[Strategic] Fw: [ppgis] RE: Collaborative slum mapping initiative with Google Map maker kicks off

[Kai Krueger]

On 04/27/2011 05:23 PM, Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> Mikel wrote (quoting Muki):
>
>> Google made map maker very easy to use - in few clicks you can start 
>> adding data. OpenStreetMap - despite being aware of their usability 
>> problems since at least 2007, have made relatively little progress - 
>> Where is the Google Map Maker interface equivalence? Where is the 
>> ability of anyone to start mapping within 2 minutes from wanting to 
>> do so? Where is the deep concern within the community about the very 
>> high number of people who manage to register to OSM but do not enter 
>> any data? Where is the concern about the aggressive exchanges in 
>> forums that are exclusionary by their very nature? Where is the 
>> discussion about the gender bias?
>>
>> Just like with Linux, OSM have an ambivalent culture which at the 
>> same time want people to join while feeling very proud that it is 
>> 'not for everyone' and a certain level of mastery is required to join 
>> in. The lack of a major sustained effort to make it as easy as Google 
>> Map Maker - especially when there is such an obvious example out 
>> there - lead to the conclusion that within the 'do'-ocracy that OSM 
>> is, not enough people think that it's a top priority.
>
> Certainly I think it's an enormous priority, can sketch out _exactly_ 
> what I'd like to see, and would love to do something about it if I had 
> the time.

I am sure you know _exactly_ what you would like to see. In fact with 
Potlatch (2) I think you have proved that you have some great ideas of 
how to bring along OSM and make things easier and more powerful. 
However, I am not so sure that applies to everyone. I for one am not 
sure if I could list ten specific and exact things off the top of my 
head that are implementable and would make a positive contribution to 
newcomers. And my impression from other discussions on usability I might 
not be alone, with answers tend to be on the vague side like: "The front 
page fails to communicate what the project does and why it does it" or 
"the controls are confusing for new users" or "It fails to connect new 
users to others around them and thus create a community". As a 
programmer I am not sure I could take those comments and turn them into 
code.

So imho having a list of the "Top Ten Tasks that the admins would like 
development help on" like this wiki page used to be 
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Top_Ten_Tasks where the admins and 
project maintainers could list exact and concrete "projects" would be 
helpful in attracting development work.

Currently that page only lists two points: a mapnik problem and "some 
more we haven't thought of".

This doesn't sound like the project has an over abundance of specific 
ideas but just no one to implement them.

> I can't; because Potlatch takes up all my time.
That time is imho very well spent in improving Potlatch and also much 
appreciated by many.
> The number of people actually contributing code that is useful to new 
> editing users (other than geeks who can take JOSM and run with it) is 
> vanishingly small: basically, those of us working on P2 and those 
> working on the main site. That's probably a cabal of five people or 
> so. In contrast, ask yourself how many people are working on QA alone 
> for GMM.
In contrast also ask yourself how many people are working and developing 
on various other projects related to OSM? There are developers out there 
who might potentially help out. If we could attract only a few of them 
into helping out with potlatch and the main website, that would be a 
significant improvement.

Having a list of projects that will have the support of the community 
and the support of the admins / developers, and thus for which the 
current developers would be prepared to help new developers learn P2 or 
the rails port might just be sufficient to help some to cross the hurdle 
of getting their hands dirty and contribute patches.

>
> A couple of years ago I was sitting next to a well-known OSMer at a 
> geo event. We were listening to a presentation about "we've started 
> this great initiative to hear, encourage and help develop your ideas". 
> He muttered to me that this is entirely the wrong problem. There's no 
> shortage of great ideas: the shortage is of people to do them.
>
> It wasn't an OSM-specific presentation, but it's very true of OSM. 
> About the only thing we do to encourage new developers is, ironically 
> enough, Google Summer of Code, and that never works.
Perhaps we need to not only think what efforts and support we need to 
put in to attract more mappers, but also what efforts we need to put in 
to attract more core developers. Actively do some out reach to try and 
encourage more people to contribute patches and implement the ideas 
floating around.
>
>

Kai