Changing the Ratioof OpenStreetMap

Alyssa Wright@alyssapwright

I believe

Where are we?

Who are we?

Maps as Tools of Empathy

OpenStreetMap

“The Best Map in the Galaxy.”

It empowers people,

but it also disenfranchises.

It not enough that "anyone" can contribute to

OpenStreetMap.

power to the missing

#changetheratio@alyssapwright

street cred

women studiesfeminist in womb| academic training 2000

apw217OSM since Summer 2007

ART

tools of empathyMIT graduate research

OPENGEO

apwrightOSM again March 2013

Hello World

The map is the journey

I

Community is the destination.

I I

Who is this community?

interactive session

Team America bias seeking: international statistics

% of women in US geo industry?

40%Census 2000 and 2009 American Community Survey

female graduates from geo programs?

34%National GIS Academic Program Survey 2012

female computer science graduates?

25%National GIS Academic Program Survey 2012

% of women who have heard of OSM?international study

23%Stephens 2013

% of women speakers at this conference?international study

10%33% keynotes

% of women OSM contributors?international studies

3%Budhathoki et al 2010 | Stark 2011 | Lechner 2011

% of women in open source?international studies

1%Ghosh et al. 2002

How did this happen?

Good question.

“Maybe girls just don’t like

ice cream,

or computers,

or maps,

or open stuff.”(paraphrased mansplaining)

“Maybe OSM

is a man’s field,

like construction work

or firefighting.”(paraphrased from OSGeo)

(was that uncomfortable?)

Research suggests otherwise.

Inertia. This was a community started with a particular ideology.

Judd Atkin, 2012

Award Structure.Groups of people

relate differently to incentive and motivation.

Judd Atkin, 2012

Communication.Current conversation styles

may not be accessible. 

Judd Atkin, 2012

Active Hostility. 

Wikipedia

Reagle, 2013

Open Source. Few restrictions on how

people treat each creates permission for discrimination.

Why should you care?

Not ethics.

The success of OSM.

What do we risk?

01

Maps are biased by the norms, traditions,

assumptions, and political biases of the map maker.

J.B Harley 1989

01

play tag

care tag

tag=amenity=kindergarten

Monica Stephens 2013

tag=amenity=baby_hatch

Monica Stephens 2013

proposed feature=childcare

Monica Stephens 2013

Monica Stephens 2013

J.B Harley 1989

02

“Open source communities serve as models for civic engagement.”

02

Alyssa Wright 2013

Open Source Transplant

03

“The beauty of open source is that people who dislike each other can produce code for

the same product.”

03

The collective intelligence of diversity

Lam et al 2011 | Callahan & Herring 2011

not only expands the reach of our maps

Lam et al 2011 | Callahan & Herring 2011

The collective intelligence of diversity

but the sustainability of our tools.

Lam et al 2011 | Callahan & Herring 2011

In case you were sleeping:

Without diversity we risk stagnation and irrelevance.

Like this slide.

Life’s a disaster! What can we do?

Introducing

The Diversity Cocktail.

Our Three-Step Diet to Explosive OSM Success.

01

Step 1Stop Talking

01

Step 1Start Mediating

01

Step 1Online and Off

Stop the temper tantrums.

Start working with those you dislike.

Stop jousting for technical supremacy.

Start measuring supremacy by teaching.

Stop the condescension to newbies.

Start from “new to OSM” means expert in something else.

Stop the apathy towards engagement.

Start making diversity central to the OSM mission.

01

Step 2Collect Data

01

Step 2Measure Hypotheses

Community is the destination.

I I

Community is messy.

OSM mailing lists are messy.

So messy, I can’t even read this slide.

OpenThreads

OSM DEV

TALK OSM

TALK US

HOT OSM

Gender of Participants

100%50%0

Messages by Gender

100%50%0

Female

Male

Unknown

01

Step 3....

(the most explosive step yet)

(can you handle it?)

Target Women

Publicly.

Targeted outreach to women increases overall diversity.

Seen it with my own eyes.

GNOME

Internship for GNOME project 10 OSS project involved

Success

Address women directly.Accept non-students and non-coders. Connect women with mentors. Require a contributionNo pressure for really ambitious projects.

Approach

Etsy

GNOMEattracted 500% more female engineers

Success

GNOME

Invest trained junior women for hiring

Partneralliances with other organizations

Make a Public Standsuccess breeds success

Approach

SOTM US

I just like squids.

What have we done for you lately?

diversity-talk mailinglistlists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/diversity-talk

maptimeSan Francisco | Portland | Cleveland | NYC

http://maptimesf.tumblr.com/

partnership meetingsmonthly hangouts with wikipedia members

email for invite

wikimediaThe Wikimedia Diversity Conference

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Diversity_Conference

OSM with partnerscode for america | open knowledge foundation

researchGender Differences in Jinotega, Nicaragua | Michael Kozuch

http://www.slideshare.net/mikekoz/gender-diff-mapping

azimuthteam blog supporting diversity work

email to join the planning team

childcaretag added in iDeditor!

conversations with JOSM and tagging list

representationcandidates in OSMF and OSM-US elections

including me ;)

talking here

We’re just starting

Help Change the Ratioof OpenStreetMap

Alyssa Wright@alyssapwright

Thank you

Thank youArtMicah BergerSergi DelgadoRobert SamuelhansonLuke BottMike Mcquade

WikimediaSiko Bouterse

iD editor helpTom MacWrightJohn Firebaugh

NYC-OSM

InitiativesIan Villeda

Beth SchecterAlan McConchie

Clifford SnowDarrell FurhrimanManuela SchmidtMichael Kozuch

Noel Hidalgo

#changetheratioRachel Sklar

SOTMRob Nickerson