[Osmf-talk] Directed Editing Policy

[Dan S]

Hi all,

Thanks for drafting this policy proposal. It's definitely good to have
something like this, because of the increasing amount of directed
editing we have!

My feedback:

* I do think that in practice this could well seem like an admin
burden for informal newbie engagement in mapping parties etc. Taken at
face value, the proposed policy says that as mapping party organiser I
need to make every visitor read+understand+accept the "Directee"
section and all the "must not"s - I think as a newbie I would find
this offputting and overly-formal, when all I wanted to do was help
out a bit and "no experience necessary". Maybe you don't intend every
newcomer to a mapping party read those Ts+Cs (it seems rather
implausible) - however, this is all listed as "must". Perhaps you can
clarify (by email) what the DWG would like to happen in this common
situation?

* I feel that the above issue is because the policy attempts to range
very widely, meaning that a casual humanitarian mapper is treated the
same as a paid employee, when their two situations are quite
different, and my (personal) expectations of how they should interact
are quite different. So I wonder if it's worth attempting less of a
one-size-fits-all. Perhaps simply by narrowing the scope somehow, e.g.
expressing that Section B (Duties of the Directee) are "must" for paid
work and "should" for casual/voluntary contributors.

* In this discussion thread, Frederik replies to Ian by talking about
the difference between a casual hangout mapping party and a big
advertised "Maptoberfest", and asks "Is this a distinction that you
did not understand after first reading of the policy?" - on my part I
say YES! I can't see anything in the policy that makes this
distinction at all. In all such cases it's easy to argue there's a
director-directee relationship since there's always an experienced
person advising. I don't know what kind of wording will help with this
but I presume something in the preamble could be added to make clear
that OSM and OSMF are happy with small-scale informal group efforts
and don't intend to treat them harshly.

Best
Dan





2017-11-21 0:54 GMT+00:00 Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org>:
> Hi,
>
>    the DWG has prepared a policy on "Directed Editing" (former working
> title "Organised Editing Policy"). Read it here:
>
> https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Directed_Editing_Policy
>
> The policy picks up (but doesn't slavishly follow) the results of our
> survey, where it became obvious that transparency and communications are
> what mappers find most important about organised mapping efforts. The
> policy replaces the somewhat fuzzy terms of "paid" and "organised"
> editing with the concept of "directed editing", which is essentially
> when you're required to edit OSM (because of work, a school assignment
> etc) and/or when you're told by others exactly what and how to map.
>
> The DWG is interested in feedback on this proposal. Are you currently
> involved in some form of editing that would be covered by the policy?
> Does the policy present an unnecessary obstacle for some activities? If
> you have witnessed organised mapping efforts that caused problems -
> would these problems have been avoided if people had adhered to the
> proposed policy?
>
> Bye
> Frederik
>
> --
> Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"
>
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