Board/Minutes/2021-02

Date and time: Friday, 26 February 2021 14:00 UTC - Countdown

Location: Video room https://osmvideo.cloud68.co/user/ror-nt7-6tu
using BigBlueButton.

Acronyms

Participants

Board members

Allan Mustard (Chairing)
Eugene Alvin Villar
Guillaume Rischard
Jean-Marc Liotier
Mikel Maron
Tobias Knerr
Rory McCann

Officers and board
Biographies

Not Present

Guests

11 guests

Open to all OSMF members (become a member).

You are welcome to ask questions or to comment (via voice or on the chat) at the end of the meeting.

Please mute your microphone when you join, and to preserve bandwidth, refrain from turning on your webcam.
If you are in a low-bandwidth environment, you may benefit from using BigBlueButton's low-bandwidth settings.

Administrative

Previous minutes

2021-01-29 Accepted

Circular Resolutions

About circular resolutions

2021/Res06 Addition to the OSMF privacy policy to cover surveys

To add language in the attached document to the OSMF Privacy Policy in order to cover privacy questions specific to surveys. The Licensing Working Group has reviewed and its comments have been incorporated. The text is compliant with GDPR.
Unanimously accepted on 2021-02-05 with 7 votes in favour: Tobias Knerr, Guillaume Rischard, Jean-Marc Liotier, Eugene Alvin Villar, Mikel Maron, Allan Mustard, Rory McCann (This looks fine, but I think the language only includes (regular) members, and some parts don't include associate members. e.g. “Email addresses of members of the OSMF may be used to invite Foundation members to participate in surveys.”. I have no problem as it is, but would also vote for an amendment to explicitly include associate members).
Circular by Allan Mustard.

2021/Res07 Approve £1800 for Lawdit for HOT trademark grant consultation

Lawdit request £1,500 (+ UK VAT (20%)) for consultation on the HOT trademark grant.
Accepted on 2021-02-24 with 4 votes in favour: Jean-Marc Liotier, Guillaume Rischard, Mikel Maron, Rory McCann 3 not voted: Eugene Alvin Villar, Allan Mustard, Tobias Knerr.
Circular by Rory McCann.

2021/Res08 Update Conflict of Interest policy

As discussed during the screen-to-screen [board meeting] on takeover protection, this updates the Conflict of Interest Policy to prevent board members with a conflict of interest on a topic from participating in the discussions about it. Why we want to do this: Prevent takeovers Increase trust in the foundation Reduce lobbying impact Reduce surface of attack of the board I have also clarified that "participate" means active participation, and that board members with a conflict can usually still listen in, but can exceptionally be excluded from attendance. Finally, I have done minor edits to the text for clarification, made clear that members may always recuse themselves, and europeanised the spelling. Proposed changes, with final version at the bottom.
Did not pass on 2021-02-25 with 3 votes against: Allan Mustard (I don't see a compelling need to modify a well functioning policy we adopted just last year after intense discussion. If there is a compelling need, we need to discuss it fully among ourselves first. If the concern is about hostile takeover, we need to discuss takeover more broadly, not solely in this context) Tobias Knerr (Voting no due to the manner in which this was put forward. This is an important conversation, but not urgent enough to justify dispensing with dialogue within the board and with the community, and it is likewise not urgent enough to decide via circular rather than at our public board meetings) Mikel Maron (undiscussed changes lacking justification. Very bad precedent to force things through without consultation. There is no lobbying, no takeovers, no attacks. We have a CoI policy where members can recuse completely from discussion when needed. This is purposefully hobbling the osmf board with no benefit) 2 in favour: Rory McCann, Guillaume Rischard 1 abstained: Eugene Alvin Villar (I think the proposal is sensible and could be adopted. However, the original policy was first brought up in 2018, then developed in the meantime, then first formally moved to be adopted in the April 2020 Board meeting, but then postponed until unanimously approved via a circular resolution before the May 2020 Board meeting. Given that the policy has only been in force for less than a year, I think there needs to be a longer discussion why this needs to be urgently updated) 1 not voted: Jean-Marc Liotier
Circular by Guillaume Rischard.

Note: Rory McCann mentioned during the February board meeting that the absence of a comment from them on this circular was due to technical issues with Loomio.

Previous action items

See Board/Action_Items.

Microsoft live translator

Introduction by Allan about Microsoft live translator, which was used during the meeting, so that observers could read the dialogue in real time in another language.

Reportage

Updates not mentioned during action items.

Guillaume

Talked with John Barry of TimelessTime regarding UK contracts and will send an offer for working on the SSRE contract.
Interesting diary comment by Rob Nickerson regarding database rights.
Many new OSMF members from Norway, reached out by local active contributor. Local membership quadrupled.

Jean Marc (provided ~28' after start)

In process of finalising negotiation on contract with administrative assistant. Current contract ends soon.
Started drafting a reserve policy document.

Treasurer's report

By Guillaume Rischard.

Facebook funds for infrastructure support have come in.
Operations Working Group (OWG) submitted a proposed budget, starting on the second quarter of 2021. High level is similar to last year.
OWG will give outlook of expected expenditures for next 2 years - coordination with fundraising efforts.

Suggestions

Participation of OWG member at the next board meeting.
"Catalogue" of things that can be supported with fundraising.
- Comment: have one "package" - funds needed to keep platform running- and potentially fundraise for specific roles or initiatives. Have also enough funds to cover the requested OWG "high level".

Action item: Rory to do a circular on the OWG budget after discussion about the selected tier.

Attribution guidelines update

The Licensing Working Group (LWG) had created a draft attribution guideline , which was subsequently modified by the board. After meetings of the board with Corporate Member representatives on attribution (Jun and Oct 2020) and with LWG members (Oct 2020), the board version was modified. December meeting decisions to: Publish the current document after giving the Licensing Working Group (LWG) a heads up tonight. Ask LWG to summarise the points they still consider open from the comments on that document and ask Dermot McNally (LWG member), who has no conflict of interest, to present that report at the next LWG meeting. (# Dermot has been asked and agreed to do it). Rory to work with external counsel to try to find the solutions to these issues that are most favourable to us. Attribution related meetings, excluding recurring board and LWG meetings 2020-12-04 Board and LWG meeting (Dermot McNally) on draft attribution guidelines - The meeting was set-up in short time. The LWG was invited but only Dermot McNally could participate in such short notice. 2020-10-15 Board and LWG meeting on draft attribution guidelines 2020-10-09 Board and AB Corporate Members representatives meeting 2020-10-02 Session Make progress on attribution guidelines and enforcement, during board screen-to-screen October meeting 2020-06-22 Board and AB Corporate Members representatives meeting Attribution related board minutes 2021: Jan Attribution guidelines update, Feb 12 (mid month board chat) 2020: Jan Attribution and lack thereof, Apr Update on LWG's rewrite of attribution policy, May Status of Attribution policy, Status of Facebook attribution issue on mobile, Jun Status, Meeting with Corporate Members of the Advisory Board on attribution, Oct screen-to-screen discussion, update, Nov update 1, update 2, Dec update (informal board chat), update (public board meeting). 2019 Oct Attribution by Facebook. Attribution guidance related LWG minutes 2020: Jan (“Twitter attribution thread”), Feb, Mar, Apr, Jul, Aug, Oct, Nov 2019: Jan, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec 2018: Dec OSMF members related discussions: Attribution guideline status update: 2019 Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec Attribution: board letter to Facebook: 2019 Oct, Nov
Allan Mustard

Next steps:

Look at draft document to be sent to external counsel.
Hire external counsel.

Deadline for sending document: March mid-month chat.
Decision: Guillaume Rischard to be the coordinator.

Community survey - progress report on data release

Results released so far of the 2021 OSMF community survey, which run from January 16th to February 14th. The survey was available in 18 languages.
Allan Mustard

Raw data posted on the OSMF website and can be downloaded, together with summary statistic.
Some community members are working on or have posted their analyses (Paul Norman, Michal Migurski).
Oral briefings to the community on BigBlueButton on March 10th and 11th and will take questions.

Strategic plan outline - update

An action item of the 2020-10 screen-to-screen board meeting was for Allan Mustard to circulate a strategic plan outline to the rest of the board members and drive forward the topic (which would then serve fundraising asks in 2021) (Topics: OSMF fundraising and Wrap-up session). The outline was created in October 2020 and board members have provided feedback on it. The draft will be published for community consultation once most board members agree that it doesn't need any further refinement. Previous related board discussions 2021-02-06 Strategic plan - Agree on "plan for the plan" (screen to screen board meeting) 2021-01-15 Strategic plan outline (mid-month board chat) 2020-12-18 Members: Can we get an update on the status of the Strategic Plan? 2020-10-09 On strategic plan creation (From online meeting with three of the six Corporate Members of the Advisory Board) 2020-10-02 and 03 Action item: Allan to circulate outline to rest of board members regarding strategic plan and drive forward the topic (which would then serve fundraising asks in 2021) (Topics: OSMF fundraising and Wrap-up session)
Allan Mustard

According to some board members, the outline is not ready for presentation and collecting comments from the community.
Board members to take look at the outline.
Draft indicates direction the board wants to go and solicitate community feedback. The plan outline should not be seen as policy.

Deadline: Mid-month chat.

Collecting growth projections from Operations Working Group - update

An action item of the 2021-02 screen-to-screen board meeting was for Allan Mustard to collect growth projections from the Operations Working Group (Topic: Strategic plan - Agree on plan for the plan).
Allan Mustard

Will be incorporated in budget submission of 2nd and 3rd year.
Growth in demand of the data: Operations Working Group (OWG) is not worried about it - not a constraint that puts pressure on the platform.
Main focus: Growth on the database - projection of storage capacity needs.

Report on status of HOT trademark grant

OSMF is currently talking with Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) and is working on a draft agreement regarding granting rights for the use of OSMF marks. Related: Circular 2021/Res07: "Approve £1800 for Lawdit for HOT trademark grant consultation".
Rory McCann

HOT approached the OSMF board about a year ago to ask for a formal contract granting the use of the OpenStreetMap mark.
Draft contract based on the OSMF Local Chapters agreement with some parts removed.
Licensing Working Group (LWG) suggestion: the board should contact a trademarks lawyer. They have recommended one.
Circular passed: 2021/Res07 Approve £1800 for Lawdit for HOT trademark grant consultation.
Rory has talked to one of the HOT Board members about retiring "hOSM", a term which was recently coined and used by some HOT members.

Advisory Board - monthly update

The Advisory Board members are separate from the OSMF board of directors - individuals are either nominated by Local Chapters and Gold or Platinum Corporate Members of the OSMF or invited directly by the OSMF board of directors. The OSMF Board of Directors will publicly minute, in the board meeting minutes, any communication sent to, or received from, the AB members. This monthly section is reserved for this purpose. Overview of board communications with representatives on the Advisory Board. (single page displaying all the monthly updates that are linked below) 2021 Jan 2020 Jan, Feb, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec 2019 Jan, Mar, Jun, Jul, Aug, Oct 2018 Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Dec 2017 Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May (F2F), Oct
Rory McCann

Reminders to assign Advisory Board (AB) representatives sent to new Local Chapters.

Report on OSMF Board and Advisory Board meeting

The OSMF Board of Directors had a meeting with members of the Advisory Board on Thursday 24 February, 14:00 UTC.

Meeting attended mostly by Local Chapter (LC) representatives.
Each representative gave a one-minute summary on what their Local Chapter or company is doing.
The Board presented the results of the community survey.
Discussion and suggestion by OSM-UK: Involving the Advisory Board in the evaluation of Microgrant applications. The board is waiting for a specific proposal.

Any other business

Loomio

Loomio is the online platform used by the board for voting on circulars.

Absence of comment on circular

Rory explained that the absence of a comment from them on the Conflict of Interest circular, was due to technical issues with Loomio.

Reminders about circular resolutions

Tobias mentioned that he no longer receives the automatic email reminders sent by Loomio, when a voting is going to close the next day.

Suggestion: contact Loomio's support.

Action items

Action items arising from board meetings are tracked on the OSMF website.
The board also uses Gitlab for issue and task tracking, but there are issues with transparency and openness as the Gitlab repository is not viewable by the membership.

OpenHistoricalMap

The Licensing Working Group emailed the board about the co-existence agreement with OHM.

Related LWG minutes

Guest comments or questions

You are welcome to ask questions or to comment (via voice or on the chat) at the end of the meeting. Please mute your microphone when you join, and to preserve bandwidth, refrain from turning on your webcam. If you are in a low-bandwidth environment, you may benefit from using BigBlueButton's low-bandwidth settings.

No questions or comments.

Next meeting

Friday, 26 of March 2021, at 14:00 UTC - Countdown.

Open board meetings take place online once a month.
New recurring date and time: Last Friday of the month at 14:00 UTC.

See the Monthly Board meetings page to find out where board meetings are announced and for a subscription link to have future board meetings automatically added to your calendar.