Call on 1/11/2016 5pm ET
Clifford, Eleanor, Martijn
- Have a periodic hangout with (aspring) local organizers
- Collect events from meetup and other sources and compile a calendar to post on talk-us / osm.us
- We should use https://github.com/osmlab/localgroups
- Tools that would be helpful: "who's mapping near me"? / group function and ability to tag areas of interest on osm.org
- Hold survey asking people what they need to get started / grow
- Storytelling around starting a new local community (identify a city that wants to get started but hasn't yet)
- Collaborate with Maptime, perhaps later
- Involve Charlotte with her publicity / press experience
- All to start a list of local groups active in the U.S. (let's use a google sheet)
- Martijn to email Charlotte
2016-01-25 5pm ET
Everyone,
I feel, as I have said before, that such an effort can be successful only if we contact all the members in a local area on a regular basis. This means that we use their email addresses. We don't have to contact people every day, but at least monthly.
What would we say to them? It's simple:
--We tell them about meetings (where, when) and other bits of news, such as HOT activations.
--We ask them what they are interested in mapping or learning at the next meeting
--We give them "challenges" or little contests in mapping (find all the fire stations). Mapping all the food banks in LA was a project in the local Maptime. Then we give feedback on progress and public recognition to the people who participate. We could use Maproulette
--Let individual members introduce themselves to the group (Hi, I'm Charlotte and I work at Will Rogers State Park).
Another good way to communicate is Slack, after people join the group. It's easier to learn than Github, and the terminology actually makes sense. But Slack is not a good outreach tool. It's mostly to communicate within a group that's already formed.
But, to build the group, we need to contact people directly, and in OSM that means emails.