[Osmf-talk] OSGeo Oceania Local Chapter application

[Edoardo Neerhut]

Hi all,

Chiming in here to provide a bit more context.

*Regional representation*
In creating this working group, we've been very mindful of speaking for
others across the region. One step we took to address this was the form we
sent out to gauge how many people are supportive of a regional OSM group.
We've now had 54 responses to date from countries across the region. As
Joost wrote, 20 of these people attended the first meeting expressing their
interest in being part of the working group. Ensuring different cultural
views are represented was stated as a key priority of the working group in
the very first meeting.

We have also been active across many channels to get input and volunteers
for these efforts.

*Growing OSM in the region*
Oceania is a vast geographic region and yet the population is only
~42 million. Some of the countries like Nauru have a population of
only ~11,000. It's all well and good to talk about national chapters, but
it's not a suitable model for a region like ours. There are definitely
legal considerations when you start to operate across borders, but OSGeo
Oceania has already proven that this can be successfully navigated. Our
first conference was in Melbourne, Australia our second in Wellington, New
Zealand, and our third would have been in Suva, Fiji had the pandemic not
forced it online. All of these conferences had legal, financial, and
cultural considerations that were successfully navigated.

*Future national chapters*
Speaking for myself here, I would be fully supportive if sustainable
national chapters were to emerge. In my opinion a supranational body is a
prerequisite to ever seeing such momentum in the region.

*OSGeo Oceania*
OSGeo Oceania has demonstrated success as a sustainable, supranational
organisation. The platform and the the funds generated through conferences
can go a long way to further increasing interest in OpenStreetMap
throughout the region, whilst simultaneously learning from local context
throughout the region.

Prior to these efforts outlined above, OSGeo Oceania has been active across
the region, with mapping events focused on Papua New Guinea and East Timor
for example. Both of these efforts had advisors from these countries.
Additionally, the Travel Grant Program at each of the conferences was
funding allocated to sponsor attendees from different countries in Oceania.

I can assure you we're 100% committed to diverse representation within this
group.

*OpenStreetMap focus*
In regards to whether or not OpenStreetMap plays a significant enough role
in OSGeo Oceania efforts, this is precisely the reason we have formed and
OpenStreetMap Working Group. As mentioned, this working group has already
received significant support and active volunteers. Many of these
individuals have already been actively mapping, organising mapping events
over the last few years, active on our local mailing lists, conducting
academic research in and around OSM, building companies in and around OSM,
and/or presenting at our local conferences.

I think it's fair to say OpenStreetMap is significant to OSGeo Oceania.

Cheers,

Ed

On Wed, 12 Aug 2020 at 07:42, Yves <ycai at mailbox.org> wrote:

> Frederik, in your example none of this would help New Guinea to build
> something from the bottom up.
>
> Le 11 août 2020 18:30:31 GMT+02:00, Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> a
> écrit :
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> On 8/11/20 16:31, Christoph Hormann via osmf-talk wrote:
>>
>>> I have thought about this quite a bit and my recommendation is that the
>>> OSMF not accept local chapters on a supranational level.
>>>
>>
>> Could we perhaps accept "supranational" local chapters with a
>> contractual extra that goes like:
>>
>> "Should the community of an individual country (or smaller group of
>> countries) within the area claimed by $LOCAL_CHAPTER want to form their
>> own local chapter in the future, the OSMF and $LOCAL CHAPTER commit to
>> modifying this agreement to make room for the new regional chapter."
>>
>> My thinking is that while being represented by an organisation from
>> Hobart might not be ideal for the mapper from New Guinea, maybe it is
>> still a tiny bit better than being represented from Cambridge, UK?
>>
>> Another option would be to request that supranational chapters take
>> active steps to solicit representation from all countries they aim to
>> represent, and report on these efforts regularly. I.e. in order not to
>> lose their status of representing New Guinea, OSGeo Oceania would have
>> to show that they're active there in some form. And that would have to
>> be more than just saying "well people from New Guinea can join our
>> mailing list." ;) -- then again, we'd be asking more of the chapter than
>> we're doing ourselves.
>>
>> Bye
>> Frederik
>>
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