[HOT] Dealing with future growth: three recommendations to organisers (my SotM16 talk)

Martin Dittus martin at dekstop.de
Fri Nov 25 13:45:00 UTC 2016


> On 24 Nov 2016, at 20:22, Blake Girardot HOT/OSM <blake.girardot at hotosm.org> wrote:
> 
>> In brief, I’d like to make three key recommendations:
>> • Carefully manage the tasking manager task listing during large disaster events. People who join during these events don't tend to stay active for long, and their contributions tend to have a lower quality. Point them towards newcomer-friendly projects where they can make some early experiences.
> 
> In the context of disaster response, an activation, how long should
> the early experience be? Is it ok if it is not a disaster related
> project, but a specific new mapper project, probably from missing
> maps? I would think we need a new mapped tailored part of the response
> mapping to direct new mappers too.

I don’t have a short answer for this, but my feeling is that it’s about initial training as much about providing a buffer for people who are just curious and want to click around a bit. Anything that redirects TV audiences to such an initial buffer is likely a win. Optimally, people who contribute well are then guided to further projects — for example as part of validator feedback.




> 
>> • Introduce a notification mechanism to inform contributors of emergent campaigns. While the mailing list may work for the core community, there is likely a larger number of one-time mappers who may be willing to help out again when they’re needed, but currently they have no means of finding out.
> 
> Yes, we have to make better use of email i think is what it comes down
> too. Really we need to engage with new mappers where they are, but the
> recurrent theme in many of these discussions is that email is best
> because OSM only or TM only contact solutions are missed by literally
> 1 day mappers. Emails seems the consensus, allow contributors to
> provide their email and opt-into some email messages from the Tasking
> Manager.

Yes, that sounds great. The existing HOT newsletter could be a low-effort means of starting something like this, e.g. by adding a paragraph on current initiatives to every email. (Tyler might likely appreciate if someone who’s plugged into community discourse could provide such paragraphs on short notice.)


> 
>> • Try to connect newcomers to the existing community as soon as possible, and in a setting that is appropriate for absolute beginners. Where can people ask questions online? Is the mailing list still appropriate for absolute beginners?
> 
> See the Live OSM mapper-support channel, that is a direct result of
> this suggestion and an attempt to accomplish the goal of connecting
> absolute beginners with the OSM community. (
> https://hotosm-slack.herokuapp.com/ )

I love how quickly this came to be! Much impressed.


Looking forward to an exciting 2017,

m.




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