Meeting in Person: Why, How, & What’s Next?

Kathleen DanielsonState of the Map US 2014

● Board Member, OpenStreetMap US

● Creator and co-organizer of Geo DC

● Technical Project Manager

● Online Community Management

Community is my jam.

Who Am I?

Getting people into the same room to drink beer and do

nerdy things

My Life Skill:

Geo DC, January 2013

1. Save Community, Save the World OSM

2. Every community is unique

3. Take care of yourself

4. Community Scales

If you only pick up 4 things:

Why?

● This community has diverse interests-- people get involved in OSM for a lot of reasons. Learn about them!

● Mapping is a solitary task; it's easy to go down rabbit holes and forget about the big picture

● It can only help the project to establish more in-person hubs

Why Bother?

■ Real Talk: I love OSM, but the mailing list discourse isn’t always as constructive as it could be

■ Building real world connections can help

■ Bottom-up approach to global community building

■ A healthier community won’t spontaneously create itself

Community Health

How?

■ This isn’t scary. (But don’t let anyone tell you it’s easy!)

■ If you don’t get pick-up, that’s ok. Try again. Rethink your approach. Reach out for suggestions. (More on this later)

■ It’s also ok if it doesn’t work out. Every place has unique challenges.

Just Do It!

● Find other mappers

● Spread the word

● Programming

● Keep it going

Getting Started

● New York City● San Francisco● Boston● Tampa Bay● DC● Baltimore

● Cleveland● St. Louis● Salt Lake City● Seattle● Chicago● ???

Where are the local communities?

These aren't all exclusively OSM-focused, and that's ok too. More on that later.

● ito! OSM Mapper

● Pascal's OSM Contributors Map

● talk-us mailing list (but try the others first)

Find people in your area

ito! osm mapper

● Email○ Google Groups are great

● Twitter

● Facebook... wait, what?○ DC Homebrew Club

● Meetup.com○ Not free○ Great way to reach new folks

Spread the Word

Meet your community where they are

● Ask!

● Keep trying new things

● Reassess: what your community needed two years ago might not be what they need today

Assessing your community's needs

● Social meetups ("Mappy Hour")

● Mapping Parties; Field and/or "armchair"

● Informal presentations, "lightning talks"

● Maptime

● Editathons

Now What?

#Editathon!

● No one says you can't have a wider scope

● Some of the largest, most active groups aren't OSM-exclusive

● This is probably an easier way to get started

All OSM all the time?

Maptime!

● Connect with other groups and organizations:○ Environmental groups○ Tech groups○ Others (KCDC)

● Don't try this alone!

● No, seriously: don't forget to reassess your community's needs.

Keeping things going

Take Care of Yourself

● Try to have at least one co-organizer

● Don't be afraid to ask for help or resources from your community

● What type of programming or schedule can you realistically support?

● Make sure it's fun for YOU! Take a break if you need it.

Avoiding Burnout

This Stuff Scales

● How can we help each other build stronger local communities?

● How can our local communities strengthen the national one?

● How can the US community better collaborate with communities around the world?

Let’s talk about it

● Amsterdam Geo Drinks

● Mappers in Belgium

● OSM France in Paris

● OSM meetup in Rome

Local Communities in Europe

● Save Community, Save OSM

● Communities are special snowflakes

● Take care of yourself

● Community Scales

Key Takeaways

@KathleenLD

Thanks!