> On 6 Jan 2009, at 18:33, Nyaladzani Nkhwanana wrote: > > Hi Steve, > > > > My name is Nyaladzani Nkhwanana, a Masters student at the university > > of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada. I am currently undertaking a > > research (Thesis) on assessing credibility on volunteered geographic > > information. Im interested in how openstreetmap works, e.g. The > > trust algorithms you use ( I see you have classes of users, > > administrators, to new users), I want to know how this rankings are > > archieved. > > Also I am interested in how you validate the contributed data, who > > has the final say and also how you get to ban users contributing > > wrong information. Please if you can prepare this in a document that > > will be great, thanks. > > > > Basically I am a fan of OpenStreetMap work, Im a citizen of > > Botswana, Southern Africa. If you can check it out you will find > > that there is very little contributed there. As I complete my > > studies end of this year I hope to be of assist for the benefit of > > users back home.
Dear Nyaladzani Nkhwanana, I'm an OpenStreetMap enthusiast in Toronto and I'd be pleased to discuss this with you in detail on your next trip to Toronto. In short, I think that you are wrong about OpenStreetMap user classes and the existence of a trust algorithm. All OpenStreetMap data contributors are equal. Some contributors perform additional functions that are not shared, like administration of mailing lists and servers. Those tasks require an additional level of trust. Those tasks are unrelated to their data contributions. Data is validated by the community and problems with the data can be raised by any community member. I'm unaware of any formal organization to this data validation. It happens according to the interest and available effort of individual contributors. In OpenStreetMap we like to think that the "final say" is held by what is observed at the location. If a street sign is mis-spelled on the sign, that mis-spelling should be deliberately placed in the OSM data base. Our contributors in Germany did this, then reported the mis-spellings and other anomalies to the municipality, who then corrected the signs. Very few users have been banned from OpenStreetMap. While not a hard-and-fast policy, what has happened in past is this. When unusual edits are noticed by a community member, they can contact the editor by email and discuss the unusual edit. This generally leads to a discussion of what was intended, and often a newer user is informed of accepted practises in OpenStreetMap. Most unusual edits are this sort of accident, rather than something unsavoury. "Enforcement" is provided in the form of peer information. Issues that are not resolved satisfactorily by discussion between community members can be referred to the OpenStreetMap Foundation for further action. The Foundation members can recommend banning if appropriate. You should stay in touch with the OSM mailing lists when you start sharing your enthusiasm for OpenStreetMap when you get back home. In the interim, why don't you meet with some other local mappers at UNB for a mapping party? You'll all learn very quickly from each other, and enjoy your mapping together. It looks like you'll be able to make very noticeable contributions in Fredericton, and even just around campus. Best regards, Richard _______________________________________________ Talk-ca mailing list Talk-ca@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ca
