Foundation/AGM2024/Election to Board/Answers and manifestos/Q03 Transparency and Accountability
Transparency and Accountability
How would you ensure that the Board’s decisions and actions are transparent and accountable to the OSM community?
Craig Allan - Q03 Transparency and Accountability
Transparency means it is easy to find out what the Board is doing, why it is doing it, and it is easy to ask questions about Board actions. To ensure transparency our Board meetings are openly minuted on the Board wiki and the Board also publishes blogs and documents for public scrutiny – the most important of which are the budget and monthly financial reports. There is a public strategic plan on the wiki so our plans for the future are open to scrutiny.
For accountability public forums are very important. The Board runs a wide range of social media and there are countless other user groups for OSM members to discuss Board actions. Any queries can be raised at Board meetings, by email or on the social media channels. On accountability, the Board is required to comply with its Articles of Association. The UK Companies Act prescribes requirements for accountability of OSMF directors in a legally enforceable way. Anyone can raise a query or complain about the behaviour of a Board member. Such queries are taken seriously and are all investigated.
Brazil Singh - Q03 Transparency and Accountability
Board meetings are already public. So there are 2 board meetings happening per month - one public and one private. In the private board meeting, it is discussions only and no decisions/vote, minutes are published. Voting and official decisions are made during public meetings.
Courtney Cook Williamson - Q03 Transparency and Accountability
I think that establishing and committing to a strategic communications plan for the OSMF board, as discussed above, along side making sure we have a working records management system, would go a long way toward increasing both transparency and accountability.
Maurizio Napolitano - Q03 Transparency and Accountability
I believe that ensuring transparency and accountability is essential to building trust within the OSM community, and that every Board member must prioritize clear and open communication, making sure that the community is well informed about the Board’s decisions and the rationale behind them. The OSMF has already been working in this direction by making all meeting minutes public, opening consultations with the community, receiving feedback, and actively listening to its members. I see this as a strong foundation that we should continue to consolidate. In my point of view, no new tools are necessary at this time; instead, our focus should be on further strengthening transparent communication and fostering an open dialogue with the community. By reinforcing the practices already in place, we can ensure that the Board remains accountable and connected to the values of the OSM contributors.
Can Ünen - Q03 Transparency and Accountability
I think all infrastructure necessary for this is in place and it is up to both the board and the membership to utilize them in good practices for achieving open communication within open and safe spaces. If the visibility and accessibility of those channels are not enough or producing barriers for some, OSMF can go the extra mile to increase their visibility and accessibility towards the membership and the community.
Michael Montani - Q03 Transparency and Accountability
I believe OSMF Board's decisions and actions are already transparent, as communicated in meeting minutes and OSMF blog page. Community input is possible through the mailing list and community blog. Accountability to the OSM community can only be ensured in my opinion by having OSMF Board members closely interacting with the different sub-communities here and there on the different communication channels (it is already happening).
A problem with accountability could be that many mappers are not aware or interested about the OSMF and its Board's decisions enough. Accountability often clashes with representativeness, which I cover more on Q10.
Andrés Gómez Casanova - Q03 Transparency and Accountability
The transparency of the Board is ensured by belonging to the foundation and being able to vote. By doing so, the OSM community ensures that the people on the Board reflect the interests of different groups. However, the foundation is not well known in many places, and the participation of its members is concentrated in certain countries. We need to change this by promoting the foundation, inviting people to join (identifying those who have participated for 42 days and inviting them directly to join), being part of the working groups, and applying for the Board as I am doing.
On the other hand, I consider the meeting mechanisms and activities transparent since public meetings are held periodically in OSMVideo, and task lists are in GitLab, elements that anyone can access.
Laura Mugeha - Q03 Transparency and Accountability
I think the OSMF already has effective measures in place to ensure transparency and accountability to its membership and the larger community through public board meetings, AGMs, Wiki documentation, and open mailing lists. In addition to actively contributing to and supporting these, I would encourage the active participation of members in OSMF Working Groups, which would allow them to influence decision-making processes directly.
I would also like to improve communication between the board and the community. I understand that many members are interested but may not be able to join public board meetings, and I believe there is a lot happening between these meetings for members to catch up on. Perhaps creating an updates newsletter or blog post with key decisions and projects by the board would be beneficial.
Lastly, I think it would be valuable to establish a formal process for community members to provide feedback on major decisions, especially before a board vote. This would not only ensure accountability but also enable meaningful engagement with members.
Héctor Ochoa Ortiz - Q03 Transparency and Accountability
I would improve the OSMF board and WGs meeting minutes by providing an easy (as possible) language summary of the decisions taken, combined with a visual representation of who proposed and voted for each topic. A mockup can be found here.
Apart from that, I would improve the communication of the decisions taken and ongoing processes to the OSMF members. As a member, I have rarely ever received any mail or notification, making people wonder what the Foundation is doing and why they are members. An improved communication strategy can also, in turn, bring in new members and induce current members to participate more.
Español
Mejoraría las actas de las reuniones de la junta de la OSMF y de los grupos de trabajo proporcionando un resumen en lenguaje sencillo (en la medida de lo posible) de las decisiones tomadas, combinado con una representación visual de quién propuso y votó cada tema. Aquí se puede encontrar un prototipo.
Además de eso, mejoraría la comunicación de las decisiones tomadas y los procesos en curso a los miembros de la OSMF. Como miembro, rara vez he recibido algún correo o notificación, lo que hace que la gente se pregunte qué está haciendo la Fundación y por qué son miembros. Una estrategia de comunicación mejorada también puede, a su vez, atraer a nuevos miembros e inducir a los miembros actuales a participar más.
Arun Ganesh - Q03 Transparency and Accountability
This would be hard to comment on without actually being on the board and knowing what is not transparent at this point. My commitment would be to ensure that we at least publicly communicate instances when we are unable to provide transparency about a topic so that it can be understood why a topic needs to be private.
OSM Foundation's board election 2024: official questions
Q01 Motivation and Objectives
| Q02 Conflict of Interest Management
| Q03 Transparency and Accountability
| Q04 Strategic Vision and Sustainability
| Q05 Decision-Making and Collaboration
| Q06 Fundraising and Resource Development
| Q07 Handling Legal and Political Challenges
| Q08 State of the Map
| Q09 Your Community Contributions
| Q10 Promoting Community and Attracting Volunteers
| Q11 Technology and Innovation
| Q12 Data Quality and Protection
| Q13 Perspective on Open Source
| Q14 Perspective on Overture Maps
All board candidates' manifestos
2024 OpenStreetMap Foundation's: Board election - Voting information and instructions - Annual General Meeting
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