The January newsletter has been published at
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK_v2.0/Newsletter/January2009
and is copied below for your convenience:
Summary: We lead with the exciting news that we are now recognised as
Wikimedia UK by the Wikimedia Foundation. This means that we can
shortly open a bank account and approve membership applications.
Planning is also underway for a new website and for the upcoming
Annual General Meeting. Meanwhile, we continue to support Wikipedia
Loves Art, which will launch on 1st February and the bid to hold
Wikimania 2010 in Oxford, and bring news of recent and upcoming
meet-ups.
In this month's newsletter:
1. WMF approval and chapter formation process
2. New website
3. Annual General Meeting
4. Wikipedia Loves Art
5. Oxford Wikimania bid
6. Meet-ups
1. WMF approval and chapter formation process
The chapter has been officially approved by the WMF, and the chapter
agreement is currently being signed by us and the WMF. As soon as this
is signed, we will be able to proceed with opening the bank account,
after which we'll start accepting members.
Want to be one of our first members? Now's your chance.
2. New website
Thus far the chapter has had a web presence on the WMF's Meta website,
with the now defunct former Wikimedia UK having a website at
wikimedia.org.uk. Now that we're officially a chapter, it's time to
start up our own, independent website. We have requested a new wiki
from the WMF, and hope to have this up and running soon as our new
website. Part of this will be permanently protected, as it will
represent the chapter, but other parts will be editable by all - of
course, this includes all of the talk pages. We hope that you'll all
join in with populating the website.
3. Annual General Meeting
We're getting ever closer to being able to set the date of our first
AGM, but we're not quite there yet. The location has however been
decided as Birmingham, and an agenda is currently being sketched out.
4. Wikipedia Loves Art
We are pleased to announce the prizes for the Wikipedia Loves Art
competition, running throughout February at the Victoria and Albert
Museum in London. Up for grabs will be:
* 2 tickets to a V&A exhibition of your choice
* 4 packs from
Moo.com, where each pack comprises 50 Classic Stock
Business Cards (with your own art) and 20 Postcards (again with your
own art)
* a 16" x 20" giclee print of one of your photos on a Soft
Textured fine art paper, care of Robbie's Photographics
Moo.com are also providing 20% off the first order of any attendees.
Sign up to the Facebook event here, or come along to the launch on 1
February, in order to get the code.
5. Oxford Wikimania bid
The Oxford Wikimania bid is progressing, with both User:Seddon and
User:Cfp investigating accommodation. A new idea is offering cheaper
accommodation in Oxford's youth hostel for those who cannot afford to
pay Oxford college rates. The sponsors we have obtained for Wikipedia
Loves Art are also good news for our bid, since (small) successful
partnerships now will increase the likelihood of larger sponsorship
later on. Why not sign up to support the bid and get involved?
6. Meet-ups
The 17th London Wikimeet happened on the 11th January, with the topics
of conversation including the WikipediaWeekly podcast, Wikimedia
project predictions for 2009, Wikipedia:Wikipedia Loves Art#London
V&A|Wikipedia Loves Art, and all that's wrong with the UK's education
system.
The 18th London Wikimeet will be taking place on the 8 February at the
Victoria and Albert Museum, as part of Wikipedia Loves Art. Meetups
are also being planned in Manchester on the 14 March, and in
Birmingham at a date yet to be decided.