Dear Wikimedia community,
We are proud and honoured to announce that a plan is in the works to
found a new UK chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. A lot of
discussion has already taken place on IRC and we are ready to begin
gathering support from the community. If you are interesting in being
part of a new UK chapter, in whatever capacity (from sitting on the
board, to cheering us on from the sidelines), please head over to
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK_v2.0 and let us know. Over
the next few days we will gather names and put some finishing touches
to the plans. An election will be held for the initial board, who will
then oversee the process of founding the company and accepting
application to membership. They will then organise an AGM to formally
elect a new board to take the chapter forward to begin fundraising and
supporting the Wikimedia community in the UK in whatever way we can.
This is an exciting time for the UK community and I hope you will all
support us in it.
Kind regards,
Thomas "Tango" Dalton
Tom "Cfp" Holden
River Tarnell
Alex Newman
Paul Williams
Geni
I hereby give notice of my resignation as both Secretary and as a
Director of Wiki Educational Resources Ltd, effective immediately. I
have come to this decision following much long thought and discussion
with David.
My appointment to Director was only ever supposed to be a temporary
matter as acting Treasurer until such time as someone with competence
and experience could properly fill that role, and was not expected to
continue in that role beyond the AGM in September 2007. I neither
anticipated nor, indeed, desired to take on the role of Secretary which
was basically forced upon me upon the resignation of James. It is a role
for which I have neither the experience nor the competence for.
My position as unwilling Secretary has been a source of major stress to
me and thus it is for reasons of ill health that I must resign. All
outstanding paperwork with regards to changes of directorship -
including notification of my resignation - will be sent off to Companies
House tomorrow and all other paperwork regarding WMUK will be sent to
you, Alison, by Recorded Delivery.
Yours sincerely,
Arkady Rose
Dear Wikimedia community,
We are proud and honoured to announce that a plan is in the works to
found a new UK chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. A lot of
discussion has already taken place on IRC and we are ready to begin
gathering support from the community. If you are interesting in being
part of a new UK chapter, in whatever capacity (from sitting on the
board, to cheering us on from the sidelines), please head over to
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK_v2.0 and let us know. Over
the next few days we will gather names and put some finishing touches
to the plans. An election will be held for the initial board, who will
then oversee the process of founding the company and accepting
application to membership. They will then organise an AGM to formally
elect a new board to take the chapter forward to begin fundraising and
supporting the Wikimedia community in the UK in whatever way we can.
This is an exciting time for the UK community and I hope you will all
support us in it.
Kind regards,
Thomas "Tango" Dalton
Tom "Cfp" Holden
River Tarnell
Alex Newman
Paul Williams
Geniw
> LINX remains a company limited by guarantee, and not a charity.
We intend to be both a company limited by guarantee *and* a charity.
Charitable status is absolutely necessary for one of our key goals,
which is accepting tax-deductible donations from the UK.
> The
> "Memorandum and Articles of Association" makes interesting reading:-
In what way? I've only had a quick glance at it (it's rather long),
but it looks like pretty much what I'd expect for a company like that.
> Perhaps the ethos of LINX could be a part of the future plans for Wikimedia UK?
What do you considered to be their "ethos"? They're a completely
different company. They are a way for several for-profit companies to
work together more efficiently, we are a way for various individuals
to work together to further to goals of a non-profit (the WMF). I
don't see the connection.
2008/8/27 Gordon Joly <gordon.joly(a)pobox.com>:
>
> I have contacted members of the board of Wiki Educational Resources
> Ltd to alert them to the fact the Companies House information does
> not seem to have the same list of names of Directors and Company
> Secretary that is listed here:
>
> http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/legal
>
> Current directors and guarantor members have assured me that the
> changes have been lodged with Companies.
>
> This extant issue might pose several problems, not least the conduct
> of the AGM.
Yeah, that was spotted a few weeks ago and Arkady was meant to be
fixing it, it's unfortunate it still isn't correct... I don't think it
will affect the AGM, but it could result in legal trouble for the
company and the board. After the AGM, we'll need to update the records
again, I'm not sure if there will be any problems caused by them not
being up-to-date now (we'll end up skipping some directors entirely,
it looks like).
> The law has changed since the company (Wiki Educational Resources
> Ltd) was formed two years ago. It is now possible to incorporate as a
> company limited by guarantee and charity on the same day.
I'm not sure that's true, but either way it doesn't apply to us - you
need to have an annual income of over £5000 to register as a charity
(as opposed to registering for tax purposes only with the HMRC). If
you can do them both at once then it would only be for companies which
expect to have a large income from the start.
I have contacted members of the board of Wiki Educational Resources
Ltd to alert them to the fact the Companies House information does
not seem to have the same list of names of Directors and Company
Secretary that is listed here:
http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/legal
Current directors and guarantor members have assured me that the
changes have been lodged with Companies.
This extant issue might pose several problems, not least the conduct
of the AGM.
Gordo
--
"Think Feynman"/////////
http://pobox.com/~gordo/
gordon.joly(a)pobox.com///
I was reading the history of LINX (London Internet Exchange) and was
interested in how this organization got started.
https://www.linx.net/
*******
London Internet Exchange
LINX is a mutually owned membership association for operators of
Internet Protocol networks. We provide a neutral interconnection
facility and peering platform, known as an Internet Exchange Point
(IXP), and represent the interests of our members on matters of
public policy.
* over 295 members (47 new in 2007)
* over 600 connected member ports
* >120 member-facing 10GigE ports
* over 256Gb/sec of peak traffic
* 34 new applications for membership during 2008, 51 in 2007
*******
https://www.linx.net/about/history-of-linx.html
*******
Back in November 1994, using a donated piece of equipment no bigger
than a video recorder and without any legal contracts, five UK-based
Internet service providers (ISPs) linked their networks in order to
exchange data and avoid paying astronomical transatlantic bandwidth
costs.
********
LINX remains a company limited by guarantee, and not a charity. The
"Memorandum and Articles of Association" makes interesting reading:-
https://www.linx.net/govern/manda.html
Perhaps the ethos of LINX could be a part of the future plans for Wikimedia UK?
Gordo
--
"Think Feynman"/////////
http://pobox.com/~gordo/
gordon.joly(a)pobox.com///
Something called "work" can be a bit of a pain...
Simon (stwalkerster)
2008/8/22 Gordon Joly <gordon.joly(a)pobox.com>
> At 16:50 +0100 22/8/08, Cormac Lawler wrote:
> >On 8/22/08, Tom Holden
> ><<mailto:thomas.holden@gmail.com>thomas.holden(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >The Oxford Times are giving us a bit of publicity to help with
> >getting sponsorship and they want a photo to go with it. Kaihsu and
> >I are certainly going but it would be good to have as many as
> >possible. I've provisionally said Tuesday afternoon, but Wednesday
> >afternoon is possible too if more people were available then. We'll
> >be meeting in central Oxford I imagine.
> >
> >
> >Nice!
> >
> >And for those who can't make it... blue screens and photoshop? :-)
> >
> >Cormac
> >
> >
>
> I am told that green screens are the current technology.
>
> Gordo
>
> --
> "Think Feynman"/////////
> http://pobox.com/~gordo/ <http://pobox.com/%7Egordo/>
> gordon.joly(a)pobox.com///
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia UK mailing list
> wikimediauk-l(a)wikimedia.org
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK
> http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
>