The OSMF board elections 2026

As i indicated before i want to write a bit about the situation of the OpenStreetMap Foundation before this year’s board election, which is going to happen from October 10 to October 17. This is not going to be substantially about OSMF policy and operational decisions but about the overall situation of the organization and the long term trends. The background What we have seen over the course of approximately the past 10 years as a long term trend is a roll-back of transparency and public interaction of the OSMF board with the OSMF membership and the OSM community at large. When exactly this had begun is a bit hard to tell – we have had the transparency initiative from the 2015 board substantially expanding the interaction of the board with the community and the involvement of the OSMF membership. The first major roll-backs of transparency happened under the 2019 board. Most notable being the first non-public board meeting since 2015 in May 2020 – framed mid month board chat back…