Hiya,
“Creating Welsh Spaces” and preserving Welsh language is a central remit of the local support for the project. So, in line with the Mapio Cymru project, the tangible end goal is to populate a community-specific OSM for the area, but much more detailed. Practically-speaking, local businesses are learning the value of using OSM tools as part of this funding, and creating useful bespoke (offline uMap/GIS) map products. These bespoke maps (in English and Welsh) constitute outcomes for the project, and at the same time contribute local detail to be visible on OSM layers. Local people then become empowered to do more community activism/business development through OSM membership/contribution.
Culture/Language Background:
Cultural heritage connects to this, as you pointed out, hence the place-naming of both dwellings and ruins in Wales. These names provide an important ‘toponymic’ window into the landscape/surroundings, because the culture embedded in these names is often occupational. Mapping ruins helps document earlier periods of depopulation (e.g. 1950s), often referencing work-based occupational landuse (e.g. “Gwar Felin”: (water-driven woolen-mills were often re-purposed as micro-hydro plants in our villages). In some cases we are hearing the potential for repopulation by small land-based businesses.
Infrastructure
Socio-economics-wise, bespoke interactive maps of business and community networks highlight community-based assets and interests. The funding aims to skill local people locally, enhance businesses, create awareness of social capital, and profile Welsh language history. Impacts of the closing of schools is something we are specifically looking at alongside public transport, to show evidence of the need for them to be kept open (under the ‘Wellbeing’ agenda in Wales). We managed to make maps of ‘inhospitable bus-stops’ and ‘unreliable timetables’ in a previous project. I think a different (more positive) narrative may be emerging in this case, though (e.g. Rally maps, Aberystwyth-Carmarthen branch line campaign are emerging themes).
I’m sorry if this has been unclear or vague - the project is flexible, in order to accommodate evolution of community-led narratives. Skills, embedded Welsh placenames, and enhancing/profiling local small businesses/community needs (like the impacts of schools closures, depleted public transport etc) are the three central aims of the project.
Tasking Manager methodology:
The reason for using a tasking manager has been to try to keep areas of editing organised. We became aware of low quality editing and so recently limited the use of the tasking manager until we have gone through the validation process.
This may be why you are finding the tasks to be hidden (we made them private), and I realise this lacks transparency (although the narrative is repeated in the Organised Editing wiki). This is not what was intended at all, and we shall look to reset the settings here to restrict bad editing but make sure the task is publicly visible.
Thanks,
Rupert
