Communication Working Group

From OpenStreetMap Foundation
OSMF-CWG logo 2017.svg


We are involved in communicating the work of the Foundation and related news, through official channels. We are also welcoming people that want to get involved or just translate posts in other languages.
Send us a message!

• Our blog: blog.openstreetmap.org (RSS feed)
OpenStreetMap on:
Mastodon
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn

Get in touch

Contact us
press@osmfoundation.org Press enquiries

You might also be interested in the Press portal (Overview of the project, Press kit, Press images, in the Media - The portal is updated by the community).

communication@osmfoundation.org

Get in touch with the whole team for general discussion or if you would like to participate in this working group.

Sections: Get in touch | What we do | Join us | Who we are | Meetings & minutes

What we do

The Communication Working Group (CWG) is the voice of the OpenStreetMap Foundation. It is focused upon outward communication and maintaining OpenStreetMap’s presence and coherency across various official platforms, such as OSMF wiki, blog, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and more). One of the functions of the group is also to ensure that OSMF public-facing information is up-to-date and accurate.

The group’s main responsibilities are:

  • Maintaining official news/announcement channels, such as the blog and the OpenStreetMap Twitter and Facebook accounts
  • Responding to press and media enquiries (normally by email and typically passed on to board members or local community members) and maintaining a press kit with up-to-date OpenStreetMap-related information.
  • Overseeing the OSMF website, including the maintenance of static content as well as various important living documents.
  • Promoting OpenStreetMap generally and increasing community engagement

Other than these direct responsibilities, the CWG plays an instrumental role in:

  • Supporting communications related to the annual OpenStreetMap conferences - State of the Map (international and regional).
  • Supporting other working groups through volunteer engagement, retention and outreach.
  • Maintaining an information centre for volunteers willing to participate in other working groups such as license, operations, etc
  • Supporting and leading OSMF’s diversity ambitions
  • Ensuring issues and feedback are channelled to the relevant groups and working groups
  • Amplifying the voice of the community, board, and local chapters through social media channels, blog posts, etc

Sections: Get in touch | What we do | Join us | Who we are | Meetings & minutes

Join Us

We are always looking out for new contributors to the communications working group. Please let us know if you have communications skills to offer and would like to contribute to any of the CWG’s goals.

We are particularly interested in people with skills and experience in writing, translating, graphic design, multimedia, social media management, press & media management and community engagement. Contributors are welcome whether they have a little time to offer, or a lot!

To join, we ask that you send an email to communication@osmfoundation.org with some basic information… Please include:

  • Your name or OSM username
  • Your affiliations - ie. which OSM-related communities, groups or companies are you a part of? (the reason we ask this is that we want to ensure that no one group has a majority voice within the working group)
  • Some information about why you would like to join and the kinds of things you would like to do (this does not need to be extensive - just nice for existing WG members to know a little about you)

Once you have sent this information, the current CWG members have one week to discuss your request to join and then will get back to you with a decision. This decision is based on the affiliations you provide and the current composition of the CWG membership and not on the additional information you are invited to include - it is not a job application!

If you would like to know more about the CWG before requesting to join, please email us at communication@osmfoundation.org and one of us will get back to you shortly.

Sections: Get in touch | What we do | Join us | Who we are | Meetings & minutes

Who we are

Members Translators Former Members
  • Robert Barr
  • Kate Chapman
  • Serge Wroclawski
  • Jonathan Bennett
  • Martijn van Exel
  • Richard Weait
  • Richard Fairhurst
  • Wille Marcel
  • Hrvoje Bogner

Per our Conflict of Interest Policy, CWG Members keep their up to date affiliations on this list.

Sections: Get in touch | What we do | Join us | Who we are | Meetings & minutes

Meetings & minutes

Meetings are monthly on the first Monday, at 1400 UTC. We meet on Big Blue Button.

You can also find us on IRC network irc.oftc.net, in the chat room #osm-cwg.

Communication Working Group Minutes