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Board/Minutes/2021-11-12: Difference between revisions

+ draft minutes
(+ topics "EWG budget and administrative assistance", "Editing without an OSM account")
(+ draft minutes)
<div style="margin:2px 0;border:1px solid #9B9;background:#EFE;color:#000;padding:2px .5em;text-align:center">
<font color="blue">Agenda and page forDraft minutes.</fontbr>
Please note that these minutes are not formally accepted and that this video chat is not open to observers.</font>
 
Location: Video room https://osmvideo.cloud68.co/user/ror-nt7-6tu </big><br> using [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BigBlueButton BigBlueButton]. <br> <br><font color="blue">Please note that this video chat is not open to observers.</font><br>
 
Location: Video room https://osmvideo.cloud68.co/user/ror-nt7-6tu </big><br> using [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BigBlueButton BigBlueButton]. <br>
Date and time: '''[https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=OSMF+board+chat+-++Friday%2C+12+November+2021&iso=20211112T14&p1=1440 Friday 12 November 2021, 14:00 UTC] - [https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?p0=1440&iso=20211112T14&msg=OSMF%20board%20chat%20-%20%20Friday,%2012%20November%202021 Countdown]'''<br>
[[Acronyms]]
</div>
 
== Participants ==
=== Board members ===
* Allan Mustard (Chairing)
* Jean-Marc Liotier
* Amanda McCann
* Tobias Knerr
* Mikel Maron ''(disconnected ~ 55' after start)''
* Guillaume Rischard
* Eugene Alvin Villar
 
[https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Officers_%26_Board&oldid=8513 Officers and board] and their [https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Board_Member_Bios&oldid=8498 biographies]
 
''Minutes by [[osm:User:Dorothea|Do<nowiki>rothea Kaza</nowiki>zi]]''
[https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Officers_%26_Board&oldid=8513 Officers and board]<br>
[https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Board_Member_Bios&oldid=8498 Biographies]
 
==== Not Present ====
 
=== Guests ===
''Not open to observers.''
 
== Board handover ==
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
! <b>Background</b>
|}
 
<u>Suggestion</u>: Gitlab issue tracker cleanup.
== Hiring status update ==
 
'''Decision''': The Secretary, if reelected, will schedule a board meeting in December. Otherwise Dorothea will do it.
 
= Hiring status update =
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
! <b>Background</b>
|}
 
Guillaume and Mikel will have a meeting with TimelessTime on Monday (2021-11-15) about the Senior Site Reliability Engineer's (SSRE's) contract.
== MapUganda local chapter application / commercial activities in local chapters ==
 
<u>Plan</u>: Finish this before the election.
 
= MapUganda local chapter application / commercial activities in local chapters =
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
! <b>Background</b>
|}
 
<placeholder for enrichment>
== Options for OSMF relocation / subsidiary ==
 
'''Action item''': Jean-Marc with Mikel to draft a short reply to MapUganda.
 
= Structure recognising professionals active in OSM =
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
! <b> Background</b>
|-
| Community members who also use OSM professionally approached a board member and they'd like to have some kind of structure that recognises them as professionals active in the OSM domain. They were warned about potential trademark issues, and it was suggested that there could be a group of [country] professionals within the OSMF [[Corporate_Members|Corporate Members]]
|-
| ''Suggested by Guillaume Rischard''
|-
|}
 
French people professionally active in OSM approached the board:
* Would like a structure with some kind of recognition and if someone needs work in OSM they can ask that structure.
* Asked about trademark. Guillaume told them about cases such as HOT and MapUganda.
* Many of them are members of OSM France.
 
<u>On OSMF hosting such a structure</u>
* Problematic as would be lending trademark to somebody over whom we have no control.
* Need to protect the trademark and OSMF's reputation.
 
<u>On trademark</u>
* Descriptive use is allowed, but they are not interested in using trademark without our permission.
* We granted to GeOSM a trademark licence with conditions attached.
 
<u>Suggestions</u>
* They form a professional association and become Corporate Members.
* Setting up an association and the association becoming a Corporate Members.
* OSMF setting up a professional association.
 
<u>Other points mentioned</u>
* List of providers of commercial activities like the [https://switch2osm.org/providers/ list on switch2osm.org] and pages on OSM wiki are clearly marked as not associated with the Foundation.
* Not a priority for the board to set-up such a structure. We have other things to set-up and organise.
* They might expect some standards from people who sign-up to be part of their association. You might also have to pay or be approved to become a member.
* Organisations like OSGEO play that role.
 
= Options for OSMF relocation / subsidiary =
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
! <b> Background: Investigation into moving OSMF out of the UK, and into the EU </b>
|}
 
<u>Eliminated countries</u>
== Structure recognising professionals active in OSM ==
* Requiring for directors' residency.
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
* Without limited liability, which protects directors.
! <b> Background</b>
* Placing firm restrictions for donations.
|-
| Community members who also use OSM professionally approached a board member and they'd like to have some kind of structure that recognises them as professionals active in the OSM domain. They were warned about potential trademark issues, and it was suggested that there could be a group of [country] professionals within the OSMF [[Corporate_Members|Corporate Members]]
[[Communication_Working_Group| Communicatio.
|-
| ''Suggested by Guillaume Rischard''
|-
|}
 
<u>Main choice</u>
== Microgrants ==
* Do we want to fully move or a hybrid scenario. Moving everything - a lot of things will be disrupted, e.g. bankings/suppliers.
 
<u>On transfer of assets</u>
* Foremost goal: licensing under EU law.
* Transfer of financial assets as needed.
* Progressive transfer of contracts.
 
Scenario favoured by Jean-Marc: hybrid.
 
<u>France</u>
* Dissolution requires a high level of approval.
 
<u>Netherlands</u>
* Organisation quicker to set-up and might be more practical.
* Advantage: English language and governance.
* We have some assets there (servers).
* The people who contacted us might be able to provide legal and other help, free of charge.
 
== On subsidiary option ==
=== Regarding finances ===
 
''Revenue generated by subsidiary: Are there tax implications for OSMF in UK or are the financials separate? (Mikel Maron)''
 
* For a while you would have to balance which organisation gets the contracts and which the donations.
* Separate financials for tax burdens.
* Any money transferred from EU to UK to pay bills, might be taxable income.
** If EU company is a member of the UK company and makes a donation to UK company, it might be tax free.
 
=== Concerns ===
* Hybrid scenario makes it harder to explain to community members. Might look less trustworthy.
** Single nexus is easier, but moving everything and shutting off OSMF means setting up new [[Articles_of_Association| Articles of Association]] (AoA) in a new juridiction. Keeping the UK entity, then governance process remains the same and will remove opportunity for inflammatory rewriting of AoAs.
** The subsidiary could have new AoAs as close as possible to old ones.
* The power of Directors is broad. Don't want evil Directors to tell subsidiary to do something objectionable.
 
=== Action items ===
No decision taken regarding whether there will be a move or to which country.
 
'''Past ([[Board/Minutes/2020-08#Brexit_planning_and_action|2021-08-27]], screen-to-screen board meeting) action item updated''': Guillaume and Jean Marc to have a call with relocation lawyer. Will also ask if it is possible to transfer the [[Licence/Contributor_Terms|Contributor terms]].
 
= Microgrants =
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
! Background
|}
 
For the new board which will be formed after the [[osm:Foundation/AGM21/Election_to_Board|December board election]].
== EWG budget and administrative assistance ==
 
''Suggested by Tobias Knerr.''
= Engineering Working Group budget and administrative assistance =
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
! <b>Background</b>
|-
| The restarted [[Engineering_Working_Group|Engineering Working Group (EWG)]] has asked the board to approve the following proposed budget ''(currently also mentioned on the main EWG page)'':
 
''Our first budget will outline further detail, and is subject to change after the [[Working_Groups|Working Group]] forms and we have initial meetings.''
 
* ''Estimated 50k initial budget, same scale as [https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/File:Microgrants_working_document_snapshot_2020-01-13.odt the trial run of microgrants in 2020].''
* ''50% of funding to core OSM software used to edit OSM or OSM-specific software run on the OpenStreetMap website.''
* ''30% of funding to OSM quality assurance and analysis tools and OSM-specific software in common use (category name to be determined).''
* ''20% of funding to consumer-facing OSM software and new software''
 
''All code written must be open-source and available without charge.''
 
''We would like to budget for administrative assistance for meeting minutes, document management, and other administrative tasks and believe this is best handled through existing contracts the board has in place.''
 
Previous board discussions
* 2021-10 [[Board/Minutes/2021-10#Engineering_Working_Group.27s_request_for_budget|Engineering Working Group's request for budget]]
|-
| ''Suggested by Tobias Knerr.''
|}
 
Guillaume Rischard (Treasurer) wanted to ask questions to the [[Engineering_Working_Group|Engineering Working Group]] (EWG).
 
'''Action items'''
* Guillaume to sketch a bare-bones budget for 2022 before the November public meeting.
* Guillaume to give full treasurer's report in November public meeting: money and projection for 2022.
 
''Mikel had to disconnect ~ 55' after start.''
 
= Editing without an OSM account =
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
! <b>Background</b>
|-
| Our expectations from tools like Wheelmap, [[Advisory_Board/Minutes/2021-11-02#Microsoft_presentation_-_MapBuilder.2C_an_experiment_to_build_the_best_map|Microsoft MapBuilder]] or KarteVonMorgen
|-
| ''Suggested by Tobias Knerr.''
|}
 
The board currently doesn't have an official position.
 
<u>Current situation</u>
* We don't have anonymous OSM accounts any more.
* We currently tolerate the situation with Wheelmap, where there is a collective account.
* Microsoft is aware that letting their users submit OSM edits via a single proxy account (new tool [[Advisory_Board/Minutes/2021-11-02#Microsoft_presentation_-_MapBuilder.2C_an_experiment_to_build_the_best_map|MapBuilder]]) is problematic. They also don't want their single account to be blocked.
* Related document: [[Organised_Editing_Guidelines|Organised Editing Guidelines]].
 
<u>Precedent</u>
* Maps.me.
 
<u>Other points mentioned</u>
* It's important for contributors to agree with the [[Licence/Contributor_Terms|Contributor terms]] and to be able to contact them individually.
* The [[Data_Working_Group| Data Working Group]] (DWG) needs to be able to trace bad mapping or vandalism.
* The problem will likely increase.
 
<u>Suggestion</u>: Ask the [[Data_Working_Group| Data Working Group]] (DWG) what policy would they recommend.
 
'''Action item''': Tobias to email DWG and get their opinion on what policy they would recommend.
 
= Any other business - Thoughts by Allan Mustard =
 
''This is the last board chat for Allan. Some points have been reordered.''
 
* The last two years were very fulfilling.
* The board has done some hard and necessary work to assure the future of the project.
* Taken aback by how much little communication there is with the community. People focused on two mailings lists (talk<sup>*</sup>, osmf-talk<sup>**</sup>) and on the [https://blogs.openstreetmap.org/ blogs].
* The project and the board are now heading to a good direction.
 
<nowiki>**</nowiki><small> ''[https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk talk] is a general mailing list for OpenStreetMap. All past messages are available [https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/ here].''</small><br>
<nowiki>**</nowiki><small> ''[https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk osmf-talk] is the mailing list for OpenStreetMap Foundation members ([https://join.osmfoundation.org/ Join the Foundation]). All past messages are available [https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/ here].''</small>
 
== Suggestions ==
* Keep parliamentary rules to run board meetings. Robert's rules of order allowed us to run the meeting in a structured way, leading to decisions when we were ready and postponing taking decisions when it was appropriate.
* Keep communication with and listen to community with calls to members, local communities and via tools like surveys.
 
== On SWOT analysis ==
''Please see the [[osm:OSM_SWOT|SWOT page on the OSM wiki]], where input was asked from the community by the board to identify OSM's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).
 
* Was criticised.
* Gave us a lot of good ideas.
* It doesn't tell you what they are the priorities, just people's opinions.
* Parsed its result by a combination of outreach and the structured survey.
 
== On 2021-01 community survey by the board ==
''Please see the [[osm:Foundation/Surveys|surveys page on the OSM wiki]] for links to the 2021-01 community survey questions, responses and follow-up analyses.''
 
* Astounded by how well it went: we got double the number of responses needed to have a statistical significant response rate.
* Gave us a sense of what we need to do regarding proposing resolutions for the next [[Annual_General_Meetings| Annual General Meeting]] (AGM).
* A lot of the criticism for the board went quiet after the results of the survey came out.
 
== On strategic plan outline and other points ==
The project was drifting two years ago and people were not sure if it was going to survive in the next 5 years because there was no guidance and the board was paralysed.
 
* We now have the [[Strategic_Plan_Outline|Strategic Plan Outline]].
* Its' most important part is the preamble, which was written by all board members: no unlimited growth - we need to accommodate growth to keep it true to its origin as a volunteer-driven project.
* There were two comments (positive) on the strategic plan outline.
 
* We have fair guidance from the community in what strategies we should pursue.
* We put some institutional structures in place, the board committees (budget, fundraising, [[Personnel_Committee|personnel]]) - with agreement by the community - that will share the board's workload.
* We resuscitated the [[Engineering_Working_Group|Engineering Working Group]] (EWG).
 
== 2022 priority ==
 
OSMF relocation ([[Board/Minutes/2021-10#Analysis_of_options_for_OSMF_relocation|background and more information here]]) or hybrid model in EU with non-profit status.
 
== Future after the board ==
 
Allan will volunteer to help on the budget and fundraising committees.
 
== Thanks ==
 
Thanks expressed to/from the board and Dorothea.
 
== Editing without an OSM account ==
Our expectations from tools like Wheelmap, Microsoft MapBuilder or KarteVonMorgen
 
''Board chat ended 1 hour and 20 minutes after start.''
''Suggested by Tobias Knerr.''
 
----