[Osmf-talk] Draft resolution on membership prerequisites

Mon Feb 14 15:43:55 UTC 2022

I’m not involved in the current discussions (and am certainly not speaking for anybody else), but I know what prompted it: this is entirely about anti-takeover, and nothing else.

The GlobalLogic incident around the 2018 election made it clear this is something OSM has to worry about: what if some MegaCorp paid for 1000 (or 10000) employees to become OSMF members and thus essentially pay for a slate of Board seats?

Everybody should worry about this, and it’s a big enough deal that the membership passed a resolution in the 2020 AGM stating that OSMF should investigate how to ensure that applications for Foundation membership have contributed to the OSM ecosystem.

So the question is how one can create an anti-takeover system that INCLUDES those who are truly involved in OpenStreetMap, but EXCLUDES bought-and-paid-for memberships solely to vote for Mega Corp’s slate.

My understanding is that OSMF would define qualifying contributions to OSM on a very broad and inclusive basis: mapping (of course), participating in a working group; organizing map-a-thons, building a local chapter, contributing source code, and all the things you mentioned.  These make the whole OpenStreetMap ecosystem richer.

I have not heard one whiff that this is meant to create a selective old-boy’s club (but I see how it could look that way), and I can’t think of anybody truly involved in OpenStreetMap who would not *easily* qualify for membership in the Foundation.

And my experience is that most people who get involved in Foundation business didn’t start out that way, but started out doing actual regular mapping: getting 42 lifetime days of mapping in your past seems like a relatively low bar. 

But MegaCorp getting 1000 employees (who don’t care about OSM one way or the other) to do this would be a much bigger challenge.

In any case, this was just a proposal, and I’m glad to see there’s a good discussion.  I’m not sure what I think about this yet, if only because of the work that would get dropped on the Membership Working Group to make it so. But I’m coming around.

Those with alternate proposals to protect OSMF from takeover are welcome to chime in.

Steve – who really is not speaking for anybody else

From: Imre Samu <pella.samu at gmail.com> 
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2022 12:56 PM
To: Tobias Knerr <osm at tobias-knerr.de>
Cc: OSMF Talk <osmf-talk at openstreetmap.org>
Subject: Re: [Osmf-talk] Draft resolution on membership prerequisites

> "... contributed to OpenStreetMap on at least 42 days. The specific form of the contributions

>  (e.g. mapping vs. non-mapping) does not make a difference for the fulfilment of these prerequisites"

What is the definition of "non-mapping" contributions?

- SOTM conference organizers?

- OSM wiki editing / translating?

- Discussing tagging problems in OpenStreetMap mailing list?

- solving problems in https://help.openstreetmap.org/ 

- Open-source commits - related to osm? 

- Creating tutorials in "non-english" language?

- ...

But probably we need to separate the contributions by payments.

- voluntarily ( non-paid contributing )

- paid by non-profit

- paid by a for-profit company

// "paid contributions" -->  ~"paid votes" 

And some "Hippocratic Oath for OSM voting members" will be useful. 

like the "Hippocratic Oath for Data Scientists / The ethical checklist that every data scientist must follow"

             https://towardsdatascience.com/hippocratic-oath-for-data-scientists-407d2db15a78

The "Hippocratic Oath for OSM voting members"(ethical rules)  will be useful for hostile takeover protection.

https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Special_Committee_on_Takeover_Protection

So my suggestions to consider:

- inventing a "Hippocratic Oath for OSM voting members" (ethical rules)   

- prefer "un-paid" commitments  ( self-declaration )

kind regards,

 Imre

Tobias Knerr <osm at tobias-knerr.de <mailto:osm at tobias-knerr.de> > ezt írta (időpont: 2022. febr. 13., V, 17:28):

Hi all,

at the 2020 AGM, a 79% majority of the membership asked the board to 
propose prerequisites for membership in the OSM Foundation which would 
ensure that all applicants for membership have made a reasonable amount 
of contributions to OSM (not necessarily through mapping).[1]

We would like to ask for your feedback to a first draft of this proposal 
which you can read below. It uses a definition for "reasonable amount of 
contributions" that is comparable to the active contributor 
membership[2], but has lower requirements: 42 days of contributions ever 
instead of 42 days per year. Existing memberships would not be affected 
by this change.

The 2020 resolution called for a membership vote on this topic in 2021. 
Unfortunately, the board didn't produce a proposal in time for the 2021 
AGM and we would like to apologize for this delay. Our current plan is 
to have the resolution ready for a general meeting on April 30, 2022.

# Potential text of the resolution

Using its powers under §15 of the Articles of Association, the board of 
directors shall reject applications for membership or associate 
membership if the applicant has not demonstrably contributed to 
OpenStreetMap on at least 42 days. The specific form of the 
contributions (e.g. mapping vs. non-mapping) does not make a difference 
for the fulfilment of these prerequisites. The board may delegate 
verification and rejection of membership applications to a working group.

## Rationale:

This change would more firmly establish the OSMF as an entity serving 
the people and communities who create OpenStreetMap. By ensuring that 
votes in Foundation elections and resolutions are cast by OpenStreetMap 
contributors, it becomes more likely that the Foundation will continue 
to support the the project well.

The criteria take inspiration from the fee waiver (known as active 
contributor membership) to allow using a similar implementation. Unlike 
the fee waiver, eligibility will be evaluated as a one-time step during 
application for membership, rather than annually. As such, members do 
not have to fear losing their membership if their activity fluctuates or 
declines. Existing memberships won't be affected.

## Considerations:

This one-time check applies to all member applications including those 
that pay the regular £15 membership fee.

# Footnotes

[1] 
https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Annual_General_Meetings/2020/Suggested_resolutions#Vote_3:_Work_on_membership_prerequisites
[2] https://join.osmfoundation.org/active-contributor-membership/

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