[Talk-us] Community Involvement

[Kate Chapman]

So I think having a formal organization can enable people to do
certain tasks.  There are plenty of situations where it isn't needed
of course.

Examples where it can help:

-We wanted to put on a conference, it is much easier to have a formal
organization for sponsorship and reserving a venue.
-There has been talk about wanting to have Tagwatch and Extracts for
the US.  Can you do that without a formal organization?  Sure.  Can
you get donations for hardware as an individual? Perhaps.  But it is
easy to have an organization own such a resource.  The actual day to
day running I would hope would be the community.
-Some people want to set-up OSM education programs.  Not impossible as
an individual but can be easier as an organization.
-There is a crew that wants to get a bus and drive around the US
having mapping parties.  Could someone just buy a bus and do it on
their own? Sure. Do we think it would be easier as an organization?
yes

So none of these things have to happen with a formal chapter, but
there are those of us that think they would be easier with one.

-Kate

On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 8:35 PM, Apollinaris Schoell <aschoell at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 18 Jul 2010, at 6:07 , Serge Wroclawski wrote:
>
>> I want to be clear on the outset that this mail is personal, and while
>> I'm going to discuss some OSM US business, I'm not speaking on behalf
>> of the organization or the board in this mail.
>>
>> With that out of the way...
>>
>> At the OSM US board meetings, one area of frequent discussion is "How
>> can we get the community to be more involved with us?"
>
> did you ask if there is a community at all? Even this list is literally silent.
> why bother with an US board if there is so much to map and so few mappers.
>
>>
>> So this is an open ended question:
>>
>> If you're in the US, what are your thoughts on the OSM US?  Is there
>> something you wish we were doing that we're not? What would you like
>> to see the organization doing? And how can we get you (personally)
>> more involved?
>>
>
> What can a US board offer? I know there was much talk about what can be done. All this is on a legal, organizational, governmental contracts, fundraising level…  I'd say community first and the rest will follow
>
>
>> I'm really looking for practical answers, something we can take action
>> on and accomplish.
>>
>> If you joined the organization, first, thank you, and second: What
>> were your reasons for joining?
>>
>> And if you haven't yet joined the organization: Why not, and is there
>> something we could do to encourage you to join?
>
> Simply don't see a personal reason for it or where and how it will help osm in US.
>
>
>>
>> - Serge
>>
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