Open Social Media at OpenStreetMap

The OSMF is pleased to financially support the en.osm.town OpenStreetMap Mastodon (or “Mapstodon”) service.

The OpenStreetMap Foundation has had a Free & Open Source Software Policy, and a committement to open communication channels. We exist to support the OpenStreetMap project.

Mastodon (aka “The Fediverse”) is a distributed social media network, based on the ActivityPub internet standard. It’s been featured on the New York Times, Vice and Wired. Think of Twitter, but based on open internet protocols, and allowing each community to define its own rules and build its own local community. The Fediverse has a reputation of being nicer and more respectiful than some of the more combative social media spaces.

The en.osm.town Mastodon Mapstodon instance was set up in July 2018 and has been steadily used by hundreds of OSMers over the years. Since the start, we’ve been using the excellent service from Masto.host to host this little corner of the fediverse. Some of the Mapstodon users have been spreading flyers at in person State of the Map conferences. Since this little community has been constantly active and helping each other, the OSMF decided to step up and help support this, and fund it directly.

Our own FOSS Policy Special Committee, and Communication Working Group had recommended this action.

The server was founded & administred by @amapanda@en.osm.town, with moderation from others. (Although Amanda is on the OSMF Board, this is separate from the Board). While the OSMF is funding this project, there will be no change to the moderation & administration of the server. The OSMF “supports, but does not control” OpenStreetMap.

If you want an easy way to mirror your posts to Mastodon, you can use a “Cross Poster” like the Mastodon-Twitter Crossposter or Moa.party. Many OpenStreetMap twitter accounts have set up cross posters, such as State of the Map, twitter @sotm is @sotm@en.osm.town, or the main OpenStreetMap Twitter account (@openstreetmap) is @openstreetmap@en.osm.town

So, sign up, get your pineapple, start tooting and boosting, and have fun! 🙂

• Create a mastodon account on the instance
• Follow @openstreetmap@en.osm.town, or @sotm@en.osm.town for our global State of the Map conference.
• See what’s happening on en.osm.town right now (The “Public Timeline”)
• Check out the #OpenStreetMap hashtag on the global fediverse
• Read more about Mastodon on the OpenStreetMap wiki
• Get a Mastodon mobile app
• A more detailed Guide to Mastodon
• Get an OpenStreetMap Mastodon flyer
• Previously on blog.osm.org

The OpenStreetMap Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation, formed to support the OpenStreetMap Project. It is dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free geospatial data for anyone to use and share. The OpenStreetMap Foundation owns and maintains the infrastructure of the OpenStreetMap project, is financially supported by membership fees and donations, and organises the annual, international State of the Map conference. Our volunteer Working Groups and small core staff work to support the OpenStreetMap project. Join the OpenStreetMap Foundation for just £15 a year or for free if you are an active OpenStreetMap contributor.

Mastodon logo used here under the GNU Affero General Public License

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