Vic Morgan wrote: >I just thought that you'd like the opinion of a (not so) newbie in this >intense discussion. >In order to attract people (potential mappers) to the site it has to >offer something back - it has to have functionality. Not functionality >to the mapper - Potlatch is quite adequate for my level of expertise - >but both a reason and a reward for taking an interest in OSM. I'd >suggest that some of this functionality could be provided by links to a >couple of recently mentioned sites, and probably others; >1. Openrouteservice.org >This is a clear demonstration of how the OSM data can be used to provide >a useful service to the user. It's a usable and useful tool, and as an >added bonus readily demonstrates any weaknesses in local OSM data. >2. Maposmatic.org >Anyone visiting OSM will have an interest in getting a map of some >description. Ordinary punters will have no interest whatsoever in >rendering - all they want is a map. Maposmatic provides just that, >without bogging the user down in technical detail. >Between them these two sites offer the rewards that might just tempt >people into contributing to the OSM project because they can connect >data gathering with an end-product, without inviting the user to >undertake an instant course in half-a-dozen arcane IT subjects. >So my message is - add functionality and usability to the OSM entry >point by linking to usable, useful sites. Why else would they want to >visit the site? If the site is genuinely useful, and perhaps inspiring, >they'll come again and may start to contribute. >Once they are 'hooked' you can expose them to appalling mire of the OSM >Wiki and so-called help pages. By then they may have the inspiration to >plough through it all to satisfy their own particular needs. >UrbanRambler.
I think Vic has very nearly placed his finger on the issue. Many of the older OSMers are deeply entrenched in the ideology of "OSM is not a map, but a database of the world" and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But, this approach is only useful to a second tier of developers, such as the Cloudmades of the world who take the data and create useful products from it. There is a certain class of people, i.e. many of those on this list, for whom collecting the data is in and of itself an intriguing and useful activity. However, I am not really one of those. I came to OSM, because I was tired of the crappy maps, either out of date or in error, that were available for my areas of interest and I was told about this project that would let me actually fix the maps myself. I suspect the casual OSM visitors, hopefully users, hopefully contributors, initially get to the website for about the same reason. There needs to be something to immediately engage these casual visitors and draw them in. In my opinion what the casual visitor needs to see is emphasis on a top notch map rendering (and I'm not saying that Mapnik is not), along with a usable navigator. That is the bare minimum that the "competition" has to offer. This is necessary to engage the user at all, otherwise the impression will be, "Oh, this is an interesting project, I hope they make something useful out of it some day." Now that you have engaged them you make it clear that while they are using the products of the underlying data that are included on the website, if they happen to see something missing, incorrect, or just plane crazy, they have several options for getting it fixed, a) a bug report which some volunteer may some day act on, b) a very simplified editor for simple fixes so that they can fix it immediately themselves, c) a set of more robust editors that, if they are interested they can learn about in order to create and correct some of the more complex objects. In my opinion, the map, the navigation function, the simple editor, a simple tutorial, and possibly a couple of pushbuttons that would show different styles, etc., for a little flare, are all that should be emphasized on the home page. This is what is needed for initial enticement. Of course, links to other pages, such as "What is OSM really all about", how to do more complex editing, etc. should be clearly available. In my opinion, this is the way to engage new users, some, if not many of whom will become casual contributors, some of whom will be hooked into becoming major contributors, some of whom will become major flame war contributors :-]. It needs to be a graduated process so that the transition from visitor, to user, to contributor, to major contibutor can be made in comfortable steps, none of which will leave the person feeling totally lost with the process, and each of which will entice one step further. Granted there are realities along the way, tagging ambiguities, for example, that prevent this ideal. But if the user is able to enter the process in an orderly manner, the snags along the way won't be offputting to the point that they say "This is not for me", but either continue to develop interest in more sophisticated contributions or else reach a point of sustained casual activity at a more elementary level. Ah well, enough rambling. -- Randy _______________________________________________ talk mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
