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<p>Christoph, et al,</p>
<p>My responses are in line below.</p>
<p>apm</p>
<p>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2020 21:30:04 +0200
From: Christoph Hormann <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:osm@imagico.de"><osm@imagico.de></a>
To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:talk@openstreetmap.org">talk@openstreetmap.org</a>
Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] Proposal for Software Dispute Resolution Panel
Message-ID: <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:202008042130.04395.osm@imagico.de"><202008042130.04395.osm@imagico.de></a>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
On Tuesday 04 August 2020, Dorothea Kazazi wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite" style="color: #000000;">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">The OSMF board just published a proposal for a software
dispute resolution panel:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://blog.openstreetmap.org/2020/08/04/proposal-for-software-dispu">https://blog.openstreetmap.org/2020/08/04/proposal-for-software-dispu</a>
te-resolution-panel/
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">I guess i am asking too much if i envision the board creating a panel it
does not control itself...</pre>
</blockquote>
Please re-read the RFC that led to this proposal at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://blog.openstreetmap.org/2020/06/08/toward-resolution-of-controversies-related-to-id/">https://blog.openstreetmap.org/2020/06/08/toward-resolution-of-controversies-related-to-id/</a>,
which includes the statement, "This request for comment is
expected to lead to adoption of community structures that will not
answer to the Board or be influenced by the Board, in keeping with
the OSM philosophy that the Board supports OSM but does not tell
anybody what to map or how to map." <br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">For context - the DWG, which is the traditional and broadly respected
entity to resolve conflicts in mapping, is not controlled in
composition by the board, it decides on accepting new members
themselves. See also:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Data_Working_Group/DWG_Membership_Policy">https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Data_Working_Group/DWG_Membership_Policy</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Data_Working_Group/DWG_Conflict_of_Interest_Policy">https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Data_Working_Group/DWG_Conflict_of_Interest_Policy</a>
Significant parts of the authority the DWG has among mappers derive from
the fact that it is not composed of political appointees.</pre>
</blockquote>
OSM has no political appointees. We have volunteers who offer to
serve on working groups, panels, and committees, and in certain
cases the Board picks those it deems best qualified, while in
others the bodies are self-selecting. The Board selected the
members of the Diversity and Inclusion Special Committee and the
Microgrants Committee from among volunteers, and that was not
controversial. <br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">Interesting also that the composition of the panel is supposed to
reflect "all interests of the OSM community" but competence of the
panel members on the subject, experience with and knowledge of mapping
and tagging in OSM or in other words: The competence to assess
evidence on the cases they deal with and to deliberate on the matters
in a qualified and knowledgable way, is not a criterion. Neither is
impartiality on prominent special interests like those of corporate
data users.</pre>
</blockquote>
Taking the latter point first, if you consider the
conflict-of-interest rules the Board has proposed for all
OSMF-related bodies to be inadequate, please offer alternative
language. Since the panel would be an arm of the OSMF, it would
quite likely need to adopt conflict-of-interest rules in order to
conform to the requirements of the Companies Act, and might adopt
rules similar to those of the DWG:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Data_Working_Group/DWG_Conflict_of_Interest_Policy">https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Data_Working_Group/DWG_Conflict_of_Interest_Policy</a>
<br>
</p>
<p>As to the competence of panel members, I am surprised that you
would assume the Board would prefer incompetent candidates over
competent candidates. I also remind you of this line in the
proposal, "The Panel will be empowered to enlist assistance of
subject-matter experts to study and resolve disputes, such as
tagging presets." Our community is broad and enjoys great depth
of knowledge and experience, and that knowledge and experience
could be tapped as needed to fill knowledge gaps on the panel
itself.<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">Transparency is limited to the ultimate decisions being made public
(indeed important, would be interesting how this would function
otherwise). I guess that means both the nominations and selection of
panel members as well as the deliberation and consulting of the panel
on cases is going to happen behind closed doors.</pre>
</blockquote>
Nominations could be public, if the community wanted that. If you
feel strongly about that, put forward a positive recommendation to
that effect, please, and we will gauge the community reaction.</p>
<p>Board deliberations on selection of members would probably be
private. Some laundry should not be aired publicly, and you
certainly know that. There is a reason that in court cases,
juries deliberate in private, and not under public scrutiny; while
hardly as critical to public order as a jury trial, deliberations
in the OSMverse that involve discussion of individual members of
our community and their fitness for a particular, important role
should not be open to the public. <br>
</p>
<p>As far as how the panel would operate, that would be up to the
panel to determine, independently of the Board, so it is premature
to make any assumptions about that. Again, if you have strong
feelings about how the panel should operate, now is the time to
float them to the community for comment.<br>
</p>
<p>--
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap=""><div class="moz-txt-sig">Christoph Hormann
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.imagico.de/">http://www.imagico.de/</a></div></pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</p>
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