Pushing the chair in OpenStreetMap diary

If you’re a member of OpenStreetMap U.S., check your inbox and vote in this year’s election for the open seats on the board of directors. There are some familiar names and some new ones, but each of them is well-qualified and eager to serve the community. For the first time in a while, you won’t see my name on there. After four straight years on the board, I’m wrapping things up and stepping aside to let those with fresh energy take the organization forward from here.

Four years ago, when I first ran, the organization had just hired Maggie as our new executive director. We were still transitioning from years of depending on an all-volunteer board to keep the lights on. Putting an on annual conference was enough to keep our hands full. Formal partnerships with other organizations were still a ways off. Did anyone notice we hadn’t officially become a local chapter yet?

Things were just picking up for the U.S. community, too. We were beginning to experiment with regular online meetings.¹ A proof of concept for a shield-capable renderer was lying around somewhere, waiting for the right people and the right opportunity to turn the idea into a sustainable project. The Slack workspace had only a hundred different channels to keep up with.

OSMUS has made progress as a team in many areas. The staff has been remarkably good at prioritizing all the handwaving from this naïve board member. Our partners have shared perspective and resources that helped us make it look easy. The community has had our back and kept us honest, and we really do appreciate your participation in working groups and social events.

Whenever we think we’re settling into a routine, that we know what we’re doing, something comes along to jolt us out of our complacency. Robust debates on the lists revisited long-held assumptions about how we classify things. COVID reminded us we don’t want to live in isolation. Social justice movements gave us new reasons for documenting the world together.

Change is easier to stomach when you have a purpose that transcends the tagging controversy du jour. OSM does. Every year, I felt obligated to write a distinct position statement when running for reelection. But I really wanted to just regurgitate my first manifesto. I think it responds to the uncertainty that a lot of us have felt at times, as familiar names fall away and new ones come in out of nowhere:

OSM has the potential to be profoundly more than a tech project. When we see someone lavishly micromapping their neighborhood, we can rejoice that we’ve given them and their community a voice, that OSM has broken new ground, that we’re chipping away at an ancient, one-size-fits-all, top-down approach to mapping the world. We’re incredibly lucky that many people have discovered our project and figured out how to contribute. Just imagine how many more people will discover us once we figure out how to speak to their interests.

I’m leaving behind plenty of half-baked ideas and to-do items, but that’s good. Unfinished business is how I got my start too. In any case, I’ll still be around, just not as your friendly but annoying neighborhood politician. That I will leave to my successor, whose position statement you should read and for whom you should vote.

ocdp, CC0

Now I guess you’re tired of online meetings. Come to another in-person one! ↩