[Talk-ko] A New Talk-ko Member's Introduction

[Max]

On 2016년 11월 04일 15:00, 최규성 wrote:
> My name is Kyu-sung Choi, a newly joined member of Talk-ko today.

Welcome!

> But starting this year, I'm getting motivated to join in this community
> for its improvement. From my superficial contemplation, it seems that
> OpenStreetMap Korea has been nourished by non-Korean citizens.

First off: USUALLY the country specific mailinglists like talk-ko) are
in the respective language of the country. That talk-ko is mostly in
English and not in Korean is the EXEPTION and there is no rule that it
needs to be like that. In the contrary: I think that most of its members
would be very delighted about more contributions (both, on the data and
this mailinglist) from Koreans and in Korean.

> Nevertheless, I believe the effort has contributed to deliver the value
> of OSM to the public. 

It may be that foreigners have helped to get OSM started in korea, but
if there are more contributions by Koreans that would be most welcome.
However when I look at the poor state of the Korean wikipedia edition I
wonder if there is a systemic problem. (I am not saying that Korean
netizens are lazy, they just seem to prefer different platforms, just
look at namuwiki..) I found that the added value of the commons and
non-proprietary is something difficult to explain in Korea.

> In this rapidly transitioning GIS period of time, however, I have a
> strong feeling of need to make improvements in the quality of OSM. And,
> I'd like to add my little effort in the course of the journey. Having
> GIS industry experiences, I think to integrate my interest toward the
> OSM advancement. 

It's a labourous task, and it needs many people to really advance the
quality.

> My prioritized mission is going to promote OSM mapping in favor of the
> volunteered citizens. It is my plan;
> 1) to host periodical OSM mapping events to train map data editing (at
> least once a quarter)
> 2) to leverage higher education lectures in such organizations as
> universities and government HR institutions. 
> This is intended to bring the OSM awareness to the public and train them
> to edit.

That sounds like an excellent strategy.

> In doing so, I also ask you fellow colleagues' valuable experiences. As
> predecessors before me, please give your comment or advice for me to
> better contribute in this effort.

When I think of the impact of maps.me (not talking about the quality of
the edits, that's another story) it shows that if there is a well made
application there can be suddenly new groups of people who are willing
to contribute.

It only needs a small incentive or reward for mapping. That could be a
nice animation how the placemark pops up when one is added to the map -
that's all - and suddenly there are people doing it.

Korean localization is an important field too - I think it would be
immediately nocieable in the edits if for example maps.me or the
mapillary app would be available in Korean.

It's unlikely that there are many people who are willing to learn how to
map with JOSM, but we need those people too. So your strategy combined
with gamification aspects or rewards for editing could bring the
contributions in Korea to the next level.

my 2 ct.

max