[Strategic] Putting the horse before the cart
Mikel Maron
mikel_maron at yahoo.com
Tue Jun 8 12:46:40 BST 2010
Steven ... not a dumb question. The strategic plan is not clear, and part of what we are facilitating. The archives of the list should touch on this in many part. What's missing is clearly pulling out the discussion into the format on the wiki (or something like that format, if that isn't exactly right). I think we can start to do that, in public, and solicit feedback and discussion once we as the group feel we've moved adequately.
The front page of the wiki gives the objectives of OSM as
OpenStreetMap creates and provides free
geographic data such as street maps to anyone who wants them. The
project was started because most maps you think of as free actually
have legal or technical restrictions on their use, holding back people
from using them in creative, productive, or unexpected ways.
OSMF has the following objectives
The OpenStreetMap Foundation is an international non-profit organisation supporting but not
controlling the project. It is dedicated to encouraging the growth,
development and distribution of free geospatial data and to providing
geospatial data for anybody to use and share.
The following has been laid out as the working group objectives.
* Evaluate our current fund-raising strategies and budget allocations.
* Assess the overall needs and priorities for the Foundation, and determine where resources are needed.
* Make recommendations for changes to the budget allocations to the Board.
* Assess the strengths and positions of funders with interest in OpenStreetMap. Assess other fundraising methods.
* Help shape programs and draft proposals to funders. Mainly, we have been trying to figure out what are the needs of OSM, what can be covered by volunteers, and where OSMF needs to act to support.
Funders are there, once we've decided what we want to do. This group has been motivated by that interest, but besides that, it's been a long standing question within the Board. We held a visioning exercise 1.5 years ago, but I'm not sure where the artifacts from that meeting are presently.
Omidyar is open to proposals. They get what we do, and want to more detail on needs. We submitted the following to Omidyar a couple months ago, only as an introduction.
http://docs.google.com/a/osmfoundation.org/Doc?docid=0AQJ1pRj49B-3ZGdqOWh6aGZfOGhkaDRjc2Ro&hl=en
The meeting next week with Stephen King of Omidyar is just part of an ongoing discussion. They have experience working to help other not too dissimilar organizations grow. We also have a face to face with Stephen next month. It's good to get their feedback to see if we are on the right track. Ultimately, it's up to OSM/OSMF to decide the strategy, and if funding proposals make sense.
Best,
Mikel
== Mikel Maron ==
+254(0)724899738 @mikel s:mikelmaron
http://mapkibera.org/
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Haiti
________________________________
From: Steven Feldman <shfeldman at gmail.com>
To: strategic at openstreetmap.org
Sent: Tue, June 8, 2010 1:17:36 PM
Subject: [Strategic] Putting the horse before the cart
Apologies if as a newbie I am asking a dumb question but is there a clear strategic plan for OSM? There is a blank session on the strategy wiki for "Vision" - perhaps that should be the first place for us to start our work?
I am not sure that we can determine our pitch to potential sponsors unless we can clearly articulate where we want to take OSM and why that might benefit sponsors (and sponsors will only offer money or resources if they can see benefit).
--
Regards
Steven Feldman
KnowWhere
Mobile: +44 (0)7958 924101
Web: www.knowwhereconsulting.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/stevenfeldman
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