# SOTM Local Chapters Congress

TODO
* update who will lead on https://2022.stateofthemap.org/sessions/HTEZJY/ > is Naveen coming? Replace with: Maggie, Geoffrey, Joost, Anisa (?)
* invite the Board > done during the meeting by Maggie
* set a date & make a signup page for November Local Chapters Congress (MC)> November 12th / Update Wiki page

DO's & DON'Ts
* no long introductions or you'll get cow belled 🔔
* do some icebreaker questions 🧊🔨
* avoid few people talking a lot > bring a cowbell 🔔
* use sticky notes to collect & organize feedback
* maybe use online survey/wordcloud

PROGRAM
* intro:
* orange: questions about creating communities
* green: sharing success/story about your community

* INTRO group people into continents do + some icebreaker questions (hands raised)
* Did you join a virtual LCC congress
* Is there a local community where you live?
* Are you in a local chapter?
* LCCWG intro
* LCCWG as a meeting place for people from all over the world. Similar challenges! Welcoming space to discuss them
* Local Chapters are the voice of local communities within the Foundation that runs the core of the project. The LCCWG brings those voices together
* Local success to cookbook. Local project to global tool

* Allan (or Joost) very short intro about what local chapters are (Board viewpoint)
* Maggie: introduce the november online local chapters congress + lessons learned from previous online congresses (save the date November 12, 2022)
* Joost: show welcome tool and invite to join
* maybe quickly talk about some other LCCWG projects > microcosms, space for local chapters on osm.org, subcommittee

* add some channels about how we can help each other

how to turn actions that work locally in to projects that can be ran globally

how local groups can best help each other

# BLOG POST

Intro
- devided the group into continents - lot's of people from the same places didn't know each other - people from all over the world represent

- board talking about the rol of chapters
- sharing the good/the bad and the ugly: lot's of common threads, but also diversity in experience. Invite to LCC in November to discuss things deeper - or define projects that could help

## Things that worked

Organization:
- several dedicated chatrooms on specific topics
- fundraising
- starting a new organization
- moving organizational stuff to open source software (Collabora, LibreOffice, LimeSurvey)
- linking with governements
- local State of the Map

Community building:
- working together with other communities
- watching the enthousiasm of others
- helping new mappers out (with the welcome tool)
- connecting different parts of the community
- making friends in the community
- regular informal meetups
- an internship program
- having an open and welcoming community

Mapping projects:
- mapping health infrastructure for covid
- mapping buildings and addresses
- following up on notes
- just people mapping by themselves

Outreach:
- being contacted by local authorities who want to help keep OSM data up to date

## Things that were harder

INSTITUTIONAL/FINANCIAL
- discussions about the limits to paid mapping by local chapters
- growing pains from informal to formal group, procedure to become a Local Chapter
- how to finance the organization? How to handle commercial activities?
- what to do when registering as an organization os expensive or dangerous
- uneasy organizational form when joined with other groups (e.g. foss)
- request from outsiders can be too timeconsuming

COMMUNITY
- lack of incentives and resources (e.g. internet access) for mapping
- discussions about getting people to join open channels vs going on closed channels where people already are
- having too many different channels
- getting visa for your community members to be able to join global events
- community building, volunteering in the south / low income countries
- keeping people on board for longer (of the organization, or just keep them mapping)
- getting people back together for face to face time after covid

MAPPING

- trying to get the community focused on common goal
- choosing the best editor for your mapping goals
- so much good data available, so little time to integrate it into OSM