Board/Minutes/2023-10

From OpenStreetMap Foundation
< Board‎ | Minutes

Date and time: Thursday 26 October 2023, 13:00 UTC
Minutes approved by the board on 2023-11-30.

Please note that the individual points mentioned below usually reflect the opinion of one or more board members and not necessarily of the whole board. Official board decisions are taken during the meetings or by voting using circulars, and votes are listed in the minutes.

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

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

Acronyms

Participants

Board members

["talk" time*] Name (role, notes)

  • [03'] Arnalie Vicario
  • [03'] Craig Allan
  • [16'] Guillaume Rischard (Chairing)
  • [02'] Mateusz Konieczny
  • [16'] Mikel Maron
  • [06'] Roland Olbricht (joined 5' after start)
  • [02'] Sarah Hoffmann

*Includes time when the microphone was activated due to noise.

Officers and board
Biographies

Not Present

Guests

  • 14 guests, including Anuradha Rajanayake (Presenter)

Open to all OSMF members.

You are welcome to ask questions or to comment (via voice or on the chat) at the end of the meeting.

  • Please mute your microphone when you join, and to preserve bandwidth, refrain from turning on your webcam.
  • If you are in a low-bandwidth environment, you may benefit from using BigBlueButton's low-bandwidth settings. To assess them, click on the 3 dots on the top right of the black video-window.

Administrative

Previous minutes

Circular Resolutions

2023/Res31 OSMF booth at State of the Map EU 2023 organised by Dorothea

The board tasks Dorothea Kazazi* to organise a OSMF booth at SotM-EU. This includes creating and shipping merchandise (pins, stickers, contributor cards) and a banner for the booth. The board will expense travel to and accommodation in Antwerp for Dorothea and the work time to staff the booth during the conference.

Total cost for travel and merchandise is approximately 2500 EUR.

Approved on 2023-10-06 with 4 votes in favour:
Arnalie Vicario
Sarah Hoffmann
Mikel Maron (I support having an OSMF booth organized by Dorothea. Request looking at reduced costs to something like 1500. That won’t be binding because the circular mentions a maximum cost.)
Roland Olbricht (Most part of the proposal is travelling expense, and that would not go down with shortening in any way. We, the OSMF, have a visibility problem. I rather suggest to set up some poster to show how short we are on money and see whether this prompts responses.)
1 against:
Guillaume Rischard (The proposal won't pay for itself. We have a hole in the budget, and approving this kind of expense isn't reasonable. For context, in the week (Wed-Wed) around SotM Florence, our total membership income was £300, including renewals. For Heidelberg, £240 including renewals. I would be open to a commission-based fee instead of this proposal.).
2 did not vote:
Craig Allan
Mateusz Konieczny.

Circular by Sarah Hoffmann.

* Administrative Assistant

2023/Res32 Expense travel for Grant to attend State of the Map EU 2023

The board approves to expense travel cost and accommodation for Grant Slater* to attend SotM-EU in Antwerp on Friday and Saturday at approximately GBP 380. Grant will prepare a lighting talk to be held on Saturday if possible.

Approved on 2023-10-06 with 6 votes in favour: Arnalie Vicario, Guillaume Rischard, Mikel Maron, Roland Olbricht, Sarah Hoffmann, Mateusz Konieczny.
1 did not vote: Craig Allan.

Circular by Sarah Hoffmann.

* Senior Site Reliability Engineer

2023/Res33 Approve active contributor membership application #2023092610000123

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

Did not pass on 2023-10-08 with 3 votes against:
Guillaume Rischard (Mostly mapping activity. Please map at least two more days - you're almost there!)
Mateusz Konieczny (Application based on mapping activity - and we have automatic qualification for that with 42 days of mapping activity, while you have 40. Please map at least two more days - you're almost there! And then apply with regular process (maybe after three days, in case one of counters would not be fully accurate). See https://hdyc.neis-one.org/?<username> for mapping activity counter)
Sarah Hoffmann (Please apply for active membership after 42 mapping days instead.).
1 in favour:
Arnalie Vicario
2 abstained:
Mikel Maron (they're so close to 42 days! just 2 more days. and I can't access the eventbrite link to see their other contributions.)
Roland Olbricht (I also cannot access the Eventbrite link. There is no clear explanation why 42 days should be difficult to reach.)
1 did not vote:
Craig Allan.

Application initially processed by the Membership Working Group.

2023/Res34 Approval of travel expenses for fundraising volunteers and Board member for State of the Map Europe 2023 conference participation

Considering that

1. Crucial Role of Volunteers: The Board fully recognises the irreplaceable role of volunteers in achieving the fundraising objectives critical to the Foundation's financial solvency.

2. Budgetary Imperatives: The absolute necessity of successful fundraising activities for meeting our annual budgetary goals cannot be overstated.

3. Historical and Recent Success: Our fundraising site, launched on 9 August, has already generated more than 77,000€ from more than 1945 donors, a success mainly attributable to the relentless efforts of the nominated fundraising volunteers.

4. Significance of the Ambassador Programme: The ambassador programme, spearheaded by our volunteers and set to be presented at the conference, is a cornerstone of our financial strategy for this year and beyond.

5. Prior Personal Expenditure: Each of the volunteers has previously demonstrated commendable dedication by self-funding activities that support their volunteer efforts, amplifying their commitment to the Foundation's objectives.

6. Collaborative Opportunity: The board has agreed to pay for the presence of the SSRE employed by the OpenStreetMap Foundation at the SotM conference (Circular: Expense travel for Grant to attend SotM-EUThe conference). Grant's presence presents an invaluable opportunity for the SSRE and Board member to collaborate in person, thus enhancing teamwork and fostering a unified approach to both operational and strategic matters. The intent of the volunteers to hold a fundraising work day before the conference also aligns seamlessly with our aim to maximise the impact of our fundraising.

7. Absence of International Conference: In lieu of an International State of the Map conference this year, the European conference becomes particularly relevant for our outreach and advocacy, more so for our Board member who is also a key fundraising volunteer. Our existing policies already provide for transport and accomodation of board members at the international State of the Map conferences.

8. Travel cost projection: The three volunteers' travel is estimated to cost the foundation about $600-800 per person

The OSMF board resolves:

1. The OpenStreetMap Foundation shall undertake to cover the travel for two fundraising volunteers (Courtney Williamson, Kate Varfalameyeva) to participate in both the State of the Map Europe conference and the pre-conference fundraising work day. It shall also cover conference costs for one board member (Guillaume Rischard) in lieu of costs for an international State of the Map conference.

2. Everyone involved should endeavor to keep travel and lodging costs as reasonable as is practicable, adhering to existing practice.

3. Claims for reimbursements shall be submitted on xero and accompanied by pertinent invoices or receipts, as per OSMF's accounting protocols.

4. Incidental expenses will not be covered unless previously agreed upon in writing by the Foundation.

Additional Points for Consideration:

Post-Conference Reporting: All attendees should be encouraged to produce a brief report summarising the outcomes and learnings from the conference and the fundraising work day, to be submitted to the Board within a reasonable timeframe.

Public Relations: Utilising this opportunity for exposure might further augment the Foundation's profile, thereby potentially increasing fundraising prospects.

Budget Tracking: Keeping a careful record of expenditures and outcomes from this event could help in formulating more efficient budgeting strategies for future activities.

Appreciation: This resolution serves as both a practical and symbolic endorsement of the volunteers' and SSRE's invaluable work and devotion to the OpenStreetMap Foundation. Their ongoing efforts, backed by personal expenditures, are deeply respected. The Foundation remains committed to providing necessary support for their continued success.

Approved on 2023-10-09 with 6 votes in favour:
Arnalie Vicario
Craig Allan
Guillaume Rischard
Roland Olbricht
Mikel Maron (I agree in order to move forward, but with the following qualification aligned with Sarah's points. 1) All Board members should have opportunity to attend SotM EU with OSMF covering whole or in part. 2) We should have a policy in place, and this does not need to be complicated.)
Mateusz Konieczny (Referring to Sarah's comment: "Worse, this circular ask to make an exception for a single board member for unspecified reasons, even though other board members will attend SotM-EU." seemed a reasonable objection to me

I asked for more info at board chat, and received following copied with permission:
grischard: "In Antwerp, I will talk about fundraising, help launch the ambassador program, and meet up with Kate and Courtney and Grant for two work days:)

And yes, overall it would be better to have travel policy).
1 against:
Sarah Hoffmann (I would agree to reimbursing Courtney and Kate, if they hold a talk at the conference for the OSMF. I disagree that board members should be reimbursed for any travel before a proper travel policy is in place that cover the travel. Board members do have the power to set up such a travel policy, while other volunteers have not. Worse, this circular ask to make an exception for a single board member for unspecified reasons, even though other board members will attend SotM-EU.)

Circular by Guillaume Rischard.

2023/Res35 Approve active contributor membership application #2023100710000102

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

Approved on 2023-10-22 with 4 votes in favour: Mikel Maron, Roland Olbricht, Sarah Hoffmann, Arnalie Vicario.
1 abstained: Mateusz Konieczny (I contacted [redacted]* via OSM private message for independent confirmation).
2 did not vote: Craig Allan, Guillaume Rischard.

Application initially processed by the Membership Working Group.

*Redacted name of person mentioned on the application, as a potential reference.

2023/Res36 Approve active contributor membership application #2023100210000166

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

Approved on 2023-10-22 with 5 votes in favour: Mikel Maron, Roland Olbricht, Sarah Hoffmann, Arnalie Vicario, Mateusz Konieczny (I would encourage you to contribute also by mapping).
2 did not vote: Guillaume Rischard, Craig Allan.

Application initially processed by the Membership Working Group.

2023/Res37 Approve active contributor membership application #2023101310000458

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

Approved on 2023-10-24 with 6 votes in favour: Guillaume Rischard, Roland Olbricht, Sarah Hoffmann, Arnalie Vicario (active contribution in organizing SotM [redacted] and training new mappers / students), Mateusz Konieczny (per Arnalie), Craig Allan (Supported. This is exactly why this process was created).
1 did not vote: Mikel Maron.

Application initially processed by the Membership Working Group.

2023/Res38 Approve active contributor membership application #2023101410000063

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

Rejected on 2023-10-24 with 6 votes against: Mikel Maron, Roland Olbricht, Sarah Hoffmann, Arnalie Vicario (no edits since a year ago and no information on recent contributions), Craig Allan (We value your mapping contributions. Please continue until you have mapped 42 days and then apply), Mateusz Konieczny (Thanks for mapping! For purely mapping contribution there is an automatic qualification for 42 days of mapping within last year. This manual applications with a vote are rather for people who contribute in way other than mapping. If there are such significant contributions: I do not see them listed. I would encourage you to actively contribute by mapping and apply when 42 days of mapping are reached.)
1 did not vote: Guillaume Rischard.

Application initially processed by the Membership Working Group.

2023/Res39 Approve active contributor membership application #2023100510000204

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

Approved on 2023-10-25 with 4 votes in favour: Mikel Maron, Arnalie Vicario, Craig Allan (Yes, the substantial contribution to roadside images is a contribution we can recognise), Roland Olbricht (Side remark: do we have any assertion that the imagery remains available for OpenStreetMap (both technically and license-wise?) It is anyway not the contributor's problem).
3 did not vote: Sarah Hoffmann, Guillaume Rischard, Mateusz Konieczny.

Application initially processed by the Membership Working Group.

Action item updates

Public board action items - About
Filter by assignee Arnalie Craig Guillaume Mateusz Mikel Roland Sarah Not assigned
Filter by milestone
2023 Q1
2023 Q2
2023 Q3
2023 Q4
Completion time not specified
Filter by label Example: any label # labels here (non-clickable)

Arnalie Vicario

https://gitlab.com/osmfoundation/board-action-items/-/issues/?sort=updated_desc&state=opened&assignee_username%5B%5D=arnalie_osmf&first_page_size=20

Local Chapters criteria

Related to action items: 26, 85, 99.

  • Closed up the action items related to the local chapters criteria.
  • The OSMF website pages were updated.

Local Chapters application process

The review of Local Chapter applications will now be performed by the Local Chapters and Communities Working Group (LCCWG).

Craig Allan

https://gitlab.com/osmfoundation/board-action-items/-/issues/?sort=updated_desc&state=opened&assignee_username%5B%5D=craigAllan&first_page_size=20

Executive Director

Related to action item: 9 Executive director - Establish what we'd want an executive director to do/not do
Related to action item: 104 Craig Allan to talk with Guillaume Rischard about the Executive Director topic

  • Working on the executive director details.

Travel policy

Guillaume Rischard

https://gitlab.com/osmfoundation/board-action-items/-/issues/?sort=updated_desc&state=opened&assignee_username%5B%5D=grischard&first_page_size=20

2023 Board election

Background

  • Encouraged individuals to consider running for the board.

OSMF email migration

Fundraising advisors' team

OSMF registration in the EU

Background

  • Guillaume contacted a firm he knew in Luxembourg but the person retired; they recommended someone else.
  • A Licensing Working Group (LWG) member recommended reaching out to Bird & Bird for a sales call.

Mateusz Konieczny

https://gitlab.com/osmfoundation/board-action-items/-/issues/?sort=updated_desc&state=opened&assignee_username%5B%5D=matkoniecz&first_page_size=20

2023 Board election

Background

  • Encouraged people to nominate as board candidates (OSMF mailing list, US Slack channel, Discord).

Digital Millennium Copyright Act take-down page

Travel policy

  • Provided feedback on draft.

Mikel Maron

https://gitlab.com/osmfoundation/board-action-items/-/issues/?sort=updated_desc&state=opened&assignee_username%5B%5D=mikelmaron&first_page_size=20

Third quarterly post from the OSMF board

Related to action item: 101 Third 2023 quarterly post from the OSMF Board

HOT trademark agreement

Related to action item: 72 HOT trademark agreement

  • Mikel and Rebecca Firth (Humanitarian OSM Team) reviewed the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and agreed that it was in good shape.
  • Rebecca Firth will identify a team member to progress with it.
  • Discussion included the suggestion of financial support by HOT, for example an OSMF corporate membership.
  • HOT is currently in the middle of its financial year.

Comments during discussion

  • The draft Memorandum of Understanding has been reviewed by external legal teams on both sides.
  • Suggestion: Guillaume Rischard to incorporate notes from previous discussions with Tyler Radford, to the board GitLab ticket.
  • There were two competing drafts about the MoU, which paralysed the whole process.
  • HOT were interested in exclusivity.
    • It is probably not really important for them any more.
  • Discussed "franchise agreement" with income percentage, talked about working together on fundraising and on communication.

Roland Olbricht

https://gitlab.com/osmfoundation/board-action-items/-/issues/?sort=updated_desc&state=opened&assignee_username%5B%5D=drolbr_osmfboard&first_page_size=20

Global ban policy

  • Started the discussion about the global ban policy and found mostly general acclaim.
  • There was a remark that in principle moderators might have more power, but counterarguments were presented.

Please refer to the Treasurer's report below for the remaining action items.

Sarah Hoffmann

https://gitlab.com/osmfoundation/board-action-items/-/issues/?sort=updated_desc&state=opened&assignee_username%5B%5D=lonvia&first_page_size=20

OSMF registration in the EU

Related to action item: 7 EU registration - Create a list of formal actions to do for the move
Background

  • Received reply from the legal firm AGIO - they are mostly favorable and the Contributor Terms are not much of a problem.
  • Planning an additional meeting.
  • Working on obtaining a second offer from the legal firm Bird & Bird for a meeting without immediate signing and payment.

Sovereign tech Fund

Related to action item: 110 To organise together with the Engineering Working Group (EWG) the process for getting funds for website development from the Sovereign Tech Fund

  • They are still busy looking into it.
  • There are some general funding problems with the German government.
  • Suggestion Consider going ahead without funding, as there's a lot of stuff with the website going on at the moment, which really could do with a project manager.

Treasurer's report

Reserves

  • We have a buffer which is about twice our yearly budget or twice our yearly expenses.
  • We have reserves for the OSMF's Senior Site Reliability Engineer.

State of the Map EU 2023

  • Apologies on the delay in transferring the SotM EU 2023 sponsorships we are collecting on behalf of OSM Belgium.
  • Treasurer will calculate exact owed amount in the coming days.
  • The loan to SotM EU has been successfully wired.

Corporate Memberships

  • Approximately GBP 147,000 generated from Corporate Memberships this year.
  • A few unresponsive corporate members, despite contact attempts by the Administrative Assistant and the Treasurer.
    • Suggestion: discuss during the next mid-month chat whether we want to open further communication channels or expel.

Individual Memberships

  • Approximately GBP 7,000.

Fundraising

  • When we started the fundraising campaign, we saw that our income was much lower than our expenses.
  • Gratitude expressed to Mikel, as we now have that income that comes close to what we will spend this year.
  • Money that we get now we will spend no earlier than 2026.
  • Next step: explain to donors, where money is usefully spent on.
  • Numbers are extracted from Xero but CiviCRM is more up-to-date (~10 days in advance).

Numbers mentioned:

  • GBP 108,300 from donations this year, based on Xero.
    • It's €85,000 from 2164 donors and we have paid almost €2000 in fees.

Secretary's report

Advisory Board

  • Feedback requested on the proposal of an advisory board coordinator role. Document.
  • Advisory Board (AB) meeting next month - timing not finalised yet.

Community - letter of support for registering an organisation in Kenya

  • OSM Kenya is working on registering an organisation in Kenya and they asked OSMF for a letter of support, which was supplied.

Corporate Members

Microsoft

Discussion of automated account creation, welcome screen, issues with Bing imagery, offer for technical help with anti-vandalism issues.

SUSE

Interest in corporate membership.

Corporate Memberships' report

Dorothea was asked to compile a report on Corporate memberships.

External Inquiries

  1. Interest in Large language models (LLMs) and OSM.
  2. Someone is migrating OSM.org to Python.
  3. Using street level imagery in the Netherlands. Will be directed to the Dutch community.
  4. Press inquiry regarding Israel vandalism.
  5. Complaint about Crimea.
  6. Legal message from India about Indian borders.
  7. Legal question about using OSM for reverse geocoding to normalize city/state values - we pointed them at the guideline.
  8. Attribution: Using OSM in printed products - we pointed them at the attribution requirements.
  9. Regional SotMs: Directed State of the Map Ethiopia and State of the Map Zambia to SotM quick license form.

Other relationships

  • HOT trademark and membership.
  • OSGeo is interested in connecting with OSMF.

Others

  • Link on OSMF site, DMCA takedown procedure broken.
  • OSMF email migration to mailbox.org planned for the next few weeks.
    • There are some issues to address such as old Google Documents which we don't want to lose.

Vote on a travel policy

  • Establishing a set of standard procedures is necessary.
  • Proposed amendments by board members have been integrated into the draft.
  • Valuable input provided by Mateusz.

Points mentioned during discussion

  • Not convinced we need a policy, as it doesn't ensure automatic decision-making.
  • Focus attention on other matters.

Vote: Accept the draft travel policy

Motion to accept the draft travel policy as currently on https://hackmd.io/@craigallan/r1jZ6wPDh Content on the OSMF website.

Approved on 2023-10-26 with 6 votes in favour: Arnalie Vicario, Craig Allan, Mateusz Konieczny, Mikel Maron, Roland Olbricht, Sarah Hoffmann.
1 against: Guillaume Rischard.

Motion by Craig Allan.

Updates on 2023 board election facilitation

  • Michael Collinson has been facilitating the questioning process of the board elections for 5 years.
  • He is willing to facilitate but has come constraints.
  • Due to some delay in the response, the OSMF has been looking to find volunteers to facilitate the questioning process.

Chisom Ejeh

  • Showed interest in facilitating the elections.
  • From Unique Mappers Nigeria.
  • Started his OSM journey in 2017.

Other points mentioned

  • Agreement to have Chisom Ejeh.
  • There was a meeting with him and Michael Collinson last Saturday.
  • Michael Collinson shared challenges and tips and is happy to guide Chisom.
  • Dorothea created a document on the facilitation process.

Chisom Ejeh was present at the meeting and introduced himself.

Brief discussion on whether a vote would be needed for the appointment of the new facilitator. No vote.

Approval of advisory board coordinator role

Have a role that is a formal point of contact for organisations on the Advisory Board, both Corporate Members and Local Chapters (LCs).

On the advisory board coordinator role

  • Initial point of contact for discussions, providing direction and guidance.
  • Not necessary for this role to be filled by a board member.
  • No involvement in decision-making process.

Rationale: Board's high workload and Mikel has been doing this.

Consultations: on the Advisory Board and community.osm.org - positive response.

Points mentioned during discussion

  • Mikel is willing to fill this position, after leaving the board.
  • Retain Mikel's expertise for OSMF.
  • The document on the position was created by Mikel.
  • There was concern what the board will do after Mikel steps down from the board.
  • Keep institutional memory.
  • Proposal to appoint Mike as long as feasible.

Suggestions

  • Train a board member as backup for Mikel.
  • The future secretary role will closely collaborate with the Advisory Board coordinator.

Vote: Adopt the advisory board coordinator role

Motion to adopt the advisory board coordinator role as defined in the linked document from the minutes.

Unanimously approved on 2023-10-26 with 7 votes in favour: Arnalie Vicario, Craig Allan, Guillaume Rischard, Mateusz Konieczny, Mikel Maron, Roland Olbricht, Sarah Hoffmann.

Motion by Mikel Maron.

Update to OSMF Mission and Scope statement

A draft document with proposed updates is available for board review.

The mission statement and scope

  • haven't been reviewed in nearly eight years.
  • should be periodically revisited, as it has been noted during the development of the strategic plan.

On updating the text

  • Requires copy-editing and structural changes, with consistent language in the scope sections.
  • Addressing changes, e.g.
    • the addition of a Human Resources function within the board
    • software development that happens directly under OSMF.
  • Unclear or excessively specific items have been removed.

Plan

  • Put the text out for consultation.
  • Adopt at the next board meeting.

Monthly presentation - OSM community in Sri Lanka

  • Presentation (file size: 1.69 MB, *.pdf) by Anuradha Rajanayake, OSM community member in Sri Lanka

Comments by board members

  • Interesting to see that the gender gap evens out among younger demographics.
  • Congratulations expressed on the work, especially in training and engagement with government offices.

Question by Imagico (guest) Name tags in OSM in Sri Lanka seem predominantly in Latin/English while official languages are Sinhala and Tamil (using non-latin script) - can you comment on that?

> We use English language to do all the things, but we use local language to explain everything.

Question by ImreSamu (guest) On whether the presentation will be available after the meeting.

(Post-meeting note: It has been uploaded).

Any other business

None.

Guest comments or questions

On supporting SotM Nigeria 2023 and SotM Africa via the Microsoft fund

Related to blog-post: Microsoft pledges $150k to support OpenStreetMap

Comments and questions by Victor N. Sunday.

Related to SotM Nigeria 2023

  • Thanks expressed
    • to the board members for supporting SotM Nigeria 2023 with the Keynote presentations - Mikel Maron's was quite inspiring.
    • Dorothea for the (non OSMF-financed) promotional materials sent.
  • It was really challenging to find financial support for the conference.

Seeing the information on the Microsoft fund for OSM, wondering about the criteria for future support of SotM Nigeria 2024 and for SotM Africa.

Comments and question by Lamine Ndiaye on the text chat.

I have just one question concerning the distribution of the Microsoft donation. Is it possible to support the State of the Map Africa. It's currently being discussed by the whatsapp osm africa group. Can i have an answer from the board? We have not yet reached our fundraising goal, and we need any support we can get budget is around 65k, we have raised about 53k so far.

> The allocation of the Microsoft sponsorships were discussed over six months ago. > It is imperative on local organisers to reach out to OSMF as soon as there are plans to organise a conference, to incorporate them in such funding budgets. > It's up to the funders to decide the allocation of the funds.

Next meetings

Open board meetings take place online monthly: currently on the last Thursday of the month.

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. The dates of public board meetings are also added to https://osmcal.org/

Acronyms

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