[Osmf-talk] microgrants - second draft policy document

[Joost Schouppe]

Hi Christoph,

Here are some personal thoughts wrt to your input.

* many of the points of my previous comments:
>
>
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2019-October/006294.html
>
> still apply (with the exception of the progress made on the follow-up on
> projects - more on that below) I would encourage the new board members
> to look over these previous comments.
>

I hope they already did, it's all neatly documented in our gitlab :)
We did look quite closely at your input before, and implemented things when
we saw a way to do so.

* the promise to try facilitating translations will not eliminate the
> problems of language and culture bias.  Selecting a commitee based on
> English language capability will inevitably introduce a significant
> bias into its composition which would propagate into the selection even
> with a highly supportive translation service being provided to
> applicants (which is often difficult in the first place).
>

I don't think we ask for English speaking capabilities in the document? If
a volunteer is willing to auto-translate back and forward to their own
language, they could still participate IMHO. The alternative would be to
choose another lingua franca, but that would just replace the problem with
a similar new one.


> * i see a problem with the idea of the same people doing the selection
> of projects being involved in follow-up on these projects.  Someone who
> has made the decision to select a certain project will often have the
> tendency to justify that decision afterwards.



* [...] having project supervisors who
> are able to communicate with the grant recipients in their native
> language would probably be essential.  These do not necessarily have to
> be part of a formal committee of course.  But having people who - from
> the outside and not being part of the projects themselves - accompany
> the progress of the projects for their duration would be quite
> significant.


I think both potential problems are sufficiently addressed by having a call
for volunteers for the second fase. They can be a critical voice to
compensate for possible groupthink or cognitive dissonance. And the
committee can look for people with specific language skills if that turns
out to be necessary given the accepted projects.


Joost
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