Hello, everyone!

It’s my first OSM Diary post; please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jikka and I just joined the mapping community some time during the second half of 2020 through Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team - Philippines. I’ve long wanted to write an OSM diary entry (I’d already thought about writing something regarding AWS and PhilAWARE) but I wasn’t so sure if my thoughts (a newbie’s!) would be welcome. But, seeing the push for openness and inclusivity made me feel more confident in expressing myself. I’m sure there are people who share this sentiment. 🤗

Anyway, I am writing this just in case any newbie here reads the OSM diary entries. That’s what I did when I joined, and I learned so much from just being a #lurker lol. I’m sharing three trips for any newbie who wishes to contribute:

1. If you are a newbie (welcome!), please add the hashtag #newbie when making changes and explicitly state in your comments that you are a newbie so that other mappers can guide you. (I’d like to thank arnalielsewhere for this tip!)

2. That being said, please don’t be discouraged when other mappers add comments or send you direct messages to ask about your recent edits. Whenever they ask questions (usually about data that you ~unknowingly~ changed), just be honest and say you’re learning.

3. Please join mapathons. It’s always good to have someone answer your questions real time. Lessens the chances of us newbies uploading changes that don’t necessarily improve the map.

The reason why I’m posting this is because we can’t really claim to be making OSM a free and inclusive community when we’re being discouraging to new mappers. Likewise, for newbies, we can’t cement ourselves in the discussion and the movement in general if we’re always discouraged by comments or if we’re intimidated by the system we want to improve.

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