Board/Minutes/2017-05-09

From OpenStreetMap Foundation
< Board‎ | Minutes

Location: Mumble, Tuesday 2017-05-09, 20:00 London time

Participants

Board members

  • Kate Chapman
  • Martijn van Exel
  • Mikel Maron
  • Paul Norman
  • Frederik Ramm

Guests

Open to all members

Not Present

  • Peter Barth
  • Ilya Zverev

Administrative

Previous minutes

Circular Resolutions

Previous action items

2016-05-28: Martijn to find someone to work with to distill action items and next steps for diversity objectives
2016-05-28: Martijn/Kate to draft diversity policy
2016-05-28: Ilya to compile a draft of an OSMF monthly newsletter from Working Group (WG) & board minutes
2016-08-19: Mikel to review his notes for an agenda/list of topics for the last Face-2-Face (F2F)
2016-08-19: Mikel to put Local Chapters' (LC) discussion notes on the board wiki
2016-05-28: Frederik/Paul to prepare transparency doc from transparency session
2016-08-19: Mikel to send round bullet points on diversity policy proposal
2016-08-19: Ilya to look at implementing means for members to view the membership register
2016-09-25: Martijn to notify board when US has done policy on smaller grants
2016-10-28: Peter to create a page on the wiki, listing software products which are used by OSMF and aren't open-source
2017-02-21: Paul to separate the State of the Map (SotM) net profit discussion items and start the follow-up discussions
2017-03-21: Paul and Mikel to join next call of Martijn with the F2F host (time-limited action point)
2017-03-21: Paul to reach to LCs about sending representatives to the Advisory Board (done)
2017-03-21: Mikel to get list of SotM potential sponsors in order, together with Rob (done)
2017-04-18: Peter to make a list of requirements for self-hosting and discuss them with the OWG
2017-04-18: Martijn to follow-up with Paul regarding joining call with F2F host (time-limited action point)
2017-04-18: Frederik to send e-mail to osmf-talk@ and ask opinions on board term limits (done)
2017-04-18: Peter to create page on OSM wiki regarding board meeting - which can be linked from the calendar

Minutes' topics: F2F Agenda | F2F Logistics | UK LC application | LWG request | AB

F2F Agenda

Discussion about the agenda of the upcoming Face-to-Face (F2F) board meeting (May 20-21, Amsterdam).
Lead: Mikel

Facilitation

No facilitation will be needed this year, as we're in a good place to proceed on our own without involving the host.

Setting the agenda

A short questionnaire was emailed to all board members.
Answers were broken down into:

  • Common topics that we want to specifically talk about
  • What we want out of this as individual board members
  • What we want from the F2F as a board

Topics

2-3 topics which were high priority and very strongly on everyone's mind:

  • Breadth and meaning of our community
  • Issues related to corporate involvement
  • Working Groups and (processes, communication, transparency)

3-4 open working sessions (no topics set), to deal with topics that come out of the other sessions.

Structure

  • Opening circle
  • Main and open working sessions with breaks
  • Closing session - there are specific ideas to make things actionable

Consistent theme

Get a clear idea of how we, as a board, are working and what we're going to do over the course of the remainder term of the board.

Note: There will be homework prior to the meeting!

Minutes' topics: F2F Agenda | F2F Logistics | UK LC application | LWG request | AB

F2F Logistics (update)

Last arrangements for the upcoming F2F board meeting (May 20-21, Amsterdam). Notes from previous discussions: Apr 2017, Mar 2017, Jan 2017.
Lead: Martijn

Venue: Same as last year
Meeting the local community: Saturday night

Minutes' topics: F2F Agenda | F2F Logistics | UK LC application | LWG request | AB

UK Local Chapter application

OpenStreetMap United Kingdom (OSMUK) has applied to become the OSMF local chapter for the United Kingdom (including the Isle of Man and Channel Islands). Please note that for consultation and as part of due diligence, the OSMF community has already been asked (on osmf-talk and at local mailing lists) for comments on the application.


Feedback specific to Ireland was that there would be an application for a local chapter covering the island of Ireland from OSMIE, so potentially Northern Ireland would have both OSM UK and OSMIE covering it.

No feedback was received from the Scottish community.

General feedback and from the UK was sent privately and was negative.

Points of concern raised were that

  • The group morphed from GB to UK
  • The group largely ignores existing channels of communication with the GB/UK community
  • The group is focused on the West Midlands and doesn't represent the wider GB community
  • One group cannot be considered representative of the whole UK community

- Suggested change of having the "Chapter support and campaign for the interests of the local community" instead of "represent the interests of the local community" with a caveat that the OSMF believes that it is not appropriate for a single organisation to be recognised as the representative of this community

- The proposed OSMUK is representative of some UK OSMers (mainly from West Mids) but not much else as far as I can tell.

Lead: Paul

Comments on particular issues

On OSMIE also applying (in the future) to become a Local Chapter, so if accepted both OSMUK and OSMIE will cover Northern Ireland

  • Nothing stops us from having two Local Chapters over Northern Ireland. The agreement allows it, we just have to consult with OSMUK before doing so.

On concerns about OSMUK not being representative of UK community, ignoring existing communication channels and mainly being representative of west Midlands.

  • More people provided negative feedback regarding the OSMUK application, compared to any previous LC application.
  • While OSMUK originated in Midlands, they did give people ample chance to become involved. If no-one got involved, no-one could blame them.

Not an open membership system

This is an issue not mentioned in the background information above, discovered internally.

  • OSMUK does not have an open membership system - the OSMUK board has to approve the members.

Note: Probably not a conscious selection, could have come from a template, similarly to how we got that clause about 5 years ago.

Possible decisions

  • Reject
  • Approve
  • Approve but exclude Northern Ireland
  • Approve with suggested changes
  • Ask for more information

Suggestions

1. Bring feedback and concerns to OSMUK applicants, get their input, see if there are some additional steps or actions they would want to take.

2. Could provisionally accept, mentioning that it is expected of OSMUK to:
- strive to represent the whole UK community and
- be an open community
..and if this doesn't work out, we might have to revisit the agreement at a later time.

On suggesting a change in the OSMUK Articles of Association:

  • It would probably be a lengthy process.
  • OSMUK might want to change the membership clause anyway, if it got in the Articles of Association without them really realising it.

Action

Action Point: Paul to get back to OSMUK with questions about the articles and the membership.

Minutes' topics: F2F Agenda | F2F Logistics | UK LC application | LWG request | AB

LWG request for some of Dorothea's time

The LWG has sent an email to the board, requesting administrative support for minute taking during the LWG monthly meeting and for preparation of the minutes post meeting. "This would allow us to use the scarce time available for the whole group to discuss and work on topics more efficiently and make it easier for the current minute taker to engage in the discussions." The current request is for 1.5 hours/month.
Lead: Martijn

Points mentioned during discussion

  • Minuting will probably take more time than suggested
  • Good use of time, in support of what we said we want the Working Groups to do (better minutes)
  • Suggestion of creating some sort of policy, since:
    • The LWG might not be the last group asking for this. SotM-WG already has.
    • Limited hours available.
    • Dorothea is mainly appointed to help us as a board.

Decision

  • Acceptance of LWG's request and re-evaluation after 3 months.
  • Martijn will keep tabs with Dorothea to see:
    • how much time consuming it is &
    • if it eats up into any other activities related to the board too much.
Minutes' topics: F2F Agenda | F2F Logistics | UK LC application | LWG request | AB

Any other business

Advisory Board (update)

  • Grant was helpful in transitioning some administrative access to our email groups' operations.
  • Three corporate Advisory Board (AB) members and the board have been added to the AB mailing list.
  • Paul has asked the LCs of Iceland & Switzerland to dispatch their representatives.

Action points

  • Martijn to create initial draft of AB welcome email and solicit feedback from the board.
  • Paul to find the contact email of the Italian LC.

Note: Need to think how to store contact information of LCs, as for Iceland there wasn't a group email, just contact information for an individual.

Minutes' topics: F2F Agenda | F2F Logistics | UK LC application | LWG request | AB

Next meeting

Tuesday, 20th of June, 2017 at 20:00 London time.

Meetings are normally recurring on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, at 20:00 London time, unless rescheduled.

Meeting end