[OSM-talk] Cloudmade: "We are the Wikipedia of maps"

[Peter Miller]

On 11 Mar 2009, at 12:26, Ben Laenen wrote:

> On Wednesday 11 March 2009, Frederik Ramm wrote:
>> It has been pointed out that Steve, apart from being a CM manager, is
>> also the founder of the project and thus has to juggle various roles.
>> Please then accept that besides running Geofabrik, I, too, am an
>> active member of the OSM community and entitled to voice my opinion
>> in this capacity. I think it is only normal for me to feel offended
>> if an article makes it sound like the whole project was more or less
>> the business success of some US company rather than the community
>> effort it is and which I am a part of.
>
> I guess this is the main issue for Frederik here. SteveC being founder
> of OSM, chairman of OSMF and at the same time co-founder of CloudMade.
> It's not entirely far fetched to think SteveC may be trying to steer
> OSM(F) to what's best for his own company. Seeing a blog like that
> probably started off some warning bells in Frederik's head.
>
> While it's probably the interviewer's fault here to completely
> misrepresent the situation, it's only natural to be wary of persons in
> a position like SteveC's where conflicts of interest can happen. So
> don't be angry at Frederik here :-)

There have been reasons for concern, many of which have been raised in  
the past on this list and on legal-talk in the past and we don't need  
to raise them again. I really hope that we will all be able to learn  
from them and avoid the understandable wariness that is the result.

SteveC is of course in a unique position in the project, both because  
of the fact that he got it going in the first place, but also because  
of the many roles he plays which means that he inevitably comes under  
greater scrutiny that other people. SteveC is also in the unique  
position of have a 'fake' version of himself, and FakeSteve seems to  
have started posting again after a period of absence following the  
last conference. The most recent 'hot babes' post is typical of the  
serious investigation and research that goes into FakeSteve's posts.
http://fakestevec.blogspot.com/

CM's position having two directors on the OSMF board where no other  
commercial companies have any is also a reason for care. The important  
thing is that we are growing into a much stronger and mature  
community. We are building better governance structures, the role of  
the foundation is getting clearer and we are demanding more of the  
foundation and its directors which is good. There is now a foundation  
members email list which is a big step forward for the project.
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk

This is probably a good time to remind people that they should be  
considering if they are up for the challenge of standing as directors  
in the coming year. If this year is anything to go by it will be a big  
year (again) and we will need a great set of directors!

Frederik is of course playing a great role in pushing for higher  
levels of openness and professionalism from the foundation and others,  
and like-it-or-not, he is playing a vital role in moving us all  
forward. Long may he continue with this role and if he ever gets  
elected as a director then there will immediately be an opening for  
someone to fill his shoes ;)



Regards,



Peter
>
>
> Greetings
> Ben
>
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