Congratulations, London! See you there!
Patricio
2013/5/1 Dhaval S. Vyas <dsvyas(a)gmail.com>:
> Congratulations UK! So happy with the news, after all wikimania is coming at
> our doorstep...
>
>
> On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 7:19 PM, Katie Chan <katie.chan(a)wikimedia.org.uk>
> wrote:
>>
>> Congratulations to everyone who's been involved with the London bid.
>>
>> Looking forward to seeing many of you in London next year!
>>
>>
>> On 1 May 2013 18:10, James Forrester <jdforrester(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Wikimedians,
>>>
>>> On behalf of the Wikimania 2014 selection Jury, after review and
>>> evaluation of the two final bids, we have awarded the conference to
>>> London. Congratulations to the London team, and to the Arusha team who
>>> also put forward a solid effort.
>>>
>>> We were concerned this year to see that both bidding teams put forward
>>> proposals which were costly and complicated, in contrast to the
>>> Wikimania tradition. The Jury briefly considered re-opening the bid
>>> for other teams, and asked both bids to present a simpler core budget
>>> and lower-cost options for attendees.
>>>
>>> The London team took our comments to heart and decreased their core
>>> budget to 20% of their initial proposal, and have committed to finding
>>> ways to reduce the cost for community attendees.
>>>
>>> We encourage future bidding teams to not give up their dreams, to keep
>>> aiming for the stars, but at the same time, to not forget the spirit
>>> of Wikimedia: a volunteer movement that makes creative use of limited
>>> resources. We look forward to the proposed Wikimania Committee setting
>>> out clearer guidelines on these principles.
>>>
>>> The process to bid for hosting Wikimania requires a substantial time
>>> investment, and we thank both candidate teams for their submissions
>>> and hard work.
>>>
>>> Yours,
>>>
>>> James Forrester
>>> Moderator, Wikimania 2014 Jury
>>> For the Wikimania 2014 Jury
>>> --
>>> James D. Forrester
>>> jdforrester(a)gmail.com
>>> [[Wikipedia:User:Jdforrester|James F.]] (speaking purely in a personal
>>> capacity)
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Katie Chan
>> Volunteer Support Organiser
>> Wikimedia UK
>> +44 (0) 20 7065 0990
>> +44 (0) 7885 980 534
>>
>> Wikimedia UK is a Charitable Company registered in England and Wales.
>> Registered Company No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513.
>> Registered Office: 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street,
>> London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom.
>> Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The
>> Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate
>> Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
>>
>> Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control
>> over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
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--
Patricio Lorente
Blog: http://www.patriciolorente.com.ar
Identi.ca // Twitter: @patriciolorente
On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 4:21 PM, MZMcBride <z(a)mzmcbride.com> wrote:
> Florence Devouard wrote:
> >I was thinking of the numerous (quite successful) associations in
> >France, which are simply made of entrepreneurs wishing to do things
> >together (from networking, to training, to visits, conferences etc.).
> >Most of those associations have only one staff member, a long-term hired
> >secretary who takes care of secretarial work. The rest of the
> >association activity is 100% taken care of by the volunteer
> >entrepreneurs (usually through an extended board of volunteer members).
>
> Yes, this kind of association is also somewhat common in the United States
> as well. I agree that it might serve as a very good model for a healthy
> number of Wikimedia chapters.
>
Yes, this model clearly works in some countries and for some non-profits.
It has also been working for some Wikimedia groups, e.g. WMPL.
However, it is not obvious that this model is what all (or even most)
groups are looking for (judging by grant applications and informal
conversations I have had with many groups). I would be willing to consider
funding such a position on a part-time basis (say 3 days a week) if a group
presented a compelling case for the need for such a person.
>In many cases, the secretary is paid with sponsorship and membership
> >fees.
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation seems to be in a good place to ensure that this
> need is met for chapters in need of a full-time staff person. A little
> seed money. What needs to happen in order to ensure requests like this are
> met if membership fees and sponsorships aren't sufficient?
>
The Foundation is indeed in a good place to fill this need, where it
exists. I think very few groups have been able to demonstrate the need for
_sustained_ support of this kind (i.e. not the two afternoons needed to
finish some particular report, but actual ongoing labor of the order that
would require such a position). Again, I am happy to discuss this with any
group, on any channel, including privately if they prefer (I prefer public
conversations).
For example, in the context of the recent FDC proposals, WMCZ's staffing
plan[1], assuming that "student" could be a *part-time* employee, could
certainly have gone through the Wikimedia Grants Program (NB: not "the GAC"
-- the GAC is the advisory body to the Wikimedia Grants Program), as in
WMCZ's case, I am aware of a relatively large amount of administrative work
around reimbursements, related to their two current grants.
A case will still need to be made for such positions, each and every time
-- we can't, and shouldn't, assume that this model is a panacea, so
"requests like this" will be met wherever they make sense, in terms of both
need and capacity (unfortunately, retaining paid help has a non-trivial
up-front cost in time and planning, and the capacity to put in that time,
responsibly, needs to be there for us to approve such a position).
Asaf
[1]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Wikime…
--
Asaf Bartov
Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org>
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
https://donate.wikimedia.org
Dear Wikimedians,
On behalf of the Wikimania 2014 selection Jury, after review and
evaluation of the two final bids, we have awarded the conference to
London. Congratulations to the London team, and to the Arusha team who
also put forward a solid effort.
We were concerned this year to see that both bidding teams put forward
proposals which were costly and complicated, in contrast to the
Wikimania tradition. The Jury briefly considered re-opening the bid
for other teams, and asked both bids to present a simpler core budget
and lower-cost options for attendees.
The London team took our comments to heart and decreased their core
budget to 20% of their initial proposal, and have committed to finding
ways to reduce the cost for community attendees.
We encourage future bidding teams to not give up their dreams, to keep
aiming for the stars, but at the same time, to not forget the spirit
of Wikimedia: a volunteer movement that makes creative use of limited
resources. We look forward to the proposed Wikimania Committee setting
out clearer guidelines on these principles.
The process to bid for hosting Wikimania requires a substantial time
investment, and we thank both candidate teams for their submissions
and hard work.
Yours,
James Forrester
Moderator, Wikimania 2014 Jury
For the Wikimania 2014 Jury
--
James D. Forrester
jdforrester(a)gmail.com
[[Wikipedia:User:Jdforrester|James F.]] (speaking purely in a personal capacity)
Hi All,
as discussed in London and Milan, I have submitted a presentation proposal for Wikimania 2013, aiming to present the first overview of Wikimedia Chapters in general, showing several metrics we have discussed (membership, financials, growth rates etc.) and looking for some benchmarks useful in a governance and peer reviews.
Please see: http://wikimania2013.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/Chapters_in_Numbers
We all know it will be a difficult task to compare apples and oranges but we can take our chance, look at actual data and discuss the results. and if you want to state your interest, make a comment, suggestion or just help, contact me via mail or a wiki page (even there).
Moreover, in some near future I may approach you or your chapter to deliver me some data for this presentation. I will highly appreciate all the cooperation. :)
By the way: please highlight if you have any submissions associated with WCA, I would be glad to discuss/support/attend.
Sorry for the blatant marketing a personal submission on this mailing list =) but upon many requests we have decided to keep WCA things as open as possible and this is a part of our self-imposed next steps. :)
Best Regards,
Michał "Aegis Maelstrom" Buczyński
Wikimedia Poland, WCA Rep.
Dear all,
I am delighted to announce the expansion of the Wikimedia Foundation's
Community Advocacy team to include our newest hire, Jan Eissfeldt, whose
work will be focused on the German and Spanish language sites. Jan, who
made his first contributions to the German language Wikipedia in early 2004
and works on modern philosophers on the Spanish language project, will help
us with his specialized academic background. Jan holds a German BA in
social science and philosophy with an intercultural profile. His main
theme - carried over into MA studies - is argumentation theory. This
combination of being rooted in the editing community and providing
analytical skills will help us to better understand the German and Spanish
projects, and to serve our non-English language communities in general.
English language folks might have come across his name during 2012 as he
edited the Signpost's feature News & Notes.
The community advocacy team, you may recall, is an attempt to shore up the
Foundation's knowledge of non-English speaking projects, and facilitates
strategic change by providing knowledge and skills about communities that
the Foundation increasingly interacts with through the Engineering team's
frequent technical improvements, through grant-making, our legal work, and
the other activities of the Foundation. In our attempts to learn more
about these communities, get their input during the formation of
initiatives, and figure out how best to deliver initiatives to them, Jan
will be joined by one more hire (soon to be announced, I hope).
Jan will work from his home in Germany, will report to me, and will also
work closely with Maggie, who will serve as his mentor and will help to
organize and lead our community advocates as they are hired.
Please welcome Jan to the Foundation, though he's been a part of the
movement for years!
pb
___________________
Philippe Beaudette
Director, Community Advocacy
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
415-839-6885, x 6643
philippe(a)wikimedia.org