[OSM-talk] Some thoughts against remote mapping

[Sarah Hoffmann]

On Mon, Jun 15, 2015 at 06:11:50PM +0000, Eros, Emily wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> In the midst of the discussion about remote mapping, I couldn¹t help but
> notice this comment from Sarah:
> 
> "In my experience, the issue is not that OSM is not welcoming for woman
> but simply that it is not
> interesting enough for them."
> 
> I was surprised to see this and I have to say that I disagree. I find it
> hard to believe that half the population isn¹t interested in mapping just
> because they are female; the active engagement of so many women in the OSM
> community certainly suggests otherwise.

This is naturally slippery ground and involves more guessing than solid
research but let me try to explain a bit more what I meant.

The people who drove OSM in the early stages of development were almost
exclusively people who mapped for the sake of creating a map. The actual
use of the data was secondary. The satisfaction of showing that it can
be done was enough. In fact, the core of OSM contributors (the ones Simon
was eluding to) is still made up of this group. Without wanting to
speculate what the reasons are, numbers suggest that this kind of
motivation mainly appeals to men. Women think differently. They seem more
interested that the outcome of their labour is put to good use. The
vast majority of woman in OSM that I know is contributing for a very
specific purpose: they are professionals in GIS, humanitarian workers,
researchers or involved in a community project that requires maps.
Note that it doesn't mean that other women are less skilled or capable.
It is a simple question on where you invest your time and energy and
for a majority of woman, creating a map just to have something pretty
to look at at the screen does not seem sufficient. That's what I meant
with lack of interest. 

As it happens, HOT is a good example on how to do it right in that sense.
Humanitarian mapping has a very clear goal and the perceived outcome of
helping other people is obviously worth the time of more women than
completely mapping a neighbourhood. 

A volunteer projects stands and falls with the motivation of its members.
We've successfully tapped into the source of people that is motivated by data
contribution. To create diversity, it's worth to look more into the source of
people motivated by data use. The tried and true way to do that is
creating and promoting products for these people.

openchildcaremap.org, any takers?

Kind regards

Sarah