Recently I've managed to catch two colds in row. How does that happen? Where's my immune system? At work I have one of those projects involving creating a whole new thing with a whole new technology to learn, which must be finished yesterday. Sometimes these things are fun, but I can't get it to work. Stress! Against this backdrop... there's quite a lot going on with OpenStreetMap, and there's a few things I could use some help on.

We kicked off the fund-raising drive. The idea originated from the Operations Working Group, and bounced around the Management Team and the board, but it seemed like it was down to the Communications Working Group to mould the idea into a co-ordinated announcement, description and kick-off date. I worked hard to try and do these things "in consultation" with everybody, which always makes things harder. The end of this somewhat painful process was a blog post. I'm pretty happy with that. Not sure how everyone else feels.

But Having done that, there's obviously lots of work to do in promotion and "putting the message out there". Please don't assume that the Communications Working Group is handling of all of this. We have a few ideas, but CWG is a small collection of overstretched people like me. We need the community to go forth and promote! There's a few simple things you can do, e.g. share the message on facebook, and on google+. vote it up on reddit. retweet on twitter. But to help escape from the echo-chambre of OpenStreetMap social circles, go forth onto other forums, write blog comments. Link people back to the blog post on OSMF there! If you have any good channels for achieving big bang promotion, feel free to go ahead and do it. If you're unsure and would like to discuss/consult with CWG, feel free to do that too. The message is essentially as written on the blog there.

I know this stuff happens anyway in our awesome community, and look! The totaliser is about to hit half way! This is mostly from the generosity of individuals. We haven't (yet) received any big donations from supporting companies/organisations, just lots of little contributions from all the many people who support us. Quite fitting really for a project like ours.

The OpenStreetMap christmas party is another thing I need some promotional help with.

All the details are on the wiki now, but I haven't had the time to push the idea. It would be great if people in London would sign up in advance for our meet-up (on lanyrd), to show what a massive event it surely will be! and for people outside London to make travel plans. We can help with accommodation plans too if you like. ...and more importantly, it would be great if OSMers elsewhere in the world (and elsewhere in the UK) would get together around the same date for a big bash worldwide. Let's make it a Mappy Christmas!

...I'll sure as hell need a drink by then :-)