OpenStreetMap
I like to stay up to date with discussions about OSM but I think I’m at a tipping point.
I connect to IRC through Riot.im (DWG channel), Discord (OSM World), two Slack channels (Maptime Oceania and Maptime US), a few mailing lists (talk-au, tagging, talk), Twitter (@josmeditor, @openstreetmap), a weekly newsletter (weeklyOSM), a couple of RSS feeds (help.openstreetmap.org, new notes, diary entries), OSMCha (monitor changesets), OSM wiki changes on some pages I watch and changeset comments topped of by a once a year in-person community event, FOSS4G SotM Oceania.
Discussion
Comment from amapanda ᚛ᚐᚋᚐᚅᚇᚐ᚜ 🏳️🌈 on 17 February 2020 at 16:11
I feel you! OSM just keeps getting bigger, with more people. We can’t stay on top of it all. Which is great IMO.
Comment from Heather Leson on 17 February 2020 at 16:51
It would be helpful to have aggregation points, but yes I also feel you.
Comment from qeef on 25 February 2020 at 11:33
That’s an interesting problem, I will tell you how do I fight it, just for inspiration.
First, I selected the topics most interested for me and found out channels where these topics are discussed. Sometimes, there are multiple channels but I am trying to keep just one channel I like the most.
Second, the channels you talk about are different types:
I think that OSMCha is not the communication channel but tool you may use for map editing (maybe I am wrong as I don’t use it). I think that a conference is not a communication channel neither, but the event (as you pointed out).
1. Pull info (asynchronous communication) This is my main communication channel to “keep in touch and know what happens in the community”.
The base is email here. I do check my email inbox once or twice per day. Just set up the mailing lists of interest (talk, hot, josm-dev) and skip the not important messages. New weekly is always notified to talk (and also to hot so I end up with duplicity here). Mention in Slack, wiki change or new OSM message is notified by email, too.
A similar channel is RSS. I just sit down in the evening (not every as I haven’t learned it much yet) and pull all the RSS feeds, scanning what is interesting and reading it.
2. Instant messaging (IM) (synchronous communication) I think that IM is a good option for team I work with on a daily basis. Or when you need/provide support. Therefore I don’t use it much. When email notification from Slack comes, I do check it. If nothing comes, I do check Slack once per week, reading new conversations.
3. Social network/microblogging (chaotic communication) I am not a big fan of these as the network tells you what you want to see. I do follow some people, but not organizations. And I don’t have this channel as a significant one.
Comment from DaCor on 10 March 2020 at 22:38
Do what I did, ignore it all except for local meetups and OSM weekly news.
The rest is just noise.