here. If you have any questions ask away on the comments (or email me privately)
“Steady as she goes, let’s change everything” – My campaign motto
Hello all. I’m Rory McCann ( ᚛ᚏᚒᚐᚔᚏᚔᚋ᚜ 🏳️🌈 on osm )
I’m originally from Dublin, Ireland, but live in Karlsruhe, Germany and work in Geofabrik GmbH. I’m a craft mapper and social justice hacker, and I’d like you to vote #1 for me to be your board member.
I’m a craft mapper. OSM is great when it’s a project of people to map their world, when ordinary people feel empowered to collect information about areas or topics that matter to them, when they feel empowered to use that information to make things, to have fun, or to make the world a better place. (People have this power and ability, they might not know it yet) I am a skeptical when giant global corporations starts acting friendly and offers “help”. They’re not doing it out of their kindness of their hearts! But a passionate OSMer I can trust!
I’m a hacker. I like Free Software/Open Source, and in an ideal world everything should be FLOSS. But I’m practical and do use propritary software when there are benefits. OSM should strive to support free software. I’m wary of heirachies. OSM & OSMF is better when it’s passionate people, rather than dozens of paid employees who are just punching a clock and an elite execute/management/leadership “team” who can talk the talk.
Many would call me a social justice warrior (in a derogatory stance), but fuck it, I’ll take it. I admin the diversity-talk@ mailing list, I think OSM needs more Codes of Coduct (although which CoC is a big topic I can write/rant about). I think OSM is missing people. There aren’t enough mappers from marginalized communities, they either don’t know about us, or think they wouldn’t be welcome. I think we’re missing people from the Global South, women, older people, working class people etc etc. The OSM community must try to change that. We must not have bigotry in our community, and we should increase representation by raising up other voices. People from marginalized communities are the greated untapped resource for more OSM hobby mappers!
Although I have some strong opinions on things, I’d like to think I’m relatively practical, and willing to compromise. You often have to balance the ends and the means. Not all hills are worth dying on.
I’d like to be your board member because I think we have a need for the hobbyist mappers to be represented, many of them are cis het dudes, so there’s a need for someone who hopefully understands what we mean by “diversity”. And I think we should remember there’s things more important than shareholder value, and not everything should be about profit.
Please read the my answers to the questions to find out more detail. Please vote #1 for me. Please keep mapping.
Discussion
Comment from redsteakraw on 3 December 2019 at 15:46
First off you show no evidence of any need of a CoC nor any examples of any problems with the community. Now this is a community that has already voted and promoted women to the highest positions and really is focused on it’s mission statement of creating a map for the world. Secondly given the amount of anonymous accounts how do you have any knowledge of who is mapping and whether they are marginalized or not? The OSM community has no obligation to do anything but create a map for the world, now if you want to promote OSM to people feel free, go do that.
There are practical reasons for why some people don’t map many simply aren’t interested as this is a niche activity. Secondly it costs some amount of money for equipment to map, either a computer or phone with GPS and it takes time. So really you have to convince people that it is worth their time and money to map and this is a marketing problem and not anything inherently wrong with OSM. And I don’t think it is helpful for anyone to single out a demographic and complain about how many of them there are. I makes you look bad and it makes me question if I can trust you to represent me. OSM isn’t about race or sexuality to bring this into the discussion is frankly counter productive. OSM shouldn’t be a soapbox for political platforms or ideals you will alienate people who simply just want to map and that is just mean spirited.
Comment from amapanda ᚛ᚐᚋᚐᚅᚇᚐ᚜ 🏳️⚧️ on 3 December 2019 at 16:12
I don’t think there are “too much” of any one group, just that there aren’t enough of the others. I think we all want more craft mappers, and we have lots of them from certain countries/subgroups. Current minorities are an untapped resource! We can grow the number of passionate OSMers by looking outside the usual (say) free software user group field! 😃
OSM is about making an open map made by locals, a geo commons, owned by all, with everyone having equal access. That’s a pretty radical, political position. Some people just want to draw things on a map, that’s fine. I want to revolutionize how humanity makes maps.
Comment from redsteakraw on 3 December 2019 at 17:18
Listen don’t fall for the identity politics game it is divisive. It devides people rather than bringing them together and labels people where it is not necessary, I cannot in good conscious promote or support such an endeavour. In OSM we are people no more nor less not a cis x person or an marginalized person but a person. There is no need to inject this into the community that is focused on mapping it will detract from the mission statement. If you want to promote OSM to different communities then fine but it should not need the focus or attention of the random mapper nor should they be dragged into any identity politics. OSM is free and everyone has access to the map data so I don’t see where the issue is?
Can you name any credible ways you will market OSM to other communities that will resonate with the normal everyday person and not some conception you have of people? Look at the numbers OSM mapped by the few and you need to reach the masses. What is your plan?
Comment from amapanda ᚛ᚐᚋᚐᚅᚇᚐ᚜ 🏳️⚧️ on 4 December 2019 at 11:55
(to change tact) If, as you imply, a CoC isn’t needed in OSM, then that means there would be no downsides to putting on in place, right? It’s 2019, the rarity of CoCs in OSM makes us look bad to some groups. If we have more CoCs, then that’s positive advertising for many people from marginalized groups, which will help OSM grow. No downsides, only advantages! 🙂