Context

The US NGO Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT Us Org*) organizes an election to replace five of its directors for a 2 years term.

See the election wiki for more details.

Below reads my electoral platform; it adds and draws from my answers to members questions for candidates which can be read here as a complement.

Summary

This Sept 2021 election for the Board of the US NGO Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT US Org*) is important for the NGO, the open mapping movement across the humanitarian and development sectors and the people of the global south it serves as well as the OpenStreetMap project itself given the size reached by HOT and its transformative impact. I developed a span of skills and experiences fit to serve at the HOT Board for a full term and help the organization making a reality out of its ‘4-Dec 2020 statement of intent (also refered to as ‘vision statement’) for HOT within the humanitarian and OpenStreetMap ecosystems’ where reads a willingness to reflect, learn from what went wrong in the past, change, localize, decentralize and implement its activities in a way more respectful of the OSM way and especially OSMF policies, jurisprudence and practices. My OpenStreetMap journey is twofold. First, I co-founded the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) concept in 2008, I co-founded the NGO HOT US Org (registered as ‘HOT US inc’) in 2010, I served the org as a Board member (2010-2014) and as its de facto Operations Manager for Haiti and Sub-Saharan Africa (2010-2013). Second, from 2014, I co-founded the French associations Projet Espace OSM Francophone (ProjetEOF) and Les Libres Géographes (LLG) which supported technically and organizationally at grassroot level the growth of autonomous OSM collectives in Haiti and French-speaking Africa within the respect of the ethos and practices under which OSM emerged and grew as it is. This approach was similar to what HOT wants to achieve (with far greater resources) through the Audacious project since 2021. Through the inner human, technical and organizational knowledge I had built over time in these Francophone countries which are not currently represented at the Board (nor its language), I think I can help the organization through its willingness to change and implement its activites as per its vision statement by serving at its Board for the next 2 years.

Detailed version

This Sept 2021 election to replace 5 out the 7 members at the Board of the US NGO Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT Us org*) is important for the organization, the open mapping movement across the humanitarian and development sectors and the people of the global south it serves as well as the OpenStreetMap project itself.

With the size reached by HOT, the centrality it gained in the humanitarian and development sectors and the Audacious project it is implementing with “the goal of engaging 1 million contributors to map an area home to 1 billion people across 94 countries”, the NGO has a transformative impact for the humanitarian and development mapping as well as for the shape of the OSM project at local and global levels. How HOT operates with regard to the OSM ethos, practices and policies is therefore of direct importance for the course of local OSM dynamics (specifically when local communities are started by HOT), the same goes for the global OSM community.

In this context, like in my Jan 2021 candidacy, I’d like to start again by welcoming the path set forth by Tyler Redford for the organization in his 4-Dec 2020 OSM diary note titled “The past, present, and future of HOT” and presented as “a statement of intent for HOT within the humanitarian and OpenStreetMap ecosystems”. In this document which is also refered to as HOT Us org’s vision statement, one can sense a willingness to reflect, learn from what went wrong in the past, change, localize, decentralize and implement activities with more respect of the OSM way (especially OSMF policies, jurisprudence and practices), the culture of the Open, Free Software and Open Data movements. This is the approach that guided me in my action supporting the growth of autonomous local OSM communities in Haiti and Francophone African countries since 2010, first in HOT (2010-2014) and since 2014 in ProjetEOF and Les Libres Géographes (LLg). I shared Tyler’s analysis of the limits of HOT in his note: this explains why I had been active outside of the organization and why I had been critical of certain aspects of HOT culture and operations in public discussions notably at the OSM Foundation. For more details on this point, see the Jan 2021 election - questions/answers. With HOT having stated its willingness to change and initiated this change as one can read from Tyler diary notes (December 2020, September 2021), I think it’s worth reconnecting with organization and be active at its Board where I think I can be of help. This is why I ran up last January for a 6 month term and am running again this September after being invited to do so by voting members following the January scrutiny. I also appreciate how Tyler describes the working interactions between the Board and the ED/Staffs in charge of the operations in his diary note “What HOT’s board needs” and felt encouraged by seeing that that my 20 years of live and work experience within mapping and OpenStreetMap in France and Francophone countries of the global south matches two of the five profiles (“regional tour guide” and “humanitarian disruptor”) he felt needed at the Board.

I am modest in this run-up and aware of the limits of what can be achieved through a Board position. As an organization, HOT stabilized its organizational model of a membership-based organization which elects a strategic board in charge of strategic direction, oversight, policy setting, and fund-raising. Finally, HOT reached a size which requires time for any change to happen especially if one wants change to be consensual and built inclusively with all members and staffs. Given the state of internal transparency within HOT, like Kate Chapman (”I have spent the past 6 months on the HOT board, I feel like I’m just getting my feet under me” ; source : see Kate’s statement), like other candidates (see Sept 2021 election - questions/answers), I expect a learning curve (heavy readings and exchanges with Board, ED and staffs) before getting up to speed by adjusting my analysis about the state of the organization and the course of actions it calls for. To start with work will definitively have to be put into improving internal transparency. This is a matter of principle: “Open” reads in HOT. This is also a question of efficiency: a more transparent organization would benefit more directly from its members experience, more focused inputs, more focused electoral platforms and a reduced learning curve as well as less work on the Board, Chair and Operations sides to bring members up to speed on the life of the NGO and to onboard new Board officers.

In this run up, I want to state that I have no conflict of interest (CoI) with HOT and the other organizations I co-founded since then and in which I am currently engaged. I have been working as a freelancer for many organizations including the French association Les Libres Géographes (LLg) that I co-founded and of which I am not a Board member. Whilst not holding a formal continued work contract with LLg, I checked with my LLg friends and Colleagues/Board members that serving a 2 years term at the HOT Board would be compatible with my engagement in LLg. I did what other hotties did prior to me in such occasions (Dale Kunce at the American Red Cross [ARC] or Jorieke Vyncke and Pete Masters at Medecins Sans Frontières [MSF]). Shall a CoI situation apply, I’ll comply to the HOT US Inc CoI handling policy like other former Directors who were staffs of other organizations or freelancers working in this domain. Furthermore, my engagement within the French association Projet Espace OSM Francophone (Projet EOF) does not constitute a CoI neither. The association carries out its activities (which mostly revolve around local OSM animation) via the voluntary contribution of its members while its Bylaws exclude paid work (in French “prestation de service”) from its resources. For more details on this point, see the Jan 2021 election - questions/answers. With modesty in minds since it’s not in my nature to put forth my facts and achievements. Yet I believe I have to do so at the occasion of this Board election since I am unknown to some of the new Voting members of the Organization. I grew up in Senegal as an adolescent, had some study times there and my first work experience in the academic research. Since 2010 through my years in HOT and the Projet EOF/LLg, it had not been a year (2020 excepted because of the SARS-COV-2) in which I had lived and worked supporting the growth of the OSM project at grassroot community level less than 1/3 of the year in Haiti or mostly Western Africa (plus Chad, Congo and Madagascar). I feel privileged for these regular and intense contacts with territories and people who are a part of me. I am grateful that I had the opportunity and the happiness to have been in person over years with most of those, women and men, young and less young who are making OSM an autonomous local reality in these countries. I did my best, not without individual or collective failure, to support technically and organizational people interested or active in OSM in building up their technical, community, organizational skills so that they can gather, if they want to, and build OSM collectives they gradually incorporated in the national law of their country with the possibility of evolving towards local groups and eventually OSMF local chapters. Some of the hundreds I met and that I accompanied as well as I was accompanied by them in this journey are now members of our organization, are active in their country under their OSM association, some are freelancers, other engaged in work collectives of different natures, others do and make OSM as a passion. Together they form an autonomous solid community layer who can benefit more from HOT US Inc shall the change advocated by Tyler in his statement materializes. I’d like to act as a connector between these folks, their organizations, these territories and our organization as well as the OSM Foundation Local Chapter Community Working Group (LCCWG).

I believe I can help our organization not only through my knowledge of the OSM people in these territories and the local OSM dynamics at work there but also through my 20+ years of experience in Geography and Geomatics within various ecosystems (academic, humanitarian, development, civic tech and activism) at global and local scale in France, Haiti and Sub-Saharan Africa. I had been working/cooperating for years with Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and its dense network of researchers and partners in countries of the “global south”. I had been working 6 years as GIS specialist at the HQ of the UN World Food Program (the largest world humanitarian organization) in charge of the last two years of the building the UN Spatial Data Infrastructure for Transport (UNSDIT) under which the UN Logistics Cluster operate nowadays using OSM as its baseline layers and serving it both on its WFP (Geonode) SDI as well as through the #HDX #Humdata platform ; one of the creator of the HDX concept, Cj Hendrix being my close friend and colleague in the UN by then and still is. From my times with OSM under HOT and LLg, I conceived and implemented a large span of programs which differed by natures, donors, partners. Programs can feature mapping, training, documentation, mentoring, outreach, organizational support to local entrepreneurship as well as community, OSMF type of associations, OSMF governance, software development…. These activities can be conducted through 100% voluntary or fully funded projects. They can vary in sizes. They can be below 5 to 15k USD. They can be over 100k USD (all costs included for roughly 4 months of operational life) spanning 200k USD [Haiti St-Marc COSHMA/HOT/USAID-OTI] to 400k USD [Haiti North/NorthEast departments HOT/USAID-OTI]. The array of partners is large: World Bank (GFDRR/ICT), UN (IOM), USAID, EU ECHO, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), IRD, Gret, Agence Française de développement, various French universities to name some of the main entities. The number of projects all successfully conceived, implemented and accounted over the decade is important (+60). All of these project work featured a specific community support component I think fundamental for HOT in this new phase of its history. This had been true and constant since my first Haitian field mission in March 2010. It varies in its dimension and budget depending on project but had been constant. On top of OSM, GIS, and SDI mapping methodologies, techniques, tools, documentation, hardware materials passed to communities there had always been an organizational support component. This organizational component consisting of documents, training, mentoring was mainly twofold. It aimed at providing an understanding of the OSM ecosystem and the OSMF sets of policy documents and practices which regulate the interactions of the various parts and actors of the OSM ecosystem at community level, within the OSMF, OSMF Local Chapters, OSMF OSM local groups, within the business area. This was meant to inform local mappers about guidelines for organizing themselves the OSM way within a perspective aimed at dialoguing with the OSMF and other OSM entities so that the overall OSMF policies and practices can encompass the new OSM ways in the making in the South. The second axis of this organizational support component was tailored to help local mappers in providing paid services (around their skills and the skills they gained through any project) as freelancers or as a part of a work collectives of all sorts (associations, small or large firms) or as employees of the formal public or private sector. There’s still a lot to be fixed and to be bettered in all of these actions and programs, but I believe that the span of experiences in a region and a language which is not directly represented at the Board of HOT right now, would be of help for the organization in the current phase of its existence and especially when it comes to successfully implement the Audacious project in Haiti and African Francophone countries as per the organization vision statement.

Essentially, I have always had a pioneering role in the mapping movement across the humanitarian and development sectors and in HOT. I have always conceived HOT, designed and implemented its projects in Francophone territories under a framework very similar to what the Audacious project seeks to unfold by putting always first the growth of local communities at technical and organizational level within the respect of the ethos and practices under which OSM emerged and grew as the it is. I conducted these programs within HOT in Haiti and African Francophone countries until 2014 and continued these dynamics outside of HOT from 2014 onwards. With the current call for diversity, when HOT is starting to work more centrally in Francophone African countries, this experience, tied to the ones which is held by talented members from Haiti and Africa can clearly be an asset for the organization so that its activities are as relevant, useful and impactful for the OSM dynamics in these territories and the people leaving there.

If elected, here are the topics on which I’ll focus my work as a Board member to:
- Ensure the OSM ethos, practices, texts, and support to local community comes always first in HOT
- Improve transparency to members, OSM members and partners so that the organization can in return benefit from a more informed membership as well as a more focused support from the OSM community and its partner
- Develop a culture of evaluation via internal capacities and external evaluations with a specific focus on the Audacious project given its centrality for HOT and OSM and be sure it remains on tracks
- Improve our culture of discussions during elections and community consultations; rely more on surveys/polls and votes to better engage and understand the membership
- Apply to ourselves the Call to take action… by developing an affirmative action program for and in defense of all minorities. This ensure HOT is a safe space for all, that voting members or staffs are confident speaking out their thoughts on the matters of the NGO. This to ensure minorities are well represented in the membership, the staffs and at the Board. Ensure internal capacity building so that members from minority cultures can be put in a position to take an informed and autonomous part in the life of the organization.
- Ensure HOT will remain a membership-based organization where board members come from the membership, are voted by the membership and are responsible towards the membership (compliance with our current Bylaws). Ensure that Board responsibilities within the paradigm of a strategic board in charge of strategic direction, oversight, policy setting, and fund-raising are met directly via the domain expertise of the directors or externally via staff, subcontractor or advisor in case this expertise is not represented at the Board
- Continue and contribute to the on-going discussion, thinking and consultation to define the relevant changes (if any) to bring to HOT membership model in the future and define the relevant role and place of voting members, staffs, volunteers and partners whose combined action make of HOT what it is nowadays. Among existing models, the multi-tiered membership of a French type of cooperative called SCIC (Société Coopérative d’Intérêt Collectif) is worth of interest. It organizes the membership in several electoral colleges with different voting weights. It could allow for defining the right balance for the voting weights of each electoral colleges (non-staff voting members, staff voting members, partners and volunteers) so that non-staff voting members can remain in control of the organization while staffs voting members could fully participate in the whole life of HOT
- Help HOT defining its function of local individual, groups, ecosystem incubator
- Help HOT pursuing its decentralization process
- Help HOT thinking through its running of digital commons (services) in a neutral way for the OSM ecosystem


Disambiguation: ‘HOT’, ‘HOT US Inc’, ‘HOT US Org’.
As a result of the election discussion, I decided to stop refering to the NGO as ‘HOT US Inc’ (as per its incorporation document) like I did since 2014 and switch to ‘HOT Us org’. I had been doing so in order in the past to distinguish between the organization and a sub-part of the OpenStreetMap community made of members volunteering informally for the organization through their contributions of all natures. I was then thinking that the name from the incorporation document was a neutral and efficient descriptor for the organization It avoided HOT as a catch all which had been generating confusion and tensions within the various parts of the OSM ecosystem as acknowledged by the organization itself in its vision statement. As a result of the on-going Sept 2021 electoral discussions the need for differentiating the NGO from its ‘community’ was recognized but a majority of members (US and UK citizens as well as folks from other countries) put forth that the ‘Inc’ had a negative connotation and was negatively preceived. A discussion is on-going within the membership about definitions and contextuals uses. Prior it concludes, I am using ‘HOT Us org’ to refer to the organization, the NGO Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. I’ll wrap this up into another diary note after this election.

Resources of OpenStreetMap Foundation (OMSF), OSMF Local Chapters (LC): the question and status of paid services.

In the context of the community consultations phase of OpenStreetMap Uganda (see email 1), Poland (see email 2) and Japan (see email 3) Local Chapter LC applications, I shared my thoughts about paid services as a means of resources for OSMF and LCs. I have been invited to start a discussion of its own about this topic, hence this note.

I orginally developped this topics as well as others in the context of the MapUganda application which read as an email (see email 4) and a diary note (5) .

Since I think it makes sense to also discuss the status of paid services as a resource for OSMF and LC generally outside of a specific context, I am producing below the section on this topic extracted from my MapUganda-related email/note (4,5).

== Email extract - start ==

We shall first look back at OSMF and LC and remind ourselves of the early ages of the OSM project when its ecosystem was nascent and review some of the strengths that lead to its current affirmation.

Frederik’s question (see email 6) brings us with the non written rule or the jurisprudence behind the practices under which OSMF and LC from “developed” countries have been functioning resources-wise so far: banning paid services from their resources.

This is true at OSMF and this is equally true in given LC like OSMFR where this banning of “paid services” from the actual resources of the association is collectively restated year after year at its AGM.

This choice in terms of OSMF resources as well as the choice of keeping the Foundation small (in its resources, staffing, perimeter of actions) has the benefit to leave the provision of paid services provision in the hands of “business” entities of all types (freelancers, associations, cooperatives, NGOs, business firms…) outside of the OSMF which largely remains a volunteer-based organization.
- This allows OSMF neutrality vis a vis business entities.
- This limits the room for business logics as well as conflict of interests in the OSMF which has to handle the influence of business and business logics without having to operate with business logics.
- This efficiently limits the “benefits” members and especially directors can expect from OSMF.
- This also safeguards reasonably the OSMF Board so that professionals or members of business entities can participate without breaking OSMF neutrality towards economic operators.

These choices contribute essentially to the autonomy of the OSMF and the OSM sustainability in the long run allowing for a diversified ecosystem and free interactions of all actors including business entities of all sorts.”

This community discussion about MapUganda LC approval highlights the needs to revise and consolidate parts of LC and OSMF aspects and processes, these future discussions shall feature making this “paid services” jurisprudence a written law as well as defining the essential perimeter of actions of the OSMF which has been recently enlarged to system administration, software development, fundraising and human resources not without yielding questions about possible changes this can brought to the model of the small OSMF which spearheaded the growth of the project up to now.”

= Email extract end =

I’d be interested in hearing from you on this topic within:
- the context of this OSM Uganda, Slovakia, Poland and Japan LC application ; but also
- As a practice for consideration/thinking in OSMF which could lead, if deemed relevant, to codifying good practice, producing LC resource template, possibly amending AoA.

Best, Nicolas.

The NGO HOT US Inc organizes an election to replace one of its directors for a 6 months term.

Details of the election read on a wiki page

Below reads my electoral platform.

Summary

My OpenStreetMap journey is two fold. First, I co-founded the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) concept in 2008, I co-founded of HOT US inc in 2010, I served the org as a Board member (2010-2014) and as its de facto Operations Manager for Haiti and Sub-Saharan Africa (2010-2013). Second, I co-founded the French associations Projet Espace OSM Francophone (ProjetEOF) and Les Libres Géographes (LLG) which supported technically and organizationally at grassroot level the growth of autonomous OSM collectives in Haiti and French-speaking Africa from 2014 to date. I developed a span of skills and experiences fit to serve 6 months at the HOT US Inc Board and help the organization in its willingness to reflect, change, localize, decentralize and implement its activities in a way more respectful of the OSM way and especially OSMF policies, jurisprudence and practices. Through the inner human, technical and organizational knowledge I had built over time in these Francophone countries whose language is, by the way, not currently represented at the Board, I think I can help the organization through its willingness to change described by Tyler by serving at its Board for the next 6 months.

Detailed version

Given the tight timeline for this election, this diary nots is work in progress and likely to be expanded at a later stage.

I’d like first to welcome the path set forth by Tyler Redford in his OSM diary note titled “The past, present, and future of HOT” [1]. As HOT US Inc’s Executive Director (ED), he speaks in the name of the organization, its Board, its staffs and its fellow members on 4-Dec 2020 and one can sense here a willingness to reflect, change, localize, decentralize and implement activities with more respect of the OSM way (especially OSMF policies, jurisprudence and practices), the culture of the Open, Free Software and Open Data movements.

I want to state that in so doing, I have no conflict of interest (CoI) with HOT US Inc and the other organizations I co-founded since then and in which I am currently engaged. I have been working as a freelancer for many organizations including the French association Les Libres Géographes (LLg) that I co-founded and of which I am not a Board member. Whilst not holding a formal continued work contract with LLg, I checked with my LLg friends and Colleagues/Board members that serving a 6 months term at the HOT US Inc Board would be compatible with my engagement in LLg. I did what other hotties did prior to me in such occasions (Dale Kunce at the American Red Cross [ARC] or Jorieke Vyncke and Pete Masters at Medecins Sans Frontières [MSF]). Shall a CoI situation apply, I’ll comply to the HOT US Inc CoI handling policy like other former Directors who were staffs of other organizations or freelancers working in this domain. Furthermore, my engagement within the French association Projet Espace OSM Francophone (Projet EOF) does not constitute a CoI neither. The association carries out its activities (which mostly revolve around local OSM animation) via the voluntary contribution of its members while its Bylaws exclude paid work (in French “prestation de service”) from its resources.

I am un humble guy, it’s not in my nature to put forth my facts and achievements. Yet I believe I have to do so at the occasion of this Board election since I am unknown to some of the new Voting members of the Organization. I grew up in Senegal as an adolescent, had some study times there and my first work experience in the academic research. Since 2010 through my years in HOT US Inc and the Projet EOF/LLg, it had not been a year (2020 excepted because of the SARS-COV-2) in which I had lived and worked supporting the growth of the OSM project at grassroot community level less than 1/3 of the year in Haiti or mostly Western Afica (plus Chad, Congo and Madagascar). I feel privileged for these regular and intense contacts with territories and people who are a part of me. I am grateful that I had the opportunity and the happiness to have been in person over years with most of those, women and men, young and less young who are making OSM an autonomous local reality in these countries. I did my best, not without individual or collective failure, to support technically and organizational people interested or active in OSM in building up their technical, community, organizational skills so that they can gather, if they want to, and build OSM collectives they gradually incorporated in the national law of their country with the possibility of evolving towards local groups and eventually (if they want to) OSMF local chapters. Some of the hundreds I met and that I accompanied as well as I was accompanied by them in this journey are now members of this Organization, are active in their country under their OSM association, some are freelance, other engaged in work collectives of different natures, others do and make OSM as a passion. Together they form an autonomous solid community layer who can benefit more from HOT US Inc shall the change advocated by Tyler in his statement materializes. I’d like to act as a connector between these folks, their organizations, these territories and our organization as well as the OSM Foundation Local Chapter Community Working Group to which I applied after the last 2020 OSMF Board election.

I believe I can significatively help our organization in this not only through my knowledge of the OSM people in these territories and the local OSM dynamics at work there but also through the my 20+ years of experience in Geography and Geomatics within various ecosystems (academic, humanitarian, development, civic tech and activism) at global and local scale in France, Haiti and Sub-Saharan Africa. I had been working/cooperating for years with Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and its dense network of researchers and partners in countries of the “global south”. I had been working 6 years as GIS specialist at the HQ of the UN World Food Program (the largest world humanitarian organization) in charge of the last two years of the building the UN Spatial Data Infrastructure for Transport (UNSDIT) under which the UN Logistics Cluster operate nowadays using OSM as its baseline layers and serving it both on its WFP (Geonode) SDI as well as through the #HDX #Humdata platform ; one of the creator of the HDX concept, Cj Hendrix being my closed friend and colleague in the UN by then and still is. From my times with OSM under HOT US Inc and LLg, I conceived and implemented a large span of programs which differed by natures, donors, partners. Programs can feature mapping, training, documentation, mentoring, outreach, organizational support to local entrepreneurship as well as community, OSMF type of associations, OSMF governance, software development…. These activities can be conducted through 100% voluntary or fully funded projects. They can vary in sizes. They can be below 5 to 15k USD. They can be over 100k USD (all costs included for roughly 4 months of operational life) spanning 200k USD [Haiti St-Marc COSHMA/HOT US Inc/USAID-OTI] to 400k USD [Haiti North/NorthEast departments HOT US Inc/USAID-OTI]. The array of partners is large: World Bank (GFDRR/ICT), UN (IOM), USAID, EU ECHO, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), IRD, Gret, Agence Française de développement, various French universities to name some of the main entities. The number of projects all successfully conceived, implemented and accounted over the decade is important (+60). All of these project work featured a specific community support component I think fundamental for HOT US Inc in this new phase of its history. This had been true and constant since my first Haitian field mission in March 2010. It varies in its dimension and budget depending on project but had been constant. On top of OSM, GIS, and SDI mapping methodologies, techniques, tools, documentation, hardware materials passed to communities there had always been an organizational support component. This organizational component consisting of documents, training, mentoring was mainly two-fold. It aimed at providing an understanding of the OSM ecosystem and the OSMF sets of policy documents and practices which regulate the interactions of the various parts and actors of the OSM ecosystem in the community level, within the OSMF, OSMF Local Chapters, OSMF OSM local groups, within the business area. This was meant to inform local mappers about guidelines for organizing themselves the OSM way within a perspective aimed at dialoguing with the OSMF and other OSM entities so that the overall OSMF policies and practicies can encompass the new OSM ways in the making in the South. The second axis of this organizational support component was tailored to help local mappers in providing paid services (around their skills and the skills they gained through any project) as freelancers or as a part of a work collectives of all sorts (associations, small or large firms) or as employees of the formal public or private sector. There’s still a lot to be fixed and to be bettered in all of these actions and programs, but I believe that the span of experiences in an area and a language which is not directly represented at the Board of HOT US Inc right now, would be of help for the organization in its current moment.

… To be continued once I’ll be done with the 4 hours drive back home…

In the context of the 2020 OpenStreetMap Foundation Board Election,
- The Call to Take Action… has been collaboartively produced and endorsed by hundreds of individuals and dozens of organizations from OSM, Open Data and FreeSoftware mouvements
- It triggered discussions Archive as well as a Board decision
Below reads a few thoughts on the recent email conversations [1] at the origin of the “Call to Take Action and Confront Systemic Offensive Behaviour in the OSM Community” which lead to this 10-Dec 2020 Board decision and the proposed course of action.
I added a position statement following a comment on the first version of this diary entry.

Position statement
Prior enforcing a CoC, the issue of violence in communication shall be worked out within the existing OSMF policy (Etiquette) since it has not been used so far up to its full potential.
I think that this election discussion and the mobilization around the Call to Take Action created in the community more awareness if not a new ethos which most likely will result into more attention to actual/potential violence in communication. This may change positively our conversational style. Shall an issue arose, it’s more likely that it will be pointed out and triggered this open informal collective moderation process we witnessed around Frederik’s post. Shall this informal collective moderation does not work out, then the formal moderators will act following our Etiquette.
Prior moving to CoC, we shall give collective intelligence powered by this new ethos with the backing of full usage of our OSMF etiquette and tools its chance and we shall learn from this experience. Meanwhile, we shall also deepen our understanding and keep building evidences around past cases of violence in communication across OSM as well as document experiences of CoC enforcements. We shall analyze and think through these materials. This shall contribute in return to more intelligence in our conversations, in informal collective moderation and in the action of formal moderators.
Shall violence in communication persists despite these efforts, then we can cautiously move to something new. In so doing, we would have trust human intelligence, we would have tested our Etiquette and tools, we would have a thorough and fact grounded shared understanding of the phenomenon, we would have the basis for a non (or a less) controversial move towards the adoption of CoC withing a less divided membership and community.
Below reads the full text of the initial diary note.

Although I have been relatively active mainly on 3 osm mailing lists (hot, hot-membership and osmf), I have never put forth so far how harsh this has been for me. I felt it’s important to do so prior getting any further given the diversity topic around which revolve our whole conversation. I am not a native English speaker and I am therefore contributing from within a linguistic minority position: reading, thinking and writing is of course more time and energy consuming as well as surely frustrating when it comes to expressing oneself with subtlety. Although I happened to be portrayed as a “resilient” character within all the work environments I have been navigating these past 20 years across the academic, humanitarian and development sectors as well as OpenStreetMap worlds in more than 10 countries (Haiti and Africa), this is on the 3 above-quoted OSM mailing-lists that I have experienced the more violence of my entire life. This makes any email conversation a potential harmful experience I have to prepare myself for. This is specifically true during election times or at the occasion of governance matters. Most of the violence I experienced on the lists came from individuals signatories of the Call to action who belong to one of the signing organizations (HOT US Inc) through its Communication Working Group which is at the origin of the first version of this Call together with the Geochicas. Ironically during this past years (2015 onwards), none of those persons and none of the membership of this organization publicly deemed necessary to step in the course of violent and libelous email exchanges, nor reminded the OSMF Etiquette, nor triggered retroactively HOT US Inc CoC, the way they decided to act this 9-Dec 2020. This minority position did not prevent me from contributing my views and experiences when and where I found it appropriate to help shaping OpenStreetMap, but this is not without cost. There will always be a cost while engaging in a collective discussion specifically when governance issues are at play and that disagreements between members of a democratic collective have to be worked out within the agreed-upon conversation rules of a democratic framework, the question for us is to lower at max this cost.

Given the time it took me – while I belong to the “dominant contributor profile: white, Western and male [that is]” to quote the Call to action – to write this email after having read and thought through the exchanges and documents as well as refrained to jump too hastily in the conversation, it would be hard to deny that there are things that need to get fixed collectively to better handle violence in conversations and tend achieving more inclusiveness for a more diverse OSM. As a matter of fact, it’s equally impossible to disagree on any call to collectively work towards more inclusiveness and to strive for a more diverse OSM. This is the very root of the project and at the core of almost all the actions of the community.

Whilst sharing the overall aims of the Call to action (civility in conversation and diversity/inclusiveness), I nevertheless have disagreements on the approach, the envisioned solution, the proposed course of action of the Board and I have doubt about the sincerity of some of the signatories as well as their organization when it comes to the matter.

Frederik was in its full rights and fulfilling its civic duty as an OSMF member questioning a Board candidate working for a big corporation and formulating a voting recommendation shared by many in the membership (myself included).

This being said Frederik’s choice of words was inappropriate/offensive and rightfully pointed as such, collectively discussed and moderated in an open way throughout a process which allows for Frederik awareness and his sincere apologies. The lessons we can learn are many-fold: This episode demonstrates that in any communication, the conversational style matters: it conditions positively/negatively the reception of the message as well as it affects directly its author. Outside of any group moderation/sanction, any communication bears sui generis its own virtue reinforcing or weakening the legitimacy of the speaker. This goes for Frederik in this case. The episode demonstrates also within OSMF a collective ability to handle and overcome swiftly this issue in an open manner without having to get any further than step 2 of the moderation process put forth in the OSMF Etiquette [2]. That is to say without any intervention from a mailing-list moderator, any of the measures proposed in the Board decision, eg, instancing moderator team and forging the processes to appoint individuals with community buy-in, setting procedures for them to operate with some community consultation/approbation whose mechanisms have still yet to be figured out. Without any of the future recommendations from the LCCWG, DISC as well as the Call to action signatories. All of the Board proposed actions look “heavy” (with regards to how swiftly the issue got resolved in this conversation email), complex” to set up and to maintain while bearing the risk of some form of community control. We shall ask ourselves if this is worth allocating resources in this direction.

The way Frederik’s got singled out in the first version of the Call to action has been rightly defined as troublesome not to say more. For sometime, it was as if all Frederik tremendous merits in OSM were gone for one clumsy and idiotic sentence in one email out of the so many he has been tirelessly contributing for the sake of the project. Fortunately this time was limited thanks to edits made in the Call to action paired with email statements. Unfortunately, this is not going to be without traces and impact. While tackling seriously sexism, misogyny, and minority despise, we equally need to realize the consequences of our actions for the individuals involved and avoid any form of delegitimization. One may see some form of political manipulation and power games at play in this episode with vested interest into harming the legitimacy of someone as influential in OSM as Frederik. I went through such experiences with Severin Ménard and some other members of HOT US Inc and we saw our reputation and merits damaged or endangered over time in this organization and abroad as a result.

The second point of method I found problematic in the Call for action is its mixing of the various minority situations which hampers its critical effectiveness while making it less easily actionable. Aren’t the categories too broad? Can’t they be subject to further analyzed? Do all minorities share the perspective of women? Is there only one woman perspective in OSM? What about intersectionality with power, wealth? The same applies for the “dominant contributor profile: white, Western and male” at the heart of the dynamic of power in OSM: which Western nationalities have been at the OSMF Board so far? English is a barrier for a significant number of French mappers even for some at the OSM France Board, do they work equally as “gatekeepers” of the “Old” OSMF as other nationalities which had been present at the OSMF Board (UK, US and Germany for example)? This being said, I understand that the whole document is work in progress, meant to state an issue, formalize thoughts, gather resources, help us get going and feed OSMF Board, LCCWG, DISC and mappers and as such is valuable.

The third point of method I found problematic in the Call to action, the Board decision which is also featured in some emails is the status of the body of evidences/facts on which is based the diagnosis of:
- the unhealthiness of the OSM conversational spaces: “It is time to stop asking our colleagues for more “evidence”” (Tyler’s email [3])
- the necessity for changing the course of actions: “In the Board’s role of service to the community, it is also clear that “business as usual” doesn’t work anymore.” (Tyler’s email [3])

Shall we want to collectively move forward with a shared understanding of the dynamics at work across the conversational spaces of OSM, there’s a need to continue elaborating/refining the existing body of evidence. This is especially true for those structurally (unconsciously) in a position of power which prevents them from or makes it hard for them to realize those logics. To get an idea of the “toxicity” of email conversations, can’t we produce an archive of email threads assessed/deemed “offensive” to get some ideas of metrics and shares over the wealth of emails exchanged on the lists? Those emails could be commented upon, categories and typologies built, guidance (developing into dos and don’t) could be derived and assist in helping all parties to better understand each other. The first action point of the Call to actions is to enforce a Code Of Conduct (CoC). This is a controversial topic in OSM and in OSMF as proven this year as well as earlier in the 2015, 2017, 2018 Board elections. This is also a topic on which, again, we are lacking knowledge about experiences of its enforcement across OSM lists and fora. We are as well deprived of systematic knowledge as per the current moderation experiences across the various lists. Reading from the Board resolution this lack of knowledge is also true of the OSM Etiquette. Finally, is there not a need to take into account the resources required to the establishment of both group moderators, enforcement of Etiquette and CoC as well as the risks of some forms of community control they yield.

It’s impossible when it comes to cases related to CoC enforcement within OSM not to look at its genealogy across HOT US Inc in the context of OSMF Board elections. The idea of establishing/enforcing a CoC for OSMF and across OSM conversational spaces on the model of what was accomplished in HOT US Inc in 2015/2016 following 2015 OSMF Board election:
- It was first put forth in 2017 OSMF Board election, see emails [4,5]
- It surfaced again in 2018 OSMF Board election, see emails [6,7,8,9]
In a nutshell (anyone can refer to the above-listed emails for details), the CoC has been used in HOT US Inc to control the membership and get rid off a minority of French-speaking members of the organization active at its incorporation in 2010 or at its very early days in 2011 whose contribution was instrumental in positioning the organization at a stage where it could continue to grow from 2014 onwards. Ironically, the conflict was about the focus and magnitude to put on support programs to local communities though grassroot agile low cost operational schemes paired with organizational and governance support action versus largely funded programs as well as the horizontal organizational model vs an hierarchical one. Despite troublesome emails (liable to complaints as per HOT US Inc CoC) sent for example by Mikel Maron ([6]) or Dale Kunce ([8]) during 2018 OSMF Board election to which I replied ([9]), no CoC got activated within the organization. Lastly, even for a well funded and functional NGO like HOT US Inc, it seems that the human resources to follow up CoC complaints prove to be somewhat challenging. A CoC complaint (see [6] for details) started May 2017 got terminated Jan 2019 for the following reasons: ““Sounds to me like the process for CoC complaints at HOT US Inc, of which there is one, might not have been followed for whatever reason (usually lack of volunteer time in the roles).” (see Blake Girardot’s email [7] for details).

This being said, it’s impossible not to acknowledge that, through this Call to action, an important number of persons and organizations are re-stating their willingness to see action from the OSMF Board these topics which have been at the core of the project since its beginning. Without minimizing these organizations and these individuals, it would be important to gauge which share of the OSMF membership they represent. It would also be important for the Board to consider organizing a survey on this topic framed so that one can state not supporting the design and enforcement of a CoC while sharing the objectives set forth in the Call to action.

The Board decision to task LCCWG and DISC with following on the Call to Action makes sense as well as involving its willing signatories. It would be worth it to also reach out to the individuals who showed an interest in the topics without endorsing the Call to action so that they can be part of this exercise.

Prior to taking any decision that would change moderation methods across OSM conversational spaces, it’s paramount to my eyes to give ourselves time to mobilize evidence, time to share, time to discuss and time to decide (vote) if the OSMF shall change and enforce a CoC.

Since the first days of my OSM journey, I had been striving for diversity and inclusiveness in OSM mainly across Haiti and Sub-Saharan Africa, first at the United Nations (2007) first, then within the informal OSM collective “HOT project” I co-ideated (2008), the US NGO HOT US Inc I co-founded (2010-2014) and from 2013 onwards in the collectives Projet EOF and Les Libres Geographes I co-founded. I have been always operating at grassroot level, horizontally, working mainly through capacity building towards local empowerment. I encouraged in Western Africa OSM activities around gender as early as 2015. I had always been cautious to provide for safe spaces in all the spatial collectives set up for the over 60 projects I co-implemented in over 10 countries over the last 10 years. I am aware (although I can only claim a part of direct experience) of some of the “violent” dynamics reported in the Call to action. But I am not in favor of a CoC for the OSMF and its generalization to all OSM conversational spaces. I don’t see how they can solve the issues and I experienced too well how such tools can be used for membership control in any organization or collectives. I’d rather think that offensive communications singled out badly their authors whose credibility/legitimacy is diminished especially in our communities. This with shared core values, a continued commitment to collectively react to violence in communication and the existing list moderation procedure shall be sufficient gears to make progress.

I’d see this fairly “free” approach to organizing conversation around OSM complemented by the thematic safe places already put in place by collectives of different minorities. This would echo what works in social activism. Minority groups can choose to organize themselves from within their virtual or physical own self-governed (and therefore safe) spaces when needed. Aside from these collective “internal” experiences, these minority collective can decide (or not) to interact with all the other segments of the social movement within which the sensitization to the questions of minorities progress.

Lastly, I think it might be worth harnessing more the potential of intersectionality [10] while looking to minority dynamics. Connect identity to economic/business power and work towards preserving OSM and OSMF autonomy from their logics. This ultimately brings us back to the initial email by Frederik about big corporation influence.

I hope that this email can help us in our current conversation and navigate better towards achieving a more civilized, more inclusive and more diverse OSM.

Best, Nicolas

[1]: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2020-December/085736.html
[2]: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Etiquette
[3]: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2020-December/007590.html
[4]: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2017-December/004590.html
[5]: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2017-December/004740.html
[6]: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2018-December/005731.html
[7]: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2018-December/005737.html
[8]: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2018-December/005738.html
[9]: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2018-December/005764.html
[10]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersectionality

OpenStreetMap Uganda has applied to become an official Local Chapter of the OpenStreetMap Foundation - information application.

The elements enclosed in this diary note read as well as an email contributed to the community discussion as part of this Local Chapter application process.

Important work has been put into this Local Chapter (LC) discussion which provides the LCCWG, OSMF and OSM folks with important materials to consolidate parts of both LC (vision, processes) and OSMF.

Here are a few contributions to this on-going conversation from the perspective of someone heavily involved (HOT US Inc until 2013 and afterwords ProjetEOF and LesLibresGeographes) in Haiti and French-speaking African countries over the last decade starting and supporting local grassroot OSM collectives. I will not get back on how MapUganda relates to the current LC “doctrine” and processes, this has been well covered. I think that we need to keep looking at the question phrased by Frederik about possible “issues with granting local chapter status to a commercial organization with the main chartered purpose of providing paid services?”.

But first like others, I’d like to highlight the accomplishment that represent establishing MapUganda in its current shape through 10 years of work in Ugandan challenging environment.

For the dynamic of the OSM project in Uganda, MapUganda (incorporated as a local non profit organization) plays an instrumental and dual role as a de facto LC and a de facto business entity or an economic operator which provides paid services around OSM and Geomatics to fund its activities. I see how a formalized LC could complement and diversify the local OSM ecosystem and contribute fostering this OSM dynamic in Uganda. However, I think that MapUganda is not the right entity to fulfill this role. Years of direct experiences related to OSM dynamics involving OSM collectives and business entities in Haiti and French-speaking Africa makes me think that approving MapUganda as a LC could eventually weaken MapUganda itself, the OSM dynamic in this country and elsewhere in Africa while being detrimental for the OSMF itself in the long run.

There’s nothing against MapUganda as a collective, its members nor the Ugandese mappers in this position but rather a willingness to contribute making the best out of the local OSM dynamic resulting from their activity both for MapUganda, the Ugandan OSM project, OSM in Africa and in countries of the “global south” as well as for the OSMF itself. The elements behind this position aren’t new, they inform my actions and those of different collectives in Haiti and in Francophone African countries. They have been put forth many times and notably in SotM conferences (mostly SotM, SotM France and SotM Africa) through talks and many in-persons discussions. Long discussions with Geoffrey and other African mappers on this topic. I also took the time to speak directly with Geoffrey prior emailing our list to avoid any misunderstanding about the credit MapUganda and Ugandan OSM people deserve for their work.

The main reason for not approving MapUganda as a LC has to do with the “paid services” it is providing as a non-profit organization to secure its resources and operate. This makes of MapUganda a a de facto business entity or an “economic” operator (defined generically and minimally by the provision of paid services) despite its anchorage somewhere in social or solidarity economy. This shall make us wondering - as invited by Frederik - if “[We] see no issues with granting local chapter status to a commercial organization with the main chartered purpose of providing paid services?”. What’s the likely impact on the various parts of the Ugandan nascent OSM ecosystem? What are the likely effects for local business entities (or economic operators e.g. providers of paid services)? With poverty and low number of active mappers limiting the volunteering dynamic from which OSM originated and continues to thrive in the “global north”, business entities have therefore an important part to play in Uganda to grow and sustain an OSM dynamic, support mapping, provide training and offer economic opportunities for experienced mappers willing to make a living out of the skills they build in the project. What’s the likely impact of this decision on how the various parts of the OSM ecosystem interact and how their interaction eventually supports the growth of the OSM project while preserving its autonomy and keeping individuals at its core?

We shall first look back at OSMF and LC and remind ourselves of the early ages of the OSM project when its ecosystem was nascent and review some of the strengths that lead to its current affirmation. Frederik’s question brings us with the non written rule or the jurisprudence behind the practices under which OSMF and LC from “developed” countries have been functioning resources-wise so far: banning paid services from their resources. This is true at OSMF. This is equally true in given LC like OSMFR where this banning of “paid services” from the actual resources of the association is collectively restated year after year at its AGM. This choice in terms of OSMF resources as well as the choice of keeping the Foundation small (in its resources, staffing, perimeter of actions) has the benefit to leave the provision of paid services provision in the hands of “business” entities of all types (freelancers, associations, cooperatives, NGOs, business firms…) outside of the OSMF which largely remains a volunteer-based organization. This allows OSMF neutrality vis a vis business entities. This limits the room for business logics as well as conflict of interests in the OSMF which has to handle the influence of business and business logics without having to operate with business logics. This efficiently limits the “benefits” members and especially directors can expect from OSMF. This also safeguards reasonably the OSMF Board so that professionals or members of business entities can participate without breaking OSMF neutrality towards economic operators. These choices contribute essentially to the autonomy of the OSMF and the OSM sustainability in the long run allowing for a diversified ecosystem and free interactions of all actors including business entities of all sorts. This community discussion about MapUganda LC approval highlights the needs to revise and consolidate parts of LC and OSMF aspects and processes, these future discussions shall feature making this “paid services” jurisprudence a written law as well as defining the essential perimeter of actions of the OSMF which has been recently enlarged to system administration, software development, fundraising and human resources not without yielding questions about possible changes this can brought to the model of the small OSMF which spearheaded the growth of the project up to now.

Thinking through the triptych made of the OSMF jurisprudence about paid services, the OSMF trademark and the LC status in the context and MapUganda and countries of the “global south”, we shall realize that it’s fit for such territories (at least in Haiti/French-speaking Africa) and allows to shape the OSM ecosystem in an enabling way for community, OSMF/LC and business actors logics to interact and grow the OSM project the way it happens in the “north”.

Haiti provided an example of how bad things can go when one association (COSMHA - Communauté OSM Haiti mostly based in Port-Au-Prince area) had been active as a de facto LC and a de facto “economic operator” providing paid services around OSM. Over time, volunteerism tended to disappear or be very limited to the extent that the association operated solely under a business logic for the only benefits of some of its members. In parallel, tensions grew within the membership resulting into its shrinking and its control by a few. Entry in the association was made difficult. The internal democracy was limited. The association through its de facto OSMF chapter role seeked control over all OSM activities (community, association and business) in the island. This resulted into violent relations with individuals and other groups (in Port-Au-Prince, Saint-Marc or North/North-East) around any community volunteering activities as well as around economic opportunities. Tensions were such that certain mappers stopped their OSM activity or left the island in 2013. The overall resulted into less volunteered community-based activities, a dependence on economic project for any activity and a shrinking of the number of active local mappers. COSMHA shrunk over time, in members and activities in parallel with the scarcity of economic activities, the association being incapable to keep members and attract new ones. The same pattern with differences though applied to other Haitian OSM groups. Of course Haiti is specific but some of the above-laid out dynamics are common in the world of associations in French-speaking African countries. And we shall have this in minds while considering to merge business and OSMF LC logics into one single entity. We shall also think about how LC dynamics can also affect in return the OSMF and contributes to changes in the proven and successful governance model of the OSM ecosystem based on a small OSMF and LC.

Now let’s see how the various parts of the OSM ecosystem can interact in a ways allowing for community animation, increase, business opportunities and “economic neutrality” of the OSMF fit for poverty context and offering resources and opportunities to mappers.
- For the safety of local mappers vis a vis population, police, justice, there’s a need to formalize an OSM entity which can evolve as an OSMF local group, or some sort of de facto/proto LC prior transitioning to a formal LC.
- Typically LC’s span of activities and need for resources will he higher so that minimally on top of what OSMF, LC, local groups do in the “global north”, training and workplaces can happen throughout the territory.
- This higher need for financial resources in support of LC activities in the “global south” can be met outside of the provision of services by mobilizing first all other legal sources of income. Second it’s possible for a LC to benefit indirectly from paid services provided by all the “economic operators” active in its territory and supportive of the LC action through partnerships and donations and support actions. All sorts of community grants can also come to play via programs such as CAFDO, HOT US Inc, OSMF, ProjetEOF. And a more systematic approach can be worked out within the LCWG (as well as other fora) to build dedicated support programs.
- Outside of the LC activities, one shall note that local OSM mappers, members or not members of a LC can benefit from resources, training and job opportunities resulting from the activities of all “economic operators” active in the territory the way it’s already happening through MapUganda and others groups in Uganda.
- Lastly, to keep growing and diversifying the OSM ecosystem and its “economic actors”, specific entrepreneurship support programs targeted to OSM, Open Data and Free Geomatics can be continued or initiated within interested parties of the humanitarian action and development aid sectors ; some thoughts can be put into such scheme from within the LCWG or the committee responsible for OSMF community grants shall this program be continued. This would diversify and grow the business entities of a country, diminish dependency of the local OSM ecosystem on too few entities and provide opportunities for local mappers as well as resources for the LC. This is typically an activity that MapUganda thanks to its maturity can fulfill and add incubation/mentoring functions to its skillsets and offer of services.

The above show that there are ways to take into account the poverty context which hampers the efforts of the local OSM communities without taking the risks of making of a business entity the LC of a country. To make the best out of the OSM dynamic spearheaded by MapUganda and create a “model” fit for Haiti and Africa as well as other countries of the “global south”, it would make sense to consider initiating a new LC project for OSM in Uganda from a new entity which would have banned paid services from its resources and be supported in this approach by all interested individuals and groups across OSM and OSMF active in such territories and sensitive to these aspects of OSMF governance. In such a scheme, MapUganda would continue playing its dual role for the OSM project in Uganda and transition gradually its de facto LC activities to the new LC candidate entity.

A conversation to be continued across OpenStreetMap fora and within the OSMF LCCWG.

In 2017, despite the current level of influence that the US NGO “Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team US Inc” (aka HOT US Inc) has over the OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) thanks to Kate Chapman and Mikel Maron (both OSMF Board directors), Heather Lesson, another former HOT US Inc Board Officer and one of its former President is running for the OSMF Board.

Since 2015, HOT US Inc, is the only organization of the OpenStreetMap ecosystem represented at the OSMF Board with two Directors: Kate Chapman (co-founder / former Board member / former Executive Director; elected at the OSMF Board in 2013) and Mikel Maron (co-founder / former President / actual Chairman of the members; elected at the OSMF Board in 2015).

This state of things provides HOT US Inc with more power of influence over the Foundation than any other organizations which is without precedent in the history of this institution. Consequently, this diminishes the representation of the OSM diversity at the Board of the Foundation.

Extending furthermore this HOT US Inc presence and influence at the OSMF Board and shrinking accordingly the room for the diversity of other perspectives around OSM to be represented in this Body of the organization would be a matter of concerns in terms of : - balance of powers between organizations - diversity of visions, thoughts and practices (including internal democracy and conflict of interests) around OSM - board dynamics: a collective of HOT US Inc Boardees would interact with single individuals

With these above risks in minds, given HOT US Inc current influence, its members (aka “hotties”) would be best advised to support the OSM project at the Foundation outside of the Board through its Working Groups to start with allowing “hotties” to get acquainted with another organization. This would mitigate risks of power games, lower tensions and strengthen OSM diversity by saving room for other perspectives and experiences around OSM to be represented at the OSMF Board.

In 2017, like in 2015, OSMF voting members shall pay attention to representing at best OSM diversity as well as check and balances in terms of organizational powers at the Foundation prior casting their ballot this 2-Dec onwards.

PS : I am Nicolas Chavent, co-founder of HOT US Inc in 2010 and as Acting Project Manager in charge of of its Operations until 2013, co-founder of two French associations Projet Espace OpenStreetMap Francophone (Projet EOF) and Les Libres Géographes (LLG).

This short note is to draw your attention on the danger for OSMF (and the OSM project) in the case the United States NGO “Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team US Inc” (aka HOT US Inc) got a majority at the OSMF Board after this 2015 election.

Mikel Maron, Joseph Reeves and Yantisa Akhadi, all members of the NGO HOT US Inc, are running for the OSMF Board 1; Kate Chapman, the former ED of HOT US Inc serves already as Board Officer in OSMF.

Shall Mikel Maron, Joseph Reeves and Yantisa Akhadi be elected, HOT US Inc will get a majority at the Board of the Foundation. This will provide a single organization of the OSM ecosystem (HOT US Inc) with an unprecedented and excessive power of influence over the Foundation.

This running of three candidates from the same organization is puzzling and troublesome when one considers that HOT US Inc (and therefore its perspective around OpenStreetMap) is already represented at the OSMF Board since Sept 2013. Why extending its presence and influence and consequently diminishing the OSM diversity represented at the OSMF Board?

A greater HOT US Inc presence at the OSMF Board would be a matter of concern in terms of : - balance of powers - diversity of visions, thoughts and practices around OSM - board dynamics: a collective of HOT US Inc Boardees would interact with single individuals. This is a bad practice which is not followed by any Organizations; this is specifically true for representative bodies (organization representing organizations) such as OSMF

OSMF voting members shall pay attention to check and balances in terms of organizational powers prior casting their ballot 28-Nov onwards and bear in minds that HOT US Inc and this perspective about OSM is already represented at the OSMF Board through Kate Chapman.

The HOT US Inc perspective informs, like other perspectives, the work of the Foundation and has its effect on the OSM project, there is no need to take risks in providing this group with more room in the Foundation which is hot enough in these times of winter.

“Journée du SIG 2015 aka “GIS Day” 22h30 (UTC), c’est la fin de l’après-midi à Port Au Prince (Haiti) et la soiré est avancée à Lomé (Togo) après de longues et joyeuses heures de travail sur les projets OpenStreetMap, QGIS et données ouvertes (opendata).

Au Togo, à l’Université de Lomé (UL) : - 50 personnes ont travaillé toute la journée sur le logiciel de Système d’Informatioin Géographique (SIG) libre QGIS avec des données OpenStreetMap créées à travers les 4 premiers jours du maptrek “mivamapper” (Viens mapper en langue locale) sur la zone inondable d’Anfamé (Lomé) ainsi qu’avec des données “Core Operational Datasets” (COD) and “Fundamental Operational Datasets” (FOD) du Bureau d’Action à l’Action Humanitaire (OCHA) accessibles à travers les plateformes Humanitarian Response et HDX. - 20 personnes ont travaillé une demi journée à explorer, visualiser et télécharger des données géographiques de toutes sortes (openstreetmap, données ouvertes/ opendata et données placées sous d’autres licenses) en utilisant l’IFL (Infrastructure de Données Spatiales Francophone Libre) hébergée à Rennes à l’AgroCampus Ouest (France) et maintenue avec le soutien de la communauté GeOrchestra. - Ces mêmes 20 individus ont passé l’après-midi à affermir leur maitrise de l’outil de webmapping uMap en utilisant les mêmes types de données. - En parallèle de ces deux ateliers, l’ensemble de ces personnes ont continué de cartographier à distance les villes d’Anfamé et Biu définies comme les premiers objectifs du maptrek “mivamapper”, le mapathon de 8 jours du ProjetEOF et des communautés locales, commencé le 14-Novembre dernier. - Avec la tombée de la nuit sur Lomé, ces activités ont cédé la place au travail de préparation du SOTMTG 2015, la seconde édition du State Of The Map Afrique.

En Haiti, à la base logistique de Port Au Prince de l’association Haiti Communitere, - deux mappers expérimentés de la communauté OSM haitienne enrichissent leur bagage technique en cartographie OSM dans le cadre d’une approche de formation de formateurs.
- Les mêmes avec le collectif d’animation ProjetEOF organisent leur participation à distance au SOTMTG 2015 et au dernier jour de l’expérience mivamapper - Ils sont aussi actifs à préparer ce 21 novembre la tenue sur la base logistique d’HC d’un mapathon centré sur des Aires d’Intérêt Areas des communautés locales de Port Au Prince. - Comme les jours précédents, ils achèveront leur journée en rejoignant les mappers ouest-africains du maptrek mivamapper.

Un jour OSM et SIG plein comme l’essentiel de nos journées haîtiennes (1, 2) et togolaises (3, 4, 5) des deux dernières semaines et vraisemblablement des 10 prochains jours au cours de ces deux missions de renforcement de capacités OSM et géomatique libre conçues, financées et mises en oeuvre avec la Direction Numérique de l’Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) et notre partenaire haïtien Haiti Communitere.

Toute personne intéressée par ces initiatives et désireuse de nous joindre peut suivre l’actualité de ces actions OSM vai les blogs, wiki, mailing lists du ProjetEOF et des groupes OSM locaux du Togo, du Niger, du Mali, du Burkina, du Togo, du Bénin et du Sénégal ainsi que lerus comptes Facebook et twitter via notamment les hashtags #ProjetEOF #map4tg #mivamapper et #sotmtg15.

Excellente fin de journée Nicolas

“GIS Day” 08 PM (UTC), it’s mid day in Port Au Prince (Haiti) and night time in Lomé (Togo) after long and happy working hours around OSM, GIS and opendata.

In Togo at Université de Lomé UL (Lomé University UL): - 50 people working all day long on QGIS with OpenStreetMap data created through the first 4 days of the maptrek mivamapper (Come map Togo local language) in Anfamé (Lomé) but also with data from the OCHA Core Operational Datasets (COD) and Fundamental Operational Dataset (FOD) accessed via the Humanitarian Responses and the HDX platforms. - 20 people working half a day exploring, visualizing and retrieving geodata of all sorts (openstreetmap, opendata, gray-licensed data) with the IFL (Infrastructure de Données Spatiales Francophone Libre/ “Free Francophone SDI”-FFS) hosted in France at AgroCampus Ouest and maintained with the support of the GeOrchestra community. - The same 20 spent their afternoon reinforcing their grasp on the webmapping tool uMap with the same kind of data - Asides of this, the same people kept mapping Anfamé and Biu cities as the first targets set for the mivamapper maptrek experience started last Saturday 14-November (our 8 days-long mapathon) - Now that night fell over Lomé, the preparatory work for our second State Of The Map Africa, the SOTMTG 2015, is intensifying.

In Haiti at the Port Au Prince base of Haiti Communitere, - a couple of Haitian experienced mappers are being taught OSM on a train the trainer program - The same with the ProjetEOF collective are also organizing for both remote attendance of the SOTMTG 2015 and the last day of mivamapper - They are also laying the ground for a mapathon that will take place this 21-Nov at HC’s base and will focus on Areas Of Interest for local communities in Haiti - Like the days before, they’ll finish their days joining in Western African mappers in the mivamapper maptrek.

A rich GIS day like most of our days in Haiti (1, 2) and in Togo (3, 4, 5) over the past 2 weeks and likely of the coming 10 days.

Excellent day to all Nicolas

From March 2010 until Novembre 2013, I had worked as a contractor for HOT US in a series of short term assignments in Haiti and Africa as a Project Manager and Acting Project Director. This happened in parallel of my continued volunteering work as one of the core coordinator of the organization around negotiation/design/implementation of field work, remote activations, networking, training and outreach.

In November and December 2013, I had worked as a freelancer for two short term assignments (2 weeks long missions) with the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) assisting in a translation sprint (French version of LearnOSM) and a training in Chad around OSM and the development of mobile application.

During March 2014 to March 2015:

• I had no work relation with HOT US.
• I worked as a freelancer in a series of short term assignments on OSM and GIS projects in development aid in French Speaking Countries (Burkina Faso, Senegal, Togo, Ivory Coast) with OIF as well as French (Aquinétic, Club des Hommes d’Affaires Africains), African (Association Malienne pour l’Eveil au Développement Durable - AMEDD) and Haitian associations (Haiti Communitere - HC). This entailed documentation (producing the first versions of two guides Opendata GIS handbook and organizational support), software development project (OSMstata) as well as field training and community building projects in the above-mentioned countries. Those actions have been part of the OIF support to the Projet Espace OSM Francophone (ProjetEOF). This happened in parallel with my continued voluntary engagement with the HOT project.
• I lectured around OSM and GIS in French Universities and Engineering Schools; some of the work was paid, some compensated, some volunteered.

If elected, as a board member, I will be acting in 2015 in compliance with HOT US conflict of interests (COI) policy and practises: informing the Board and excusing myself from the discussion and/or vote in case of COI.

Bio

I am a French Geographer and a GIS/Cartography expert with a background rooted in Litterature/ Social Sciences/ Social activism and 14 years of work in Overseas Academic Research, Humanitarian and Development actions.

I had been living over 7 years in Senegal and developed in this time an interest for Humanitarian and Development understood as fields of practices (theories and actions) where space and location tied to agile, innovative approaches to individual and community empowerment - geography in action - have a role to play which potential has not been fulfilled yet.

From my years as a practitioner in Overseas Academic Research, Humanitarian and Development worlds, I strongly believe that the OpenStreetMap project, the wider open data and open source movements are building a new emerging paradigm in territorial dynamics which allows for renewed global and local citizen actions and empowerments relevant for Humanitarian contexts and leading eventually to human Development.

The HOT Project

To foster the maturation of this paradigm, I invented the concept of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) Project with Mikel Maron from late 2007 to early 2009. I engaged in the OSM response to the Haiti 12-January 2010 earthquake, both remotely and on-the-ground, by leading the first field work of the HOT Project from March 2010 onwards. I co-founded the US-incorporated NGO HOT Us with Mikel Maron, Kate Chapman, Robert Soden and Dane Springmeyer in August 2010 to widen and deepen the HOT Project in Haiti and in Humanitarian and Development work overseas. I served as a Board Officer and Programs Director for HOT US between 2010-2014 and focused my engagement in developing the capacities of this Organization, its community and its partners to support and build local autonomous OSM communities in Haiti and Western/Central Africa.

The EOF Project

To better address the specifics of community building in French speaking countries of the Caribbean and Africa, I ideated and started in 2012 the Espace OSM Francophone (EOF) Project with the support of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). The EOF Project represents both a collective as well as an efficient and agile mechanism to support continued local OSM animation. This consists of a mix of volunteerism and a series of small well targeted support projects tailored to the poverty context of those territories. Typically EOF activities spans in-country and remote mapping (humanitarian activations included), training, building of technical and organizational support materials. These are happening within an overall capacity building scheme and a continued mentorship which provides support to the most active individuals and groups. EOF works and operates through local partnerships with Academics (Research), Free Software Associations, Local Government or humanitarian actors. They form the basis of the OSM ecosystem and provides workplaces and resources for collectives of local OSM animators to grow local OSM communities.

2014 in the HOT Project

Over the last year (March 2014 to March 2015), I focused my actions on developing the EOF Project with the support of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) to consolidate and expand OSM in Haiti, Sénégal, Togo, Burkina-Faso, Morocco, Niger, Bénin, Ivory Coast, Mali and Chad. In parallel, I worked fostering EOF’s contributions to the Crisis activations and preparedness work of the HOT and The Missing Maps Projects. The work happened through a mix of paid work (as a freelancer) with OIF and OIF partners and a continued volunteered work. This entailed the following:

• Continued support and mentorship to the most active individuals/groups of the EOF countries
• Design and implementation of the EOF small sized support projects for continued animation, hardware purchases, capacity building missions and production of technical and organizational materials.
• Carried out Western African field support mission in Burkina Faso, Sénégal, Togo and Ivory Coast and provided project support to the other countries
• Lectured for the fourth year about OSM/GIS in master classes of Geomatics in a network of French Universities and Engineering Schools (Ecole Centrale de Nantes, Agrocampus de Rennes, Universités of Paris 1 Sorbonne, Paris 8 Saint-Denis and Paris 10 Nanterre)
• Outreach in various events and conferences : Conférence Humanitaire (French Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Quai d’Orsay), State Of the Map France (Paris), UN GIS Day (Geneva), Salon Des Solidarités (Paris), GeoBretagne (Rennes), GeOrchestra (Clermond-Ferrand), GeOnG (Chambéry),

Vision for the HOT Board in 2015

This is the vision that Severin and I have for the Board of HOT US in 2015. Work is ongoing to produce and release a collective version from individual statements that will guide our action in 2015 within the HOT Project.

2015 will de facto be a year of changes for HOT with

• On the one hand, the resignation of its ED and a majority of its former Board members.
• On the other hand, the many candidacies with a diverse set of skills and varying levels of experience within the organization. It’s likely that a sound mix of people shall come out from this election.

If elected, my actions within the Board of Directors for HOT will be as follow:

My vision of what a Board member shall be doing

I’ll be using the many hats that my experience provided me with: strategy, project engineering (design/implementation), reporting, admin/business processes, outreach, networking, advising, grants writing/fundraising and the field-specific technical and organizational skills building local OSM communities developed in Haiti and Africa in the past 5 years.

My priority

My compass will be to ensure that our organization fosters its support to the growth of autonomous local OSM communities (made of individuals, groups, chapters and economic operators) and develop their ability to sustain relations amongst themselves (global-local, South-South, North-South) and with technical communities (OSM, free software and open data) as well as the humanitarian and development actors. My intention is to provide feedback from my field experience in many contexts and type of projects, including e.g. budget optimization to systematically encompass support for local emergent OSM communities.

Reinforce HOT US as a member-based organization an carry out internally the following

• Ensure that HOT is a transparent organization for its members who can attend all meetings (Board included) and access all meeting notes, communications and all the Organization documents (specifically finance, admin, projects) ; within of course the respect of privacy
• Make of HOT an inclusive organization in terms of decision making ; specifically in project design tied to subventions, grants, or core funds
• Make of HOT a learning organization for its members from voluntary contributions in Working Group down to project implementation which shall continue to primarily seek hotties’ participation
• Redefine relations and roles between the Board Of Directors and Operational staffs (ED and Project Managers). Ensure a shift towards a more active role for the Directors in strategy/planning/design/implementation/monitoring of operations and projects with the ED in charge of running the day to day business. Resume operations meeting (stopped in 2013) between the ED and Project Managers and introduce continued attendance by Board and WG representatives.

What the organization shall do

• Consolidation of the Commons of the HOT Project (tools, documentation, communication, network) and design a Charter of the HOT Project to which HOT US, other regional HOT organizations and partners have to be compliant with
• Consolidate capacities to support remotely humanitarian and development actors.
• Expand again HOT on-the-ground presence (after its shrinking in 2014) in order to support humanitarian and development actors and grow local OSM communities. Assess and review the fundraising approach to tentatively succeed in securing core funds for the first time in 2015
• Strengthen our neutrality/autonomy from large partner and funding organizations within the humanitarian and development fields
• Ensure that the Organization benefit from continued advisory support through its members and Working Groups and/or in the form of ad hoc simple consultations of experts or through the form of advisory projects tailored to address a specific need of the organization

What is the HOT Project?

Historically, the HOT Project develops as follow :

• It started first as a community made of individuals forming an informal collective from 2007 until the first field work in the 2010 Haiti response (March/May/June).
• In Aug 2010, the HOT Project developed as a community coupled to a US-incorporated NGO, HOT US fulfilling the role of a de facto Humanitarian/Development chapter operating mostly through volunteerism and an economic operator relying for project implementation on a mix of paid and voluntary work.
• In 2015, the HOT Project consists of a community, a chapter (HOT US) and economic operators (HOT US, TheMissingMap project and many others)

The components of the HOT project can be developed as follow:

• A community of individuals involved through remote activations and field work far beyond the HOT US voting members and the stable core of active contributors
• An associative component as a kind of Humanitarian/Development Chapter with HOT US, for voluntary activity around OSM in the Humanitarian and Development fields in the form of mapping, training, outreach, documentation and tools creation
• Economic operators, including HOT US, using the business mechanisms (proposals, calls for bids) and raising funds to support the use of OSM in the Humanitarian and Development fields.

HOT US within the HOT Project

• Organize the Decentralization/Regionalization of HOT US into autonomous HOT regional entities (both chapters and/or economic operators) able to operate worldwide. By so doing, they will comply with the HOT Project Charter (cf supra) and maintain and enrich the HOT Project Commons (cf supra) and seek coordination/cooperation synergies in running their voluntary or economic project-based activities.
• Organize for HOT US to play the role of incubator for such a regionalization process and for the regional entities to share in return with HOT US the financial costs of maintaining the Commons of the HOT Project (through a project fees, for example like TheMissingMap project).
• Organize the cooperation between HOT US, future emerging HOT regional entities and already existing partner entities (GroundTruth, TheMissingMaps, etc.) or projects like the Projet EOF. This will ensure that HOT US incubate/support (if needed) those entities and that mechanisms are in place for those entities to operate by the HOT Project Charter and its Commons and contribute with HOT US to those Commons
• Organize/address the handling of conflicts of interest for Board members involved in professional uses of OSM