[Talk-us] Onboarding new mappers | Keeping track of changes

[Bryce Nesbitt]

Moved from another thread:

On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 2:51 AM, stevea <steveaOSM at softworkers.com> wrote:

> OSM has a peer review process in place right now.  It is called "watch the
> map, help it evolve, grow it as you can, if somebody does something
> odd/wrong/different, dialog with them."  And then, take it from there.
>  We're all grown ups here.
>

There may be a few children mixed in. But mostly, coming to OSM, signing
up, and mapping can be a *very lonely experience.*
In most cases *nobody* greets you or *talks* to you unless you make a *
mistake*.

Changing that culture could change the participation or retention rate,
particularly among* non-grownups *(meaning the generations of children
growing up with social networking as a given).  OSM outside of mapping
parties is only barely social to a new mapper.

The tools could help:

1) After the first edit from a new user, the tools could present a list
of rules (chief among them* don't copy from unapproved sources*!).

2) A new users could be required to take a small quiz, like certain dating
sites do, prior to finalizing the edit.

3) A first edit could go in a queue for an experienced mapper to look at
and comment on.  Hopefully that comment is "*great job, welcome to the
community!*"

4) Editing a feature connected to a relation could bring up education on
route relations.  Perhaps even there is a skill level threshold: you must
have *25 peer reviewed* edits prior to deleting a way that's part of a
route relation.  It becomes a goal a new mapper might strive to reach.

5) New users could be given 10 free edits, prior to needing to provide more
contact information and/or pass an editing quiz.

6) New users could be given their choice of a mapping challenge, where the
"correct" results are known,.
|
7) etc.

With all this effort to get new mappers in the USA we should be thrilled a
mapper wants to contribute...
... and put in the work to ensure such new users be onboarded and brought
into OSM culture.

Note that:
Wikipedia has a strong reasons to allow completely anonymous edits. OSM I
think not so much.  We could ask
more of people who want to edit, with the goal of making more good mappers,
rather than just more mappers.
We should honor an support mappers who have narrow interests... and find
ways to harness their energy.  We can ask users to ascend a ladder of
skills, to unlock capabilities within the community.


And it could be tested regionally.  If there's a theory that "raising the
bar" will reduce participation, it can be tested.  I suspect that peer
review of first edits, or achievement levels, would increase participation.
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