I had been wondering for some time if I was going about things the wrong way by doing #OpenStreetMap workshops (where I teach people to use iD) at #FOSS meetups and conferences.
While I’d also try to cover why #OSM is important and how to use it, most of the time was taken up in learning to edit…which seemed backward. Why would someone continue editing afterwards if they weren’t convinced of the importance of the project?
There was also another thought stewing in my head…most of the people who have attended our mapping parties, and all the people who are regular participants, are all big on #SoftwareFreedom and #privacy. Maybe we should try focusing more on software freedom, and promote OSM in that context?
With these ideas in mind and after discussions with @ravi, I decided to prepare a new talk - one focused on getting people to use some #Libre map apps (CoMaps, OsmAnd, and OsmApp). If we can convince people to do that, they’ll probably also start contributing data, and participating in mapping parties…
This time, I added a lot more screenshots in the hope of providing a more engaging experience. I’ve also been burned by conference WiFi all too often, so this time I made many screen capture videos instead of demonstrating websites or applications live.
I gave the talk at today’s FOSS Meetup Delhi. It was far from perfect, but at least I got a clear path towards improving it - I need to cut down the run time and some irrelevant content, so I can present it in 15 to 30 minutes depending on the situation. And of course, there are still more screenshots and video demos to be added.
(All presentations made with #Emacs , #OrgMode , and #RevealJS )
This time I also made sure to arrive early so I could understand how to extend the display using the projector, and use RevealJS’s speaker view. That way, I was able to use the slides to guide me without giving away what I was about to say, and I could speak first and let the slide summarize it afterwards.
Relying on the laptop to act as a teleprompter has its drawbacks, though…you want to be focused on the audience, not the screen. And you want to be free to move around…