In 2 March 2024, various OSM contributors and community members/leaders gathered together for the Local Chapters and Communities Congress! It was my pleasure to share a short update about HOT where I work as an Online Community Engagement Lead.

My slide presentation is here. Recordings are now uploaded in Youtube :)

Just a point to make that I shared about the HOT and its community, and not the HOT as an org. HOT Annual reports are available here.

How to get involved in HOT?

There are three general ways to get involved with HOT:

1. mapping in your own time,
2. participate in a HOT Working Group/s, and
3. contribute to tech.

So how do we engage with the community / contributors at HOT?

Since lots of different community members and leaders were there in the Congress, I took the opportunity to share and highlight how we foster a collaborative and inclusive space in HOT and channels

1. First and most importantly, we strictly enforce the HOT Code of Conduct in our online channels and in-person events, we have moderators and complaint handling process in place to ensure that people feel safe and can report any incident they found uncomfortable.

2. Showing recognition and appreciation by amplifying community voices and works. Recently, we recognized women in open mapping through the Open Mapping Women Awards as well as document International Women’s Day events in the OSM Wiki and amplify them in our channel.

3. We also recognize volunteer contributions through mentorship, supporting professional growth and development.

We have an ongoing Call for Application for the HOT x DataCamp Donates Scholarship to provide free data education and recognize dedicated humanitarian open mapping contributors.

4.Supporting members to realize their power and paving a way for community leadership to take head and guide HOT community. Half of HOT’s Working Groups are led by volunteer community leaders.Most of HOT Working Group

5.Building trust among and within the HOT community and contributors. As an online engager and volunteer manager, we give time to connect and chat with our contributors. I see this as one of the perks of my role as I love connecting with people!

Recently, I chatted with Bafamodei Hopeful from Nigeria, a mentee from last year’s Mentorship and founder Delighted Women Dev Initiative - is an umbrella of young girls and women that embrace positivity, empowers, educate & train young girls and women for development! I can listen to her all day! Her voice is her power and she’s using it for the good❤️‍🔥🎯🙌⚡️🌻 #mappychats

closing

I like what Eugene said as an introduction - OSM is global yet local

Recognizing that while OSM is a global project with contributors from all around the world, OSM is also local - a network of (small) communities. And the way to achieve our global goal.. which is “OSM to be the best map of the world”, is to work together within our small communities, and foster collaboration with other OSM community groups.