[Talk-us] Steady increase in the number of mappers in the US

Serge Wroclawski emacsen at gmail.com
Fri Jul 19 23:01:35 UTC 2013


On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 12:21 PM, Clifford Snow <clifford at snowandsnow.us> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 8:51 AM, Richard Weait <richard at weait.com> wrote:
>>
>> This doesn't have to wait for funding, or permission!  There are
>> hundreds of OpenStreetMap "ambassadors" reading this list, right now.
>
>
> Are you saying that you are satisfied with the number of active US mappers?
> Really?

That's not what Richard is saying.

Remember that Richard Weait was a professional OSM Ambassador, and has
many years of experience with OSM community organizing,

The real lesson of the ambassador program was that running mapping
parties in other cities than your own results in press (sometimes),
results in various size turnout, but has no track record of creating
sustainable community.

What does show sustainable community is regular events. That's why in
DC, I tried hard to run an event every month, and why in NYC, I'm
trying to do the same.

Eventually, if you do this, you get not only people who are curious
about the project, but you get regulars, and you find that people hear
about the events, and they map regularly.

That is how you create a long term sustainable community.

> We already have an active local group that meets regularly.  It currently
> has over 125 members signed up.

Awesome!

>>
>> 3) Connect with other nearby local groups to share and enjoy.  Drop in
>> on Serge's group when you are in NYC.  Thank him for starting it!   Do
>> the same when you travel to other places with local groups.  Welcome
>> distant mappers when they visit your local area, too.

I'm trying to reach out to groups outside the direct NYC area (less
than two hours away) to see if we can run combined events.

This is a bit of an "experiment", but the hope is that if I can
connect with locals in other cities, they will take over and make
regular events.


>> "Ambassador Program"  Pah!  Just get on with it.  :-)
>
> Sorry, I believe we need to think outside of our current box.

Were you aware of Richard's background when he wrote this?

- Serge



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