I think the concern regarding the WCA primarily arises from the
proposed paying of people who will be leading it. If these people are
equivalent to the editors of content on Wikipedia (ie volunteers) and
work from a virtual office than most concerns will disappear. So are
the leaders of the WCA paid or not? While the office be virtual or
not?
@Tom: The thematic organizations are funded by those involved and are
run entirely by volunteers and their offices are virtual in nature.
They claim no authority over the content of the projects and goal is
to provide benefits to Wikipedians ( Wiki Project Med is working to
get academic resources for editors through partnering with journals,
working to increase editors numbers by partnering with universities
such as UCSF, working to improve access to translation, and
collaborating with journals to give Wikipedians academic credit for
the work they do ). If thematic groups and chapters do not provide a
benefit to editors than they have failed in their mission and will
hopefully fade away in reality.
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
Hello Kate,
Originally I wrote an inline comment about nearly every phrase of this
WMF board statement concerning the WCA. But then, the statement was
published before I could send the comment to you. Here a summary of my
original text as reply.
In general, the WMF board statement raises more questions than it
answers; it is uncomprehensible to me why such a bold and judgemental
statement was found necessary, at this moment, and for what reason.
During the entire year 2012, we heard from the WMF (board and staff)
many positive signals about the establishment of a Wikimedia Chapters
Association. So I find it very strange to read that in the 'early
stages' the WMF board was optimistic but now suddenly fails to
'envision' a positive development.
When I asked WMF vice director Erik Moeller on March 12th, 2012 about
the name "Wikimedia Chapters Association", he was perfectly okay with
it. He even copied for me this sentence from a chapters agreement:
"The Chapter is obliged to utilize the Wikimedia logo and name in all
their related activities and is hereby authorized to do so by the
Foundation."
All in a sudden, in late December 2012, a message from the WMF Legal
Counsel Geoff Brigham admonished that the WCA has to follow the usual
steps for recognition as a Wikimedia affiliate. - How came that during
roughly nine months the WMF did not think about this? We were given
the impression that this was rather a formality.
WCA Council Members did have many, many conversations with the WMF
(board and staff), and chapter people. How can anyone say that there
has not been enough 'consulting'?
Concerning movement resources - the WCA hasn't spend much money so
far, and intends just to have one employee in the nearby future.
Considering that the WMF has more than 140 employees, the WMF board
statement's remark about movement resources for the WCA looks very
disproportional. Our plan, encouraged by the FDC, that in future the
WCA would request WMF grants or FDC funds, and at that point the WCA
request would have been considered the same way as any other request.
It is true that the developments in the WCA are some months slower
than everybody expected in July 2012 in Washington. But in comparison
to the early years of the WMF itself, or of many chapters, or of many
other organizations, the developments are not particularly slow. Just
recently we sent out the Secretary General job offer (which can not
have been a surprise to the WMF) and have the final discussions about
the incorporation.
Please keep in mind that democratic processes take longer than
deliberating within a small group. It was the will of more than 20
chapters representing several thousand Wikimedians to establish a
Wikimedia Chapters Association, which of course still exists, even if
the WMF withdraws the name "Wikimedia". Especially in the recent
development, with a number of new movement entities, this is a
strange, surprising and more than premature decision.
It would be in the interest of the whole movement to come to a
trustful and cooperative relationship between the WMF and the
chapters. The last months we have seen so many positive signals, such
as the FDC Round 1. The WMF board statement concerning the WCA
insinuates that it has to protect the movement and the trademarks from
harm but leaves it unclear exactly how and why the WCA is harmful. Why
this attitude of distrust regarding the WCA and the chapters, with no
clear justification?
I, personally, have so often defended the WMF, I have assumed good
faith where many others were suspicious. The WMF board statement makes
now undue assumptions about an organization that is not even one year
old. After such a statement, I honestly ask myself what should be my
assumptions about the WMF board and its true intentions.
Yours sincerely,
Ziko van Dijk
Deputy Chairman of the WCA Council
Wikipedia editor since 2003
-----------------------------------------------------------
Vereniging Wikimedia Nederland
dr. Ziko van Dijk, voorzitter
http://wmnederland.nl/
Wikimedia Nederland
Postbus 167
3500 AD Utrecht
-----------------------------------------------------------
Hi all,
This Wednesday at 22:00 UTC,[1] there will be an open discussion in
#wikimedia-office with our team, Editor Engagement Experiments.[2]
We've launched several new features since our last office hours --
including interactive "guided tours" and a getting started page for
newly-registered Wikipedians. We'll likely discuss these projects,
including testing results so far, as well as any questions people might
have.
Thanks,
--
Steven Walling
https://wikimediafoundation.org/
1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours
2. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Editor_engagement_experiments
Hi,
Wikimedia Polska has just launched its own scholarships
programme for Wikimedians willing to attend Wikimania 2013 in Hong
Kong. This year, apart from up to 10 scholarships for
Wikimedians from Poland, we are also going to grant up to 4
scholarships for Wikimedians from CEE (Central and Eastern Europe)
countries. The scholarship covers travel and accommodation expenses,
as well as conference fee.
All details and conditions are here:
http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2013/en
The closing date for applications is February 20.
--
Regards,
Daniel // user:Leinad
Wikimedia Polska
Hello,
next week OSCE Freedom of Media Representative
holds "Internet 2013" conference in Vienna:
http://www.osce.org/event/internet2013
I was wondering who from Wikimedia
community will be coming to the event?
Marcin Cieślak
saper at plwiki
I am glad to see the WMF taking a slow and careful look at this. My
primary question is why does this costing so much? More than half a
million is a huge sum. And what exactly do we as a movement get from
this? IMO we do not need more bureaucracy but less. A $100,000 for the
secretary general, to run an organization that does not even exist
yet? What we need is more tech people. While I know all those involved
in this are good people why are they not doing this was volunteers? I
donate around $250,000 worth of my time a year to the movement and
still throw in some cash.
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
Hello dear community,
I am glad to announce this year's election committee:
Ferdinando Scala is an experienced Italien wikipedian who candidated for
the board in 2011
Jon Harald Søby is a wikipedian from Sweden and served as an election
committee member on 2011 and 2009
Katie Chan is an long year wikipedian who lives in the United Kingdom
and was on the election committee of 2008
Ralf Roletschek is a very respected community member on the German
wikipedia and on Commons
Risker is a long year wikipedian on the English Wikipedia
The following two staff members will provide support for the committee:
Philippe Beaudette is a long year wikipedian on English wikipedia and
served on the election committee for the past years. He is currently an
employee of the Foundation and I asked him to support the committee
Geoff Brigham is Foundation's currenty general council and will give you
support on legal issues.
As in this year at the same time the FDC will also be elected for the
first time, the election committee will also handle this election.
I would like to thank the volunteers for their dedication of time and work.
Greetings
Ting
Board of Trustees
Wikimedia Foundation