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CWG - communications objectives

Defined as not what the CWG does, but what it is trying to achieve

Notes from initial research from existing documentation

What we do

CWG - Communication working group is the voice of OpenStreetMap Foundation. It is focused upon outward communication and maintaining OpenStreetMap's presence and coherency across various official platforms, such as OSMF wiki, blog, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and more). One of the functions of the group is also ensure that OSMF public-facing information is up-to-date and accurate.

The group's main responsibilities are:

  • Maintaining official news/announcement channels, such as the blog.openstreetmap.org, and the OpenStreetMap twitter and facebook accounts
  • Responding to press and media enquiries (normally by email and typically passed on to board members or local community members) and maintaining a press kit with up-to-date OpenStreetMap-related information.
  • Overseeing the OSMF website, including the maintenance of static content as well as various important living documents.
  • Promoting OpenStreetMap generally and increasing community engagement

We could have a side panel that showcases the latest tweets/posts from OSM (OSMF) as well as banners of the ongoing/upcoming conferences
Also have a link to the "Getting started with OpenStreetMap"

Bullets represent information found on exisiting sites, wikis and platforms that 'could' represent objectives (or sub-objectives) for the CWG.

Comms objectives from the CWG 'What we do' section

  • Represent the 'voice' of the OSMF
  • Maintain presence and coherency across platforms where OSM is expected to be (OSMF wiki, blog, twitter)
  • Ensure OSMF public-facing information is up-to-date and accurate

Other than these direct responsibilities, the CWG plays an instrumental role in:

  • Supporting communications related to the annual OpenStreetMap conferences - State of the Map (international and regional).
  • Supporting other working groups through volunteer engagement, retention and outreach.
  • Maintaining an information centre for volunteers willing to participate in other working groups such as license, operations, etc
  • Supporting and leading OSMF's diversity ambitions
  • Ensuring issues and feedback are channeled to the relevant groups and working groups
  • Amplifying the voice of the community, board, and local chapters through social media channels, blog posts, etc

Comms objectives from OSMF key functions

  • Support fundraising efforts? (Provides a vehicle for fund-raising to support the project. The foundation can accept donations for the OpenStreetMap Project and allocate those donations to OpenStreetMap Project activities.)
  • Support promotion (and organisation) of OSM events (Organizes the annual conference, State-of-the-map)
  • Support the functions of other working groups, eg. volunteer engagement, retention, outreach (Supports and communicates with the working groups, such as communications, licensing, etc. The foundation board at times will delegate various tasks to working groups, such as public relations, Web site development, etc.)

Comms objectives from Scope of the OSMF

  • Leads the charge on communicating OSM's work to the world (Pete: is this a charge?)
  • Supports evolutuion of a more diverse community of contributors
  • Makes sure OSMF membership represents project as much as possible (diversity on membership?)
  • Is responsible for raising funds
  • Is responsible for maintaining the license of the data
  • Ensures that data users comply with the license
  • Protects the OSM related trademarks from misuse

From other sources

Potential comms objectives not covered above

Identified as possible objectives (or sub-objectives) of the CWG not included in the notes above

  • Promote use of OSM?
  • Support academic work relating to OSM?
  • Supports / promotes the work of Local Chapters
  • Anything to do with trademarks / licensing?
  • Increase access to OSM conversations (comms platforms / infrastructure)
  • Discussion and debate

Possible high level objectives

  • Represent the public face of the OSMF
  • Engage new / existing contributors
  • Promote / ensure community health
  • Increase diversity of contributor community / data
  • Support the success of OSM events
  • Effectively manage requests and queries from 3rd parties (media, press, organisations, groups)
  • Facilitate fundraising and donations
  • Manage relevant communications channels and social networks (access, coherence, editorial)

Join Us

We are always looking out for new contributors to the communications working group. Please let us know if you have communications skills to offer and would like to contribute to any of the CWG's goals.

We are particularly interested in people with skills and experience in writing, translating, graphic design, multimedia, social media management, press & media management and community engagement. Contributors are welcome whether they have a little time to offer, or a lot!

To join, we ask that you send an email to communication@osmfoundation.org with some basic information Please include:

  • Your name or OSM username
  • Your affiliations - ie. which OSM-related communities, groups or companies are you a part of? (the reason we ask this is that we want to ensure that no one group has a majority voice within the working group)
  • Some information about why you would like to join and the kinds of things you would like to do (this does not need to be extensive - just nice for existing WG members to kniow a little about you)

Once you have sent this information, the current CWG members have one week to discuss your request to join and then will get back to you with a decision. This decision is based on the affiliations you provide and the current composition of the CWG membership and not on the additional information you are invited to include - it is not a job application!

If you would like to know more about the CWG before requesting to join, please email us at communication@osmfoundation.org and one of us will get back to you shortly.

Press Kit

  • Having a ready to use press-kit with logos, stats, mission and vision of OSM
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