Re: [Talk-us] OSM-edit-a-thon, Growing US User Groups/Communities
I'm giving my .02 here based on my experience. Obviously everyone's experience will differ, and I'd love to hear from folks with long established communities in North America. On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 5:16 PM, william skora wrote: > Given Cleveland's population relative to other cities, our mutual interests > and the sheer overlap between OSM and open source GIS tools (QGIS, postGIS, > Tilemill, cartodb, etc), other co-organizers and I thought it would be a > great fit for our user group to focus on both OSM and FOSSGIS/Open > Geospatial tools. In the places I've lived (DC and NYC) there was already an established GIS group, with more or less emphasis on FLOSS, so we had a more or less OSM centric group. Ultimately you find what works for you and go with it, but in my experience, there's a different mindset between GIS and OSM. A lot of heavy OSMers are not GIS folks by trade, or they've gotten into GIS through OSM, and while there are some awesome folks with a foot in both camps, I think that while cross pollination is awesome and encourages, OSM has grown to a point where its identity is distinct > How often to hold meetings ? The issue of meetings is an interesting one. We've run three meetings so far in OSM NYC and even though I ran the first one, I don't think I like them. People are used to meetings. They're used to talking about meetings and sitting down for meetings, where really successful local OSM groups I've seen really don't do meetings. When MappingDC held "meetings" they were not very productive, but when it switched to Mappy Hours and Mapping Parties, the group worked a lot better- we had better turnout, more community and a lot more fun (and it was easier!) My suggestion is to have a regularly scheduled social event- be it a Mappy Hour or some event where people just come and hang out and talk OSM, and then, when you can, have mapping parties. The most important thing is to be consistent. The time/place won't ever be ideal for everyone, but if it's consistent, people will come. When MappingDC had its monthly Mappy Hours, we had >20 people come to these events, sometimes 30. Compare that to when we held meetings, we had 6-8 people attending. It was awesome. > Should we as a group choopse something to work on ? You may find this works for you- when MappingDC tried this, it fell flat and created frustration. Mapping Parties, on the other hand, worked great, as did people talking about what they were doing.. > One thing that I've > noticed from last year's meetings and HOT: there were a few users who saw > OSM to help them reach a particular goal or scratch their itch of a > particular interest (verifying roads to facilitate routing, mapping all of > the places of worship in an area, etc) and began mapping that but there were > others who were interested but, for lack of a better word, were overwhelmed > of what to begin mapping and where. Mapping Parties help a lot, but so do social events. If you want to more, there's talk about building more introductory documents. > However, Potlatch's emphasis (on documentation, maintenance) is likely to > decrease (maybe not, I'm just basing this on my impressions) soon as well. > Interested to hear what others have done or planning to do. I think that Josm is amazing, it's the editor I use. But Potlatch is so much easier that I'd use that with new folks until iD is more mature. YMMV but I'd love to hear how it turns out. - Serge ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] OSM Edit-a-thon January 26th
Finger check alert The changeset tag is #editathon ... On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 1:07 PM, the Old Topo Depot wrote: > On the subject of metrics, we will have changeset stats as well as unique > user counts for changesets tagged as #editiathon. I may have actual edit > counts, but may not have time to implement before the event starts > > I will try to have them posted on a public web site during the event; any > assistance with tweeting them periodically would be appreciated. > (preferably automatically) > > Thanks for updating the blog post with Portland > > Best, > > > On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 11:27 AM, Kathleen Danielson < > kathleen.daniel...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Awesome! So glad you'll be joining us! >> >> >> On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 2:25 PM, Sax-Barnett, Melelani < >> barne...@trimet.org> wrote: >> >>> I just wanted to spread the word that Portland will be having its own >>> meetup for Saturday's OSM Edit-a-thon too. Sorry for the late notice-- we >>> had some trouble finding a venue. >>> >>> We'll be meeting from 2-6 PM at the Radio Room at 1101 NE Alberta Street >>> ( >>> http://www.openstreetmap.org/?box=yes&bbox=-122.65443%2C45.55921%2C-122.65419%2C45.55936 >>> ). >>> >>> More info at http://calagator.org/events/1250463436 >>> >>> Hope to see a good crowd there! >>> >>> -Mele Sax-Barnett >>> ___ >>> Talk-us mailing list >>> Talk-us@openstreetmap.org >>> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us >>> >> >> >> ___ >> Talk-us mailing list >> Talk-us@openstreetmap.org >> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us >> >> > > > -- > John Novak > 585-OLD-TOPOS (585-653-8676) > http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnanovak/ > OSM ID:oldtopos > OSM Heat Map: http://yosmhm.neis-one.org/?oldtopos > OSM Edit Stats:http://hdyc.neis-one.org/?oldtopos > -- John Novak 585-OLD-TOPOS (585-653-8676) http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnanovak/ OSM ID:oldtopos OSM Heat Map: http://yosmhm.neis-one.org/?oldtopos OSM Edit Stats:http://hdyc.neis-one.org/?oldtopos ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] OSM-edit-a-thon, Growing US User Groups/Communities
Great discussion so far and perfect timing for us in Cleveland, we're having our first event of 2013 tomorrow. http://www.meetup.com/cleveland-civic-hacking/members/23087451/ Given Cleveland's population relative to other cities, our mutual interests and the sheer overlap between OSM and open source GIS tools (QGIS, postGIS, Tilemill, cartodb, etc), other co-organizers and I thought it would be a great fit for our user group to focus on both OSM and FOSSGIS/Open Geospatial tools. (Personally, I think this synergy is really useful: one feature of OSM that deserves to be emphasized more is being able to use that data in really neat ways - maps, visualization, analysis, etc - that you couldn't do with google maps). Some things that we've run into, could need help on: We haven't thought of a name yet (related to above): Open Geo ? Open geo-spatial ? Open Gis ? OSM/FOSSGIS ? Naturally, I'm also soliciting suggestions at tomorrow's meeting. Semi-related: call ourselves a user group ? Community ? IMHO, user group, to me, has a negative connotation of a bunch of old white guys sitting around (ala GNU, BSD) and not interacting with other communities in their area. I guess this (determining a name) sort of also relates to what actually we'll be doing... I crafted a very crude mission statement a few days ago (on our wiki page), but a mission statement is something that should be developed by the group , and refine itself organically as activities go on . How often to hold meetings ? I'm thinking bi-monthly, regularly scheduled would be a really good fit. We had 3 events last year although not on a regular basis and it was definitely noticeable of a loss of momentum after the first 2. Agree with Serge on his point. In other organizations that I've led or participated, it is much easier to maintain momentum by having regularly scheduled meetings. That said, this is a problem experienced by other organizations that I've participated/led in and I've already had 3 state their interest but unable to attend due to a conflict. So we may rotate the day of the week, but keep the same week. Should we as a group choose something to work on ? One thing that I've noticed from last year's meetings and HOT: there were a few users who saw OSM to help them reach a particular goal or scratch their itch of a particular interest (verifying roads to facilitate routing, mapping all of the places of worship in an area, etc) and began mapping that but there were others who were interested but, for lack of a better word, were overwhelmed of what to begin mapping and where. (As I type this out, I'm thinking to suggest to them tomorrow to map out a few restaurants/bars or other POIs in their neighborhood). Has any other OSMers encountered this in their users group ? Should we focus on a particular topic, (after soliciting suggestions from members) ? I'm likely going to use JOSM to walk them through their first edits. I've used JOSM at past meetings in Cleveland (most of our attendees in the past have been relatively technically savvy) and while in Senegal for HOT. iD is a couple months away (?!) from being able to be used in this context. However, Potlatch's emphasis (on documentation, maintenance) is likely to decrease (maybe not, I'm just basing this on my impressions) soon as well. Interested to hear what others have done or planning to do. Lastly, when I first started using OSM a couple years ago, I was really frustrated by a few terms that were sometimes unique to OSM, sometimes used in other areas of GIS) that appeared convoluted (some of them were just a result of British English being used) or went into overwrought, technical detail, or were simply outdated. So, I'm preparing a cheat sheet that very briefly describe these terms, in less technical language. Aimed to be a supplement to people who may not have a laptop or smart phone with them and just want a brief reminder what these terms mean as they make their first edits, hear them used in my presentation, discussions, or reading OSM documentation . https://gist.github.com/4614619 I encourage to fork and improve it, feedback. Regards, Will PS - I found this great overview of open-source mapping/geospatial tools by Nate Kelso - a great supplement that I plan on sharing with attendees. https://github.com/nvkelso/geo-how-to ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] OSM Edit-a-thon January 26th
On the subject of metrics, we will have changeset stats as well as unique user counts for changesets tagged as #editiathon. I may have actual edit counts, but may not have time to implement before the event starts I will try to have them posted on a public web site during the event; any assistance with tweeting them periodically would be appreciated. (preferably automatically) Thanks for updating the blog post with Portland Best, On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 11:27 AM, Kathleen Danielson < kathleen.daniel...@gmail.com> wrote: > Awesome! So glad you'll be joining us! > > > On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 2:25 PM, Sax-Barnett, Melelani < > barne...@trimet.org> wrote: > >> I just wanted to spread the word that Portland will be having its own >> meetup for Saturday's OSM Edit-a-thon too. Sorry for the late notice-- we >> had some trouble finding a venue. >> >> We'll be meeting from 2-6 PM at the Radio Room at 1101 NE Alberta Street ( >> http://www.openstreetmap.org/?box=yes&bbox=-122.65443%2C45.55921%2C-122.65419%2C45.55936 >> ). >> >> More info at http://calagator.org/events/1250463436 >> >> Hope to see a good crowd there! >> >> -Mele Sax-Barnett >> ___ >> Talk-us mailing list >> Talk-us@openstreetmap.org >> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us >> > > > ___ > Talk-us mailing list > Talk-us@openstreetmap.org > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us > > -- John Novak 585-OLD-TOPOS (585-653-8676) http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnanovak/ OSM ID:oldtopos OSM Heat Map: http://yosmhm.neis-one.org/?oldtopos OSM Edit Stats:http://hdyc.neis-one.org/?oldtopos ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] OSM Edit-a-thon January 26th
Awesome! So glad you'll be joining us! On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 2:25 PM, Sax-Barnett, Melelani wrote: > I just wanted to spread the word that Portland will be having its own > meetup for Saturday's OSM Edit-a-thon too. Sorry for the late notice-- we > had some trouble finding a venue. > > We'll be meeting from 2-6 PM at the Radio Room at 1101 NE Alberta Street ( > http://www.openstreetmap.org/?box=yes&bbox=-122.65443%2C45.55921%2C-122.65419%2C45.55936 > ). > > More info at http://calagator.org/events/1250463436 > > Hope to see a good crowd there! > > -Mele Sax-Barnett > ___ > Talk-us mailing list > Talk-us@openstreetmap.org > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us > ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] OSM Edit-a-thon January 26th
I just wanted to spread the word that Portland will be having its own meetup for Saturday's OSM Edit-a-thon too. Sorry for the late notice-- we had some trouble finding a venue. We'll be meeting from 2-6 PM at the Radio Room at 1101 NE Alberta Street (http://www.openstreetmap.org/?box=yes&bbox=-122.65443%2C45.55921%2C-122.65419%2C45.55936). More info at http://calagator.org/events/1250463436 Hope to see a good crowd there! -Mele Sax-Barnett ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] OSM Edit-a-thon January 26th
All good points, Serge. I'd definitely would like to see more outside activity as the seasons are changing. I want to particularly emphasize your last point: If you're attending or organizing a local event, let everyone know how it went. Take pictures, write up a quick comment with links to pictures here on [talk-us], or just send Kathleen an email. If we get enough good stuff we can make a great blog post out of this and use pictures as material for announcing the next event. Also, let us know what could be better (got the lead time down). On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 1:15 PM, Serge Wroclawski wrote: > On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 11:59 AM, Kathleen Danielson > wrote: > > No problem. > > > > What would folks think of making this a semi-organized quarterly thing? > > Monthly is probably too frequent, but quarterly might be the right pace. > > I have a few thoughts on this. > > First, I think it's great to see OSM US step up and take a role in the > community that involves organizing these large events. We in the US > have a particular difficulty in comparison to our European friends in > that our country is so large and our population so evenly distributed > that we have trouble organizing. So I want to say how happy I am that > OSM US, and you in particular Kathleen, are stepping up and helping. > > Secondly, outside it's currently 16F, and with the wind chill it's 3F, > so I won't be doing any walking and mapping, but as the weather > improves, I'd really like to see more organized mapping events, or > coordinated mapping events, where we're encouraged to go out and do > surveying. > > This is really key for the long term sustainability of both the > project and the local communities, as we've seen in studies that those > people who are our most consistent and active contributors have stated > that local connectedness is at the heart of their involvement with the > project. So it behooves local community organizers to do more to reach > out and find those people, teach them mapping, and give them a place > where they can really apply that passion. > > And the value that will bring to do the data will also be evident, as > we compare the contributions made by mappers of their local area in > Europe to the US, we see a clear correlation between localism and > highly accurate, up to date surveyed data. > > Thirdly, I've been an OSM community organizer for two OSM communities, > MappingDC and OSM NYC and I think that one of the problems that local > organizers have is consistency. A community will spring up, have a few > events, then hibernate. I think by having quarterly events, that > encourages folks to organize mapping parties regularly, while still > leaving time for local communities to have their own events if they > want to. > > Fourthly, I think this is great. I think this could be even more > awesome if there could be some feedback mechanism both before (and > maybe more importantly) after the event. If the local communities > could write up a paragraph (two max) and have it posted somewhere that > summarizes the events, so we can really see what happened. And a map > of all the local events happening would be awesome too. > > - Serge > ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] OSM Edit-a-thon January 26th
On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 11:59 AM, Kathleen Danielson wrote: > No problem. > > What would folks think of making this a semi-organized quarterly thing? > Monthly is probably too frequent, but quarterly might be the right pace. I have a few thoughts on this. First, I think it's great to see OSM US step up and take a role in the community that involves organizing these large events. We in the US have a particular difficulty in comparison to our European friends in that our country is so large and our population so evenly distributed that we have trouble organizing. So I want to say how happy I am that OSM US, and you in particular Kathleen, are stepping up and helping. Secondly, outside it's currently 16F, and with the wind chill it's 3F, so I won't be doing any walking and mapping, but as the weather improves, I'd really like to see more organized mapping events, or coordinated mapping events, where we're encouraged to go out and do surveying. This is really key for the long term sustainability of both the project and the local communities, as we've seen in studies that those people who are our most consistent and active contributors have stated that local connectedness is at the heart of their involvement with the project. So it behooves local community organizers to do more to reach out and find those people, teach them mapping, and give them a place where they can really apply that passion. And the value that will bring to do the data will also be evident, as we compare the contributions made by mappers of their local area in Europe to the US, we see a clear correlation between localism and highly accurate, up to date surveyed data. Thirdly, I've been an OSM community organizer for two OSM communities, MappingDC and OSM NYC and I think that one of the problems that local organizers have is consistency. A community will spring up, have a few events, then hibernate. I think by having quarterly events, that encourages folks to organize mapping parties regularly, while still leaving time for local communities to have their own events if they want to. Fourthly, I think this is great. I think this could be even more awesome if there could be some feedback mechanism both before (and maybe more importantly) after the event. If the local communities could write up a paragraph (two max) and have it posted somewhere that summarizes the events, so we can really see what happened. And a map of all the local events happening would be awesome too. - Serge ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] OSM Edit-a-thon January 26th
No problem. What would folks think of making this a semi-organized quarterly thing? Monthly is probably too frequent, but quarterly might be the right pace. On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 10:44 AM, Alex Barth wrote: > We should definitely have 1 - 2 months lead time next time around. I know > John's been looking at this as a casual first stab at something like that > and we're all piling on now :) > > Let's make some more noise around this: Tweet and facebook that shiz, post > here so we can amplify each other. Especially if you're running a local > event. I'm getting some good responses here and hope to fill the MapBox > conf room: > > https://twitter.com/lxbarth/status/293930779887665152 > > Kathleen can you RT from @geo_dc? > > > On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 1:34 PM, the Old Topo Depot > wrote: > >> Details at http://www.openstreetmap.us/. Check back for updates before >> the event. >> >> Please join us for a day of editing and socializing at several US >> locations. If you're interesting in hosting a local event, please contact >> me off-list. >> >> Best, >> >> -- >> John Novak >> 585-OLD-TOPOS (585-653-8676) >> http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnanovak/ >> OSM ID:oldtopos >> OSM Heat Map: http://yosmhm.neis-one.org/?oldtopos >> OSM Edit Stats:http://hdyc.neis-one.org/?oldtopos >> >> ___ >> Talk-us mailing list >> Talk-us@openstreetmap.org >> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us >> >> > > ___ > Talk-us mailing list > Talk-us@openstreetmap.org > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us > > ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] OSM Edit-a-thon January 26th
We should definitely have 1 - 2 months lead time next time around. I know John's been looking at this as a casual first stab at something like that and we're all piling on now :) Let's make some more noise around this: Tweet and facebook that shiz, post here so we can amplify each other. Especially if you're running a local event. I'm getting some good responses here and hope to fill the MapBox conf room: https://twitter.com/lxbarth/status/293930779887665152 Kathleen can you RT from @geo_dc? On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 1:34 PM, the Old Topo Depot wrote: > Details at http://www.openstreetmap.us/. Check back for updates before > the event. > > Please join us for a day of editing and socializing at several US > locations. If you're interesting in hosting a local event, please contact > me off-list. > > Best, > > -- > John Novak > 585-OLD-TOPOS (585-653-8676) > http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnanovak/ > OSM ID:oldtopos > OSM Heat Map: http://yosmhm.neis-one.org/?oldtopos > OSM Edit Stats:http://hdyc.neis-one.org/?oldtopos > > ___ > Talk-us mailing list > Talk-us@openstreetmap.org > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us > > ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
