[Talk-ug] [Talk-africa] Fwd: Many new OSMF members from Uganda

[Victor N. Sunday]

Dear All,
Happy to know that Map Uganda is doing great to increase OSMF Membership
from Africa using the active OSM contributor sign up.

Not quite easy mobilizing and motivating a community to map  consistently
for 42 days especially in African countries where internet data is very
costly to afford for volunteer mapping unlike Europe  and other countries .
Volunteers' motivation to map are triggered and sustained by free or paid
internet access either by the local community ,the university or the
workplace organization.

The equivalent of  $21 is about N9000(Nigerian currency) which I could not
afford by my budget for OSMF membership registration last year .If I am to
map for a consistent 42 days it means I need to budget and actually spend
not less than N15,000((USD36) to qualify for OSM membership renewal this
year.

I am also interested in understanding the weekly pattern being described
here. Are u saying that consistent weekly pattern of mapping by volunteers
suggest a paid mapping engagement by a local community?

If a local community gets a funding support /micro grant to break the
barrier of internet data subscription/access and engages volunteers on a
dedicated project that give them a consistent mapping, does that suggest a
paid mapping?

In a African countries, volunteers certainly needs basic requirement to be
efficient and that's where communities come in to provide support .

Do you think having two accounts would be the best for paid and voluntary
mapping ? just to solve the problem of assuming that a community engages in
a paid mapping. Would you also need to stop a community volunteer who is
actively volunteering while unemployed from taking opportunity of a paid
mapping ? if at all it comes?

Please, let the membership working group a clear understanding of the above
and what is obtainable in African context. There is need to encourage
African Local communities into OSMF Chapter Membership.

Thank You

Victor N. Sunday
Nigeria


On Mon, Jan 17, 2022 at 1:33 PM Geoffrey Kateregga <kateregga1 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi Michael,
>
> Thank you for reaching out to the OpenStreetMap Uganda community, and are
> really glad you have noticed the increase in the number of members from
> Uganda. Since the beginning of the year, we have been encouraging our
> members to sign up for the Active Contributor Membership and paid
> membership for those who can afford it.
>
> There is still very low representation in the OSMF Membership from Africa
> and Asia, and I think that is why this kind of membership was introduced,
> to help encourage more people to become members of the foundation. And
> although it has been there for some good time now, only a few people have
> signed up for it, many are not aware of it. I think it would be helpful if
> the membership working group, sends a message to all that qualify for this
> kind of membership and encourage them to sign up, this will help.
>
> In Uganda, we are using our community forum to encourage everyone who
> qualifies to sign up, and we are mobilizing OSM communities across Africa
> to do the same.
>
> To address your issue, about paid mapping, I think it would be better for
> the membership working group to reach out to the individual applicant to
> ask them to explain their contributions. Sometimes when funding allows we
> do support volunteers in Uganda with internet data to help them map,
> otherwise they wouldn't afford to. Internet data is very expensive here and
> not everyone can afford it, it is not a salary per se, but something to
> cover their expenses to be able to volunteer for OpenStreetMap.
>
> Good advice for those who do mapping as a job to have two different
> accounts, one they can use for paid mapping and another they use for non
> paid mapping.
>
> Interested to hear what other members on the talk-africa mailing list have
> to say on this issue.
>
> Kind regards,
> Geoffrey
>
>
>
>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
>> From: michael spreng <osmf at m.spreng.ch>
>> Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2022, 11:49 pm
>> Subject: Many new OSMF members from Uganda
>> To: <info at mapuganda.org>
>> Cc: membership working group <mwg at osmfoundation.org>
>>
>>
>> Hi dear mappers
>>
>> We are pleased to see so many new mappers from Uganda joining the OSMF.
>> In the last few days the membership from that country almost doubled.
>>
>> However, there is a pattern that makes us a bit uneasy, and that is why
>> I wanted to reach out. I guess this increase originates from mapuganda,
>> talk in the group or something similar. Which is totally fine. However,
>> when we see such an inrush we look a little closer. We see that at least
>> a few applicants (I didn't look at all of them in detail) have a quite
>> strong "work" pattern. Meaning the great majority of edits fall on
>> Monday through Friday during working hours.
>>
>> I would like to point out that paid mapping does not "count" for the
>> active contributor membership. If indeed some are paid for mapping, it
>> would be best to have separate accounts for paid, directed mapping and
>> for private activities.
>>
>> I hope to get into contact with this group this way, without singling
>> anyone out in particular. Or at least make you aware of the potential
>> problem we see.
>>
>> happy mapping
>> Michael
>>
>> Membership Working Group
>>
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