[HOT] Level of user experience to focus on

[john whelan]

There is an International Open Data 2015 going on in Ottawa at the moment.
I live in Ottawa so I thought I'd drift down to see who was using the HOT
OSM data.  The interest was specifically in Nepal and West Africa.

I spoke to one of the organisations that makes OSM and other Open Data
available to NGOs and anyone else who wants it.  Their answer was they had
no idea who was using any of the data unless they stumbled across its use.
For example an article in the New York Times.  Part of the problem is in a
crisis things happen very quickly, people grab what they can from wherever
they can and no one really keeps track of who is downloading it the data or
how its being using.

When I spoke to other conference attendees OSM was instantly recognisable,
for example Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) makes
heavy use of it.  GODAN for example comprises 123 organisations.

So HOT is valued greatly but often the data is used in ways that you might
not recognise from the normal web page that we use to look at OSM data.

Specifically helicopter crews, well the Canadian Forces in Nepal are
creating printed maps from the HOT mapped OSM and other sources and handing
them out.  That's basically where the maps that helicopter crews are using
come from so not pure OSM maps but derived from them.

Cheerio John

Cheerio John

On 29 May 2015 at 03:54, Springfield Harrison <stellargps at gmail.com> wrote:

> Right, I guess I was looking for more specific user feedback.  I've never
> heard of one instance where the OSM mapping was actually used by a
> helicopter crew or a ground crew was guided around a landslide.  I guess it
> may have happened.
>
> I was surprised that I could plunge in to verifying helipads with no
> screening, certification or experience!
>
> A bit too loose I feel . . .
>
> Cheers . . . . .   Spring
> Samsung Tab 4
> On May 29, 2015 12:42 AM, "Suzan Reed" <suzan at suzanreed.com> wrote:
>
>> I agree, Spring. However, knowing I was contributing to helping real
>> people and possibly even saving lives, that was enough of a reward for me.
>>
>> An intake funnel would be helpful to HOT and to the new contributor.
>> Specific learning materials, a way to test those newly learned skills, and
>> then a way to route people to tasks overseen by a community of dedicated
>> expert mappers that can give positive feedback? Priceless, as they say.
>>
>> Suzan
>>
>>
>> On May 28, 2015, at 11:26 PM, Springfield Harrison wrote:
>>
>> Agreed.  For HOT mapping at least, OSM management is heavily challenged
>> in three areas:
>>         • a large, untrained workforce, high in enthusiasm, low in skills
>> (in general)
>>         • a relatively demanding, high tech task requiring some knowledge
>> (or even a lot) of computing and aerial photo interpretation
>>         • relatively low job satisfaction, in that the results of the
>> volunteers' work is not immediately tangible or visible
>>         To succeed in the face of the above factors requires a huge
>> training and guidance system that leads the volunteer painlessly from task
>> to task and ultimately to some sort of rewarding experience.  Without that
>> supporting structure, the initial enthusiasm will peter out very quickly.
>> Many volunteers probably found OSM by chance/Google search and could easily
>> move on to something else.
>>
>>         GIS by the masses has many challenges.
>>
>>                           Thanks, Cheers . . . . . . . . Spring Harrison
>>
>>
>> At 28-05-2015 22:07 Thursday, Shawn K. Quinn wrote:
>> > On Thu, 2015-05-28 at 12:57 +0000, Rekth K wrote: > Hi all, > > Thank
>> you for all your welcoming messages! > > I'd like to ask a question on what
>> type(s) of user(s) to take into > consideration when testing for usability
>> and suggesting improvements. In > other words, for what level of experience
>> am I supposed to optimise the > Tasking Manager? Should it be for first
>> time visitors, those who land on > the hotosm page and do not know what HOT
>> is? Or should the usability > testing lean towards fully experienced users
>> and their needs? At the risk of sounding slightly elitist, I really think
>> we should mostly assume at least minimally experienced users who have at
>> least done some armchair mapping in their country and/or local area mapping
>> partially aided by aerials. I say this for two practical reasons: 1. A
>> humanitarian mapping project is not the time and place to learn how to
>> properly use iD or JOSM. 2. The quality of work tends to correlate
>> positively with level of mapping experience. -- Shawn K. Quinn <
>> skquinn at rushpost.com> _______________________________________________
>> HOT mailing list HOT at openstreetmap.org
>> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/hot
>> _______________________________________________
>> HOT mailing list
>> HOT at openstreetmap.org
>> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/hot
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> HOT mailing list
> HOT at openstreetmap.org
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/hot
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/hot/attachments/20150529/8229143c/attachment.html>