[Osmf-talk] Balancing the presence of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT US Inc) in the OpenStreetMap Foundation

[Christoph Hormann]

On Wednesday 02 December 2015, Kate Chapman wrote:
>
> As for diversity, I'm sorry that Yantisa Akhadi who works for HOT has
> been dragged into this. I think having a board member familiar with
> the Asia region and very familiar with the OSM community in Indonesia
> would be a real asset. After all it is the 4th most populous country
> in the world. Think of all the potential mappers out there. I would
> willingly resign my HOT membership if I met Yantisa would be elected
> to the OSMF board, I think that having a variety of regional views is
> far more important than my say in HOT.

Thanks a lot for this gesture - even if ultimately immaterial it is 
great to see clear indications that this is not all about power and 
influence.

I have indicated that i consider HOT membership as a possible source of 
conflicts with work on the OSMF board but i am actually much more wary 
about the fact that so far none of the HOT members running for the OSMF 
board has indicated to consider resigning HOT membership (or suspend it 
in case that is possible) if being elected to the OSMF board than about 
formal membership.  I do not consider this a knock-out criterion but i 
distinctly noted this when studying the answers - to me the willingness 
to give up something dear to yourself for the common cause is a very 
signficant qualification for something like an OSMF board position.

W.r.t. balanced representation of worldwide OSM communities - of course 
having people from the equally underrepresented communities of South 
America, Africa and Russia would be a gain as well.  With four seats 
available all four could be covered although the candidates from 
Western Europe and North America are certainly not without merits 
either...

-- 
Christoph Hormann
http://www.imagico.de/