[talk-ph] How can ESSC work more with the OSM-PH community

Mon Feb 11 14:36:48 GMT 2013

Warning: Very Long Email (but you may want to read as there's a goody
offer at the bottom)

By the time you read this, it will probably be Fat Tuesday? What comes
next (in PH)?
the start of the Holy Week (start of fasting and/or abstinence) right?
so I have an excuse to be holy (a little) and give a reflection (like a segue)
on a topic started by maning on ESSC about "giving back to the community."

Sit back and I'll start my sermon: ;-)
There was this story about HUNGRY PEOPLE & LIMITED RESOURCES.
Remember the fantastic "5 loaves of bread and 2 fish that fed five
thousands men"?
(I don't read books, I just heard that story somewhere).
Well, it's supposed to be a story about the miracle of (literally)
multiplying bread.
Some argued and interpreted this miracle as not about "multiplying...",
but about "sharing..."

Not that it belittles the unlimited power of God to make something out
of nothing,
but I kinda prefer the latter interpretation (the power to touch the
hearts of people).
In that story, it's assumed that many brought bread, but had this hesitation to
share them out for fear of something (it can be anything). Probably no
one wanted
to be the first to take out bread from their bag to share to others;
for fear that nobody will follow... for fear "na pag-fiestahan tayo &
leave us empty".)

And all what these people needed was just some sort of catalyst; and
so the miracle
happened. (I think you know how the story ended up: everybody was able to eat,
and there was a surplus of twelve baskets of bread). Nice story di ba? :-)

That's what we need in our community, especially for people who think they
cannot help themselves (those who lack support). Somebody has to start
the ball rolling. Well, it's like magic, people follow people who try
to be generous
themselves. But we must show them how: by being generous ourself,
despite our own limited resources.

In pinoy lingo: "patak-patak tayo!" coz everybody has something to
offer to the community,
whether big or small, whether talent, skills, passion, time, money,
influence or connections.

What are we saying? All you lurkers out there... we know you also have
something
to share!!! ;-)

Ilabas ang SMB (mahaba-habang inuman!) ;-)
let's talk how we (ph community) can help each other out.

I'd like to follow the works of maning, eugene and the rest of many
volunteer contributors
for the wonderful effort who have given their time, skills & talent to
our community.

I don't have much (in fact it's a bad time for me), pero eto ang eto
ang "patak" ko:
a "carrot on a stick" in the form of a brand new "Raspberry Pi" which
I just received today
from Singapore (via a local distributor), to lure out some DIY'er out
there to share their talents
for fun...

--------------
What the hell is a Raspberry Pi?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi
http://www.raspberrypi.org/
http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs
http://lifehacker.com/5976912/a-beginners-guide-to-diying-with-the-raspberry-pi

http://lifehacker.com/5978871/ten-more-awesome-projects-for-your-raspberry-pi
http://lifehacker.com/5929913/build-a-xbmc-media-center-with-a-35-raspberry-pi
http://lifehacker.com/5978098/turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-a-personal-vpn-for-secure-browsing-anywhere-you-go

----------------
I have with me a Rasberry Pi Model B (clear plastic case included).

Who wins it? It's up to you guys to decide. It doesn't matter who (a
person, group of persons or an org),
what matters is that can we start collaborating "to make something"
that will benefit
the "least of our brothers both in talents and resources", the none
techie teachers, students, researchers,
social workers, poor LGU's and NGO's, etc.

Let me put it this way: we don't want to just share good maps digital
osm map, as there are lots of alternatives
out there.

But let's change the game. Let's share the crowd-sourced data itself
back to people. We are not talking about raw data.

You don't want to give hungry people wheat to cook, do you? We give
them bread to initially address the hunger.

I say we give people lots of sampler data in form of GPX, CSV, or
spreadsheet readable osm data.
Naman!!! it will encourage "tamad." There will always be lazy &
freeloaders... doesn't matter.

Personal Wish List (add if you want something else):
I want to isolate all "name=Jollibee" or names with the word "hotel"
I want to isolate all "name=Mercury Drug" where branch=<null> ....or
something like that
I want to isolate all "amenity=pharmacy" or "amenity=clinic"
I want all "amenity=bus_station" and "amenity=bus_stop"
I want to isolate all POI's with names containing "hospital"
Extract all POI's of bridges with no names
Extract all historical markers or whatever
etc, etc. then convert to gpx format, or to some ready-to-use
spreadsheet format (CSV format)
Let's start with POI's (single node and polygons)

What we need from you: develop and teach everybody here:
-simple fun techniques and/or methods (with or without the aids of any
free downloadable tools), easy enough to be figured out by
none-programmers with a bit of common-sense;
-or create a script to extract data from:
http://download.geofabrik.de/openstreetmap/asia/

--------------

I still say, let's be more than generous, and give it to them for free
(and freely). I think one hacktivist had been doing the same except
that he pushed it too hard...
Well, we don't to be a one-man hero, because some heroes like this guy
ended up dead.

I say we work together, give enough usable data (just to inspire, too
see&taste the possibilities) but not too much, as we also want  to
teach people
"how to fish"... if you know what I mean, if what things to be sustainable.

More than giving, we want to teach the value of sharing, to build
capacity, to multiply ourselves: so that in times of needs, like
addressing hunger, disaster, poverty, injustices, and other addressing
social issues, there will be more of us, in different parts of the
county, more than ready to help.

Then you become miracles yourselves, multiplying your talent, skills,
and data for everybody! :-)
.
.
.

Ok ok ok, I have to stop now for the mean time. I also need a miracle
(to stop myself from writing long annoying emails like this that waste
your time (like it was written by somebody drunk), probably end up
ignored, or deleted, hehe). ;-)

Anyways, God bless you all!! Have an great fat tuesday and holy ash wednesday.

Cheers,
Rally

p.s. I'll turnover the Raspberry Pi (as well as my old gpsmap76) to
Maning or Eugene on Feb 23

On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 7:10 PM, maning sambale
<emmanuel.sambale at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear everyone,
>
> My institute the Environmental Science for Social Change
> (http://www.essc.org.ph/) is using OSM data and tools more and more.
> We are benefiting immensely from the tremendous volunteer work of this
> community.  Not only do we use some of the data but also the tools and
> technology that is being developed within the community.  In some
> ways, we are giving back to the community in the form of data (i.e.
> correcting OSM data whenever we do fieldwork); spreading the OSM love
> within our partner organizations (through short OSM workshops [1])
> and; our office space as a venue for events (i.e. presentation of OSM
> during  OSGeo-PH meeting [1] and Garmin map discussions [2]).
>
> This year, we want to engage with the community more.  We have limited
> resources but we are willing to offer assistance in any we can.  I'm
> writing here to discuss how can we be of assistance with the OSM-PH
> community.  Beyond myself, we want our Institute to be an active
> participant in building the best free map of the country.
>
> Ideas welcome.
>
> [0] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/File:OSM_South_Cotabato_LGUs_Workshop.jpg
> [1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Philippines/Chapter_Meeting_2011-12-03
> [2] http://vaes9.codedgraphic.com/posts/2011_osm_ph_review
> --
> cheers,
> maning
> ------------------------------------------------------
> "Freedom is still the most radical idea of all" -N.Branden
> wiki: http://esambale.wikispaces.com/
> blog: http://epsg4253.wordpress.com/
> ------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> talk-ph mailing list
> talk-ph at openstreetmap.org
> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ph