[OSM-talk] RFC - OSM contributor mark

[Kai Krueger]

Hi,

may I throw a related, but slightly different concept, out there for
discussion?

I think some of the confusion between "contributor mark" and "attribution
mark" is that they may be entirely different things. From the design I have
seen so far it seems indeed more like a "contributor mark" than an
"attribution mark", but you are planning on using it as an "attribution
mark"

I'll give an example to try and clarify what I mean by "contributor mark" as
opposed to "attribution mark":

Wikipedia have OpenStreetMap integration into articles. I.e. if you open a
geocoded wikipedia article you can click in the top right corner on either
the globe symbol in e.g. the English Wikipedia or the textual link "Map" in
e.g. the German Wikipedia which opens an inline map into the article showing
the place based on an OSM map.

There were considerations on adding an "edit" link to the map, as it would
a) be fitting to Wikipedia and b) help OSM gain new contributors as it can
capitalize on the huge user base of Wikipedia.

However, one concern with adding an edit link was to explain to the
Wikipedia user why after clicking on the edit link they suddenly landed on
this "odd" page called OpenStreetMap which wants a new user name and
password from you. How does this relate to Wikipedia where they actually
wanted to be? What is the concept behind OpenStreetMap? How and what can I
edit?

So the idea was to redirect first time map editors (not logged into OSM and
don't have an OSM cookie) via an explanatory contributor page before sending
them to the editor page.

To Wikipedia users the concept of users editing the content is already
familiar, but on many other third party sites that use OSM maps, the
relation between the page they came from and OSM is likely even less clear
to users.

Therefor having people redirect through a explanatory page would be even
more helpful. I think the contributor page as presented here could be a
really nice basis for such a page.

So instead of replacing attribution, the contributor mark is an additional
component acting as a well recognizable "edit this map" button with the
underlying explanatory page for new contributors.

OSM could then encourage everyone who uses OSM maps to add this contributor
mark / button to really try and capitalize the growing share of OSM users
into new mappers by providing a more user friendly integration. To Website
providers this would also be a benefit, as with including a few lines of
simple html / javascript, they can help improve the maps they are using and
identify them selves as real supporters to the OSM movement.

In that case imho the size and design of the current proposed "contributor
mark" is much more appropriate than as an "attribution mark"

Thoughts?

Kai



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