Board/Minutes/2023-01

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Date and time: Thursday 26 January 2023, 13:30 UTC - Countdown

The topics of the agenda get locked one week before the meeting.

Video room: https://osmvideo.cloud68.co/user/dor-2cd-qah-rim
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Acronyms

Participants

Board members

  • Arnalie Vicario
  • Craig Allan
  • Guillaume Rischard (Chairing)
  • Mateusz Konieczny
  • Mikel Maron
  • Roland Olbricht
  • Sarah Hoffmann

Officers and board
Biographies

Minutes by Dorothea Kazazi.

Not Present

Guests

Open to all OSMF members.

  • 15 guests

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Administrative

Previous minutes

Circular Resolutions

2023/Res01 Approve active contributor membership application #2022111010000089

The Board currently decides on active contributor membership applications based on non-mapping contributions on a case-by-case basis.

Rejected on 2023-01-10 with 6 votes against:

  • Mikel Maron
  • Roland Olbricht
  • Mateusz Konieczny (Unclear which, if any, mentioned activity is from 2021. Active contributor membership is for the current activity (last year), not past one. If someone made massive amount of useful mapping and other OSM activity in 2020 and for entire 2021 did nothing, then they should not qualify.)
  • Sarah Hoffmann (Only the Covid-19 project mentions the user and this was in 2020. Please provide links that show your involvement in the projects.)
  • Arnalie Vicario (Based on the criteria set, contributor may be eligible but the recent project #5 (within a year before the application) need more clarification. Please advise to re-apply and to give more details on their non-direct mapping involvement in the Satellite Imagery for Social Good [country] Project.)
  • Craig Allan (There is no recent mapping and the supporting information provided for non mapping activities is old. While I regret I cannot support this application in its current state I would encourage the applicant to submit fresh supporting evidence for non-mapping activities in support of OSM or just do some mapping and in two months time submit a record of the required days of mapping within the last year.).

1 abstained:

  • Guillaume Rischard (Many of the programmes linked were in 2020, only the Satellite Imagery for Social Good [country] project was in 2022. No link showing how active the local Youth Mappers chapter is. Please map at least a small bit, document your activity a bit more, and re-apply.).
Application initially processed by the Membership Working Group.

Action item updates

See Board/Action_Items

Treasurer's report

Nothing to report except preparations for the budget.

Provisional 2023 budget

  • Huge deficit. Need to start a six figure donation drive.
  • Some figures are unknown - e.g. donations.
  • Would like to avoid micromanaging.
  • Big gap due to the State of the Map 2023 conference not taking place.

Suggestions

  • Have a sum in the end of the budget.
    • Have a zero-sum, to make the budget easier to understand.
    • It's ok to have a minus sum.
  • Link the budget to Xero (OSMF's online accounting platform).

On asset deprecation

Suggestion: remove deprecation from the budget.

  • Deprecation refers to assets we have (such as computer hardware) which lose money through the years.
  • Currently, the budget includes both expenses for new hardware and deprecation as an expenditure.
  • Servers are losing value but we are not spending money.

On Operations Working Group budget

  • The full cost (high tier) of what Operations Working Group (OWG) proposed, is not in the budget.
  • We are below what we want to spend on hardware on the 2023 budget.
    • We need to replace less this year, as we have bought hardware in recent years.

Suggestion: Have all the OWG costs as a single item, to replace deprecation and the OWG budget.

Discussion resumed after approving the Operations Working Group 2023 budget at the high option. (€ 169,197—see topic below).

Suggestions

  • Have a reserve, not necessarily just for hardware.
  • The Treasurer to do a revision of the budget and create a circular.
    • We should be transparent to the members and have the topic debated in the public.

Action item: Roland Olbricht to revise the budget, which might be shared with the community. Then create a circular or the board will vote during the next meeting.

Operations Working Group 2023 budget

The difference in the proposed options is in capital expenses (€ 50K).

Suggestion: go for the high option of the OWG proposed budget (€ 169,197).

Vote to approve the proposed OWG 2023 budget at the high option

Motion to approve the proposed budget of the Operations Working Group (OWG) at the high option.
Unanimously approved on 2023-01-26 with 7 votes in favour: Arnalie Vicario, Craig Allan, Guillaume Rischard, Mateusz Konieczny, Mikel Maron, Roland Olbricht, Sarah Hoffmann.

Strategic plan - formal structure report

Reviving the Strategic plan outline and proposing to follow a process of strong community participation for a couple of months.

  • Aim to have a draft outline in June and bring it to the board afterwards.
  • Process to be done in the open—some pages are already up (see the links on the background section above).
  • Will talk to as many people as possible around the world, and to donors, developers, board and Working Groups (WGs) separately.
  • Action items to be written as an implementable work program, with budget and timelines on a 5-year horizon, to be updated annually.

Points mentioned during discussion

  • Good to keep focus of this as a board.
  • Probably the most important work of the board, as no-one else can do it.

Vote to support the preparation of the Strategic Plan Outline Cycle 2023

This Board supports the preparation of the Strategic Plan Outline Cycle 2023, as described in the report.

Approved on 2023-01-26 with 6 votes in favour: Arnalie Vicario, Guillaume Rischard, Mateusz Konieczny, Mikel Maron, Roland Olbricht, Sarah Hoffmann.
1 Abstained: Craig Allan (self-reported conflict of interest).

Screen-to-screen meeting 2023

On motion to have the screen-to-screen board meeting on Saturday 4 March 2023 11:00-15:00 UTC

  • Craig will be on the US west coast.
  • Date does not work well for Guillaume.

Motion withdrawn.

Other point mentioned during discussion

  • Good to have the meeting as early as possible.

Decision: Mikel will work with Gunner and the board to find an alternative date for the screen-to-screen 2023 board meeting.

Advisory Board - monthly update

There was an email from the Secretary mentioning to Local Chapters that they can send their 2021 (or even 2022) annual activity and financial reports, as required under the local chapters' agreement.

Suggestion: Have a monthly Secretary update section instead of the Advisory Board update section, which can include also news about communications with Advisory Board companies. The new section can include Advisory Board updates.

Overture related

  • There will be a meeting of the board with the Overture steering committee in two weeks.
  • A short agenda was compiled to explore the relationship between OSMF and Overture Foundation and how to engage on communication and technical issues.

Monthly presentation - YouthMappers

10-minute YouthMappers presentation by Patricia Solis.

Questions and answers

On question by Guillaume Rischard on ways to get people from YouthMappers active in the wider OSM community (e.g. joining the board, helping working groups).

> During on-boarding of new Universities, students are informed about aspects of the broader community and are encouraged to participate on the OSM wiki.
> Encouraging students personally also helps.
> YouthMappers are inclusive of all voices and corners of the globe.
> There is a YouthMappers leadership listserv with chapters' presidents.
>> Suggestion: Send the future Strategic Plan questionnaire to the YouthMappers' listserv.

On question by Mikel Maron about what is the work that goes into setting up the conditions for success.

> A lot of the work is connecting students with each other, as they get a lot of energy from each other.
> A lot of training, as University students from all disciplines (e.g. Business and Law) are encouraged to participate.
> A lot of fundraising takes place for exchanges, e.g. to bring YouthMappers to the State of the Map conferences.

On composition

> YouthMappers are University students.
> YouthMappers Steering Committee: largely composed by volunteers, with faculty of Universities and some people from USAID and other institutions that contribute
> Employee: one full time Managing Director for funding support - Marcela Zeballos.

On communication

> Meetings twice a month — guest speakers are welcome.
> There is a listserv, a monthly newsletter and a blog.
> The YouthMappers academy uses the OSM wiki.

On question by Mikel Maron about the work that went into the book "Open Mapping towards Sustainable Development Goals"

> It is an opportunity to elevate the students, most of which are at University, within the community.
> Authors chosen based on previous writings and development of applications.
> The book was not over-edited to make sure that the students' voices are heard.
> It is mostly a first-person read rather than a very technical one.
> Chapter 30 written by Mikel Maron (OSMF board) and Heather Leson (past OSMF board member).
> It has been accessed more than 107,000 times in two months.

YouthMappers challenges

> Validation: There is a validation team, which is activated whenever YouthMappers become aware of some group mapping — the validation team is an organic group.
> Turnover, as students graduate and not all continue.
> Providing opportunities and a more structured way to YouthMappers alumni to continue being involved and keep mapping after graduation. Some retain membership on OSM.
> Resource management.

On question by Guillaume Rischard about how OSMF can help YouthMappers.

> Appreciation of what is already done - e.g. YouthMappers felt welcome at the State of the Map 2022 conference.
> Students have different levels of experience - suggestion to give them the benefit of the doubt.
> Pass along opportunities.
> Looking in funding for electricity and mobile access.

Other points mentioned by board members

  • YouthMappers' growth is remarkable and exceeded expectations.

Suggestions

  • Send the questionnaire about strategic planning to YouthMappers, so that YouthMappers can contribute.
  • Provide a short training course about OSMF, what OSMF does and how to get involved.
    • The OSM wiki is used in YouthMappers academy to provide overview about the OSM mission.
    • The students are introduced to a short ethics statement, written by other YouthMappers.
    • The book chapter written by Mikel Maron and Heather Leson is currently being integrated in the orientation material for the on-boarding of new YouthMappers.

Other links shared

Any other business

Donation drive

A meeting of the Finance Committee will soon take place.

Guest comments or questions

None.

Next meeting

Open board meetings take place online once a month. The recurring day and time for board meetings in 2023 have not been set yet.

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.

Meeting adjourned 72' after start.

Acronyms

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