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</head><body text="#000000">I suspect that traditionally OSM has been
European centered. It started in Europe, and still has a very active
core there.<br>
<br>
When I went to University some fifty years ago we were told that
companies at distance of less than five miles networked very well.
Other services to support the cluster happened. Today the Internet has
changed things.<br>
<br>
In OSM terms Open Data is one of the services that we use so hopefully
we should support a country with a decent Open Data license.<br>
<br>
These days probably a limiting factor is probably time zones.
Population density also affects things. Europe has more mappers per
square kilometre than Canada or Australia.<br>
<br>
Having said that I would support examining the case for setting up shop
in Australia and I haven't seen any strong reasons for not considering
Canada yet. Mind you the current summer temperatures might put one or
two people off. <br>
<br>
Cheerio John<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<span>Graeme Fitzpatrick wrote on 6/30/2021 9:31 PM:</span><br>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAP4zaXpf3QD2W1Dm4yXqkq7n5+GobQvyYO8a+06TgTB-E_yYXw@mail.gmail.com">
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<div dir="ltr"><div>I've come very late to this discussion, so
apologies for asking what may (& probably is!) a very stupid
question.</div><div><br></div><div>Is the EU the only place that OSMF
could move to?</div><div><br></div><div>If so, why?</div><div><br></div><div>When
I went back through some earlier comments, I noticed one that suggested
Canada.</div><div><br></div><div>I could say the same thing - how about
Australia? We speak English & all laws / contracts are written in
English, you can receive charitable donations, our Association structure
is reasonably similar to the English. We've just gone through the
process of setting up an Oceania Chapter, so I'm assuming that the
question of International transactions has been investigated &
addressed with no major roadblocks?</div><div><br></div><div>I keep
seeing comments (& complaints) on this & other topics that OSM /
OSMF is too Western Eu / UK / US centric - maybe help break that by
moving away completely! :-)</div><div><br></div><div><div><div dir="ltr"
class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div
dir="ltr">Thanks<div><br></div><div>Graeme</div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div></div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, 1
Jul 2021 at 03:42, Philippe Verdy <<a href="mailto:verdyp@gmail.com"
moz-do-not-send="true">verdyp@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote
class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px
solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">I do agree.
After all this is what all major international organizations are doing:
e.g. Microsoft or Google with their subsidiary in Ireland without
having their "directors" (of the main organization) to be in Ireland.<br>An
I really doubt that language support is an issue (even in France: look
at Strasbourg for major institutions of the EU and of the Council of
Europe; only companies located in France have to provide some essential
info in French for French residents; and there are lot of exceptions for
NGOs, like the Red Cross).<div><br></div><div>Interesting places to
look at are then where EU, CoE, or UN institutions are located: these
places are multilingual with excellent support for English (but not
only! And it would be very interesting to be in these places that
support MORE languages for a larger part of the world, including outside
Europe):
Haaguen/La Haye (or Amsterdam for their large internet centers),
Brussels/Bruxelles, Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Geneva... and
even Paris (seat of several EU and UN agencies as well). All these
places have excellent/fast transportation with UK (notably Brussels and
Paris, by plane or high speed train, and lot of transportation services
wit hthe rest of the world, huge competition/low prices, high
availability). All these places have very favorable conditions for NGOs
(small like OSM, or large like the Red Cross), and lot of facilities
to manage international financial transfers and assets.<br><br></div><div>You
should not use "English" as a limiting factor, after all once you have
eliminated UK and Ireland, you'll find NO other country in the EU having
universal support of English for everything and everyone. But places
that are already highly multilingual and where legal documents written
in English are recognized exists EVERYWHERE in the EU (and the EU itself
makes lot of efforts to support these English documents as valid,
without forcing them to be translated; judges are also treating lot of
affairs in English, even if by law they will be forced to create a legal
translation in their national official language(s). If you look at the
two most important languages of EU, it has NEVER been English, but
French (in FR, BE, AD, MC, LU, parts of ES, IT, and DE) and German (in
DE, AT, CH), followed by Italian (in IT, part of DE, LI, and CH) or
Dutch (in BL and BE).</div><div><br></div><div>An international
organisation like OSM whose goal is to support the world would not focus
on using English exclusively for everything (and after all that's
another reason why chapters were created, and they should have a larger
role, all ofd them being able to offer services in English when it's
really required). So making some efforts at OSM to be a bit more
multilingual will be benificial (including for the rest of the world:
think about Russia, China, India, South Africa, Israel, Arabic
countries, South America supporting Spanish and Portuguese, or
Indonesia: these are very populated areas of the world with lot of
demand and activities for OSM).</div><div><br></div><div>Note that the
EU is a bit limitative territory, where as single market rules extend a
bit more (at least to the EEA and Switzerland as well even if it's not
part of EU and EEA, but partitipates in almost all activities and
cooperates with lot of countries around the world, via UN agencies).</div><div><br></div><div>For
me the best candidate place is Brussels (and it is already multingual,
having to support French, Dutch and German, plus all official languages
of the EU for all works and lobbying with EU institutions).</div><div><br></div></div><br><div
class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">Le mer. 30 juin
2021 à 15:57, Lorenzo Losa <<a href="mailto:lorenzo.losa@email.it"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">lorenzo.losa@email.it</a>> a
écrit :<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px
0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">On
sab, 2021-06-19 at 19:10 +0200, Guillaume Rischard wrote:<br>
> The OSMF board is considering relocating the OSMF to the EU. We<br>
> haven’t taken our decision yet, and would like to first consult its<br>
> membership for feedback, advice and whether we’ve missed anything.<br>
<br>
A few years ago there was a search for a country for incorporating an<br>
international organization in Wikimedia; the project failed, but you<br>
can find the discussions here, in case there is something useful:<br>
<a
href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Chapters_Association/Resolutions/2012_WCA_place_of_registration"
rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Chapters_Association/Resolutions/2012_WCA_place_of_registration</a><br>
<br>
> • Move the whole foundation? A hybrid approach – keeping the<br>
> “main” OSMF in the UK and having a sister OSMF in the EU – might<br>
> reduce the effort or even work better.<br>
<br>
You could also work together with a chapter, if it makes sense. I can<br>
say that the Italian chapter would be happy to help.<br>
<br>
Lorenzo<br>
<br>
<br>
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