Board/Minutes/2021-07-16

Draft minutes.

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

Please note that this video chat is not open to observers.

Date and time: Friday 16 July 2021, 14:00 UTC - Countdown
Acronyms

Participants

Board members

• Allan Mustard (Chairing)
• Amanda McCann
• Eugene Alvin Villar
• Jean-Marc Liotier
• Tobias Knerr

Officers and board
Biographies

Minutes by Dorothea Kazazi

Not Present

• Guillaume Rischard
• Mikel Maron

Guests

Not open to observers.

Topic that won't be minuted

Suggested by Allan Mustard.

Status of hiring Senior Site Reliability Engineer

Background

The OSMF board plans to hire a senior site reliability engineer (SSRE). The person has already been selected.

Related:

• 2021
  • jun 11 Hiring - iD and Senior Site Reliability Engineer status updates
  • May 28 Where we are with hiring a Senior Site Reliability Engineer
  • May 14 Hiring a senior site reliability engineer - status update (board chat)
• 2020
  • Nov 12 Funding for senior site reliability engineer (SSRE) & iD - update (board chat)
  • Jul 30 Proposal to hire a senior site reliability engineer

Suggested by Amanda McCann.

No update.

Microgrants - what's next?

Background The pilot run of the Microgrant program in 2020 funded OpenStreetMap community members, individuals, groups and organisations contributing to OpenStreetMap - to organize projects throughout the year. Initially, the program was set to fund with a budget of up to 5000 Euros per project and for a maximum of 50.000 Euros. All the proposals (funded or not) are visible on the OSM wiki. The program was overseen by the Microgrants committee. The 12 selected proposals were presented here before they started.

Providing microgrants was a topic discussed extensively during the 2018 Face-to-Face board meeting, where a plan was developed. You might know similar programs from e.g. OSM-US, HOT or FOSSGIS. As a start and as a first trial the board wanted to make a time-bound program where you can apply for microgrants until a specific date. A consultation document was shared in 2018 with the membership and the Advisory Board members, which contained an outline and top questions. There were also two microgrant-related sessions at the State of the Map 2018 conference (read some discussion points and questions).

Work on Microgrants was paused in 2018 and restarted after the 2019 face-to-face board meeting.

Related board discussions/decisions:

• 2021 Is there a report from the Microgrants committee for the first round of microgrants?
• 2020 Mar - Res16 Start the Microgrants Committee, Apr, May Microgrants update, Microgrants update (of note: preference for committee meetings without guests), Jun Select Microgrant observers (circular resolution), Microgrants selection, Approve the microgrant finalists proposed by the microgrants committee on June 5, 2020 (circular resolution - cancelled), Closed: Decision on Maputo Microgrants proposal, Microgrants selection, Aug Microgrants tracking and reporting status
• 2019 Sep, Oct
• 2018 Apr, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep
• 2017 May, Jul, Aug
  

Related osmf-talk discussions:

• 2019 Aug, Oct community asking about consultation, board asking for feedback
• 2018 Oct (asking for input)
  

Related board working sessions: 2019 Aug & Oct, 2018 Jul & Sep.
Related SotM 2018 session: there was a lightning talk, for community feedback

Suggested by Amanda McCann.

Suggestions:

• Wrap-up reporting from the grantees.
• Make reports public.
• Community comments on the reports.
• Microgrants committee to submit final report and recommendations for any changes to the program.

Action item: Amanda to send note to the Microgrants committee and ask them to get all reports this month, get them on the OSM wiki and submit a final report and recommendations for any changes to the microgrants program.

Decision: Agenda topic for the public meeting (suggested by Eugene and Allan).

Bank account update

Background Wise (formerly Transferwise) is a financial technology company (not a bank) that the OSMF used to receive/send some payments. The OSMF bank is Triodos, which we don't use for all transactions, as it has high fees. Wise recently told us they consider us in violation of their acceptable use policy, blocked our account and credit card. There was also a recent problem (now resolved) with PayPal.

OSMF has applied for creation of accounts with the Bank of Ireland and Fire.com.

Previous Treasurer reports during monthly board meetings

• 2021 Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun
• 2019 Feb, Jun, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

Please note that additional financial-related topics have been discussed during previous board meetings.

Suggested by Amanda McCann.

OSMF has now Bank of Ireland accounts.

Attribution Guidelines - what's next?

Background The v0.9 draft of the attribution guidelines was adopted by the OSMF board on 2021-06-25 with 3 votes in favour, 2 abstained with self-declared conflict of interest and 2 not voted (absent from the meeting).

• 2018-11 The Licensing Working Group (LWG) starts working on a draft attribution guideline.
• 2019 LWG members solicited feedback from attendants of the State of the Map US conference and at the international State of the Map conference in Heidelberg.
• 2019-08 and 09. The August 2019 version became available to the community (osmf-talk message) and is added to the OSM wiki.
• 2020-01 The version with changes due to the feedback from the State of the Map US conference and State of the Map 2019 was made available to the board.
• 2020-02
  • The LWG updated the document based on input from the board, shared the updated version with the board and notified it that it would be starting another round of public feedback to hopefully conclude the matter.
  • The February 2020 LWG version became available to the community on the OSM wiki.
• 2020-06 The OSMF board
  • modified the draft and presented the updated version during the 2020-06 board meeting.
  • had a meeting with Gold Corporate Member representatives on the Advisory Board (AB) on attribution.
• 2020-10 The board had meetings with Gold Corporate Member representatives on the Advisory Board and with the LWG. The board version was subsequently modified.
• 2020-12 Board meeting decisions to:
  • Publish the current board draft after giving the Licensing Working Group (LWG) a heads up.
  • Ask LWG to summarise the points they still consider open from the comments on the board document and ask Dermot McNally (LWG member), who has no conflict of interest, to present that report at the next LWG meeting.
  • Amanda McCann (Board) to work with external counsel to try to find the solutions to these issues that are most favourable to us.
• 2021-01 The LWG was working on the requested document ("gap list") summarising the points they still considered open on the board version of the attribution guidelines.
• 2021-02 The LWG sent the "gap list" document to the board.
• 2021-03 The board contacted Kyle Mitchell (Intellectual Property lawyer suggested by Allen Gunn, who has been the external facilitator of some of the past board face-to-face meetings) for external legal advice on the draft attribution guidelines. The initial email was approved by Dermot McNally (Licensing Working Group) and included the board draft of the attribution guidelines and a list of questions by the board and the LWG.
• 2021-04 Kyle Mitchell responded.
• 2021-05 The board forwards Kyle Mitchell's response to the LWG and answers regarding the "gap list" points.
• 2021-06-01 LWG and Board online discussion. Decisions and next steps here.
• 2021-06-11 Preparations for vote on Attribution Guidelines (board chat)
• 2021-06-12 Publication of current draft v0.9 and request for feedback from the community and the membership.

LWG: Attribution guidance related minutes

• 2021: Jan, Feb: Attribution guidelines gap list and board status update on outside counsel, May, Jun, Jul: Publishing the Attribution Guidelines
• 2020: Jan (“Twitter attribution thread”), Feb, Mar, Apr, Jul, Aug, Sep (Reportage), Oct, Nov
• 2019: Jan, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
• 2018: Dec

Board attribution guideline related minutes

• 2021: Jan Attribution guidelines update, Feb 12 (mid month board chat), Apr 09 Kyle Mitchell's response regarding attribution guidelines and ODbL, Apr 16 Attribution guidelines (dedicated chat), May
• 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 Gold 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.

Board attribution guideline related circular

• 2020-03-26 Circular 2021/Res11: Authorise Allan to send attribution guideline letter to Intellectual Property lawyer.

Other attribution guideline related minutes

• 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 Advisory Board Gold 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 Advisory Board Gold Corporate Member representatives meeting

OSMF members' related discussions on the osmf-talk* mailing list:

• Attribution guideline status update: 2019 Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
• Attribution: board letter to Facebook: 2019 Oct, Nov

* osmf-talk is the mailing list for OpenStreetMap Foundation members (Join the Foundation). All past messages are available here.

Suggested by Amanda McCann.

Decision during July Licensing Working Group meeting: Dermot McNally (LWG) to upload approved guidelines as webpage and document on the OSMF website.

Points mentioned during discussion:

• Start enforcing the guidelines.
• Talk to the Licensing Working Group (LWG) and ask them to contact major users of OSM data and make them aware of new attribution guidelines.

Action items

• Tobias to ping Dermot McNally about the publication of the attribution guidelines by the Licensing Working Group.
• Tobias to update the OSM wiki after the guidelines are formally published.
• Jean-Marc to talk to the Licensing Working Group.

Local Chapters - what's next?

Suggested by Amanda McCann.

Difficulties in becoming a Local Chapter

• Legal framework: There are communities that face particular obstacles in terms of legal framework and have difficulties in registering with their governments in order to become a Local Chapter.
• Financial: Some local communities don't have the financial resources to register with local authorities.

Suggestions

• Identify commonalities and possible solutions: Eugene Alvin Villar (OSMF board) and Naveen Francis to discuss similarities of difficulties faced by OSM Philippines and OSM India.
• Financial support: Provide one-time grants to local communities to become local chapters.
• Allow less formal types of affiliation: have charter, membership process, board - but not needing governmental registration. Reason: countries like Cuba which are prevented from becoming Local Chapters (can't be affiliated with foreign entity).

Other points mentioned

• The board should not force communities to become Local Chapters but provide support.
• Variety of types of associations in Europe, not necessarily requiring institutional formalisation.
• OSMF provides to all user groups organisation on the OSM wiki and addition of events to calendar, regardless of formalisation.

Decision: Addition of topic to the public July board meeting.

On Uganda local chapter application

The board has not received a response.

Formation of the takeover protection special committee

Background

There is a circular currently being voted on: To appoint Andy Allan and Michael Collinson to special committee on takeover protection.

We have to make sure to investigate the issue of requiring voters to be "free to vote", and to consider if there should be a change to the Articles of Association, as instructed by the membership (2020 General Meeting resolution - vote 4).

• 2021 Apr 30, Apr 09, Feb: Takeover protection (including Updating the conflict of interest policy?) (board screen-to-screen meeting)
• 2020 Sep 24, Sep 24. Members: How have all the new active contributors affected the takeover risk/approach?

Suggested by Allan Mustard and Tobias Knerr.

Circular "To appoint Andy Allan and Michael Collinson to special committee on takeover protection" passed.

Next step: Inform Andy Allan and Michael Collinson.

OSMF events at State of the Map 2021: Lessons learned

Background

The State of the Map conference was held online on 9-11 of July 2021.

The board members had a session Ask the OSMF Board almost anything about our agenda, actions and activitiesF Board almost anything about our agenda, actions and activities.

Suggested by Tobias Knerr.

• No contact via the booth.
• Community member blogpost on the board session.

Suggestion: Promote the video of the board questioning session once published.

Next steps for the draft strategic plan outline now that it's been out for comment

The draft strategic plan outline was shared with OSMF members on May 14th 2021 for comments. 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)

Suggested by Allan Mustard.

Decision: Vote during July board meeting.

Spreadsheet for collating information on a possible move out of the UK

Background

The OSMF board is considering relocating the OSMF to the EU and is consulting the members for feedback, advice and whether they’ve missed anything.

Comments by members on the osmf-talk^* mailing list: thread 1, thread 2.

Collaborative spreadsheet by the community.

* osmf-talk is the mailing list for OpenStreetMap Foundation members (Join the Foundation). All past messages are available here.

Suggested by Allan Mustard.

The board has received communications from various countries.

Professor Mocnik's request to analyze IP addresses

Suggested by Allan Mustard.

Does it violate our privacy policy?

Suggestion: Perform the aggregation of data ourselves.

Action item: Jean-Marc to talk to the professor and enquire about work load for board members if they do the analysis and data aggregation.

Opensnowmap trademark licence application

Background The board received a trademark use request by Yves Cainaud for Opensnowmap.org. The project appears to have started before the trademark guidelines were in place. The board consulted the Licensing Working Group, which had no objection.

Action item: Amanda to create a circular.

Request by some Local Chapters to have their boards cc'ed on Advisory Board and other OSMF communications

Background Local Chapters so far have one representative on the Advisory Board, who receives all OSMF related communications. There was a request by some Local Chapters to have their boards cc'ed on Advisory Board and other OSMF communications

Suggestion: Make Advisory Board mailing list archive public. Discuss it on Element.

Action item: Amanda to contact the Advisory Board about the suggestion.

Any other business

Booking.com request

• Meeting with their digital content marketing team took place and they had misunderstanding about the use of OSM data.
• They implied that they don't use OSM data.

Next meeting

Public board meeting on Friday 30 July 2021, 14:00 UTC -- Countdown

Acronyms