Hi Charles,<div><br></div><div>thanks for your insightful comments. I read about it in the signpost, and couldn&#39;t resist to comment. <br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2011/7/9 Charles Matthews <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:charles.r.matthews@ntlworld.com">charles.r.matthews@ntlworld.com</a>&gt;</span><br>

<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div class="im">On 07/07/2011 11:02, WereSpielChequers wrote:<br>
&gt; Hi Rod,<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; We&#39;ve discussed this a couple of times at London meetups and<br>
&gt; elsewhere, I also suspect that the UK board have discussed it. The<br>
&gt; honest answer is I think threefold, firstly no-one in the UK has<br>
&gt; volunteered to run it,<br>
</div>Well, there was no clear brief as to what that involved, anyway. It is<br>
unrealistic to ask for a volunteer for something that is (i) open-ended,<br>
(ii) ill-defined, (iii) to be based on data that can be putatively<br>
obtained but no one says where, and (iv) comes without any clear<br>
definition of &quot;monument&quot; (quite a serious point). I did look into this<br>
matter to some extent, and would be happy to share thoughts. A Board<br>
member having said &quot;next year&quot;, I moved it down the agenda. There might<br>
need to be a budget.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>(i) the timeline is available here: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2011/Timeline">http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2011/Timeline</a> (but would need tweeking in individual countries)</div>

<div>(ii) the concept description is available here: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2011/Concept">http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2011/Concept</a> and there is even a clear outline of how it worked last year in the Netherlands with many tips&amp;tricks: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2010/post_mortem">http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2010/post_mortem</a></div>

<div>(iii) this would be with your local heritage institute. Wikimedia Netherlands volunteers have good contacts with the European umbrella organizations (Council of Europe and Europeana are official partners) and have offered on multiple occasions to bring local organizers in touch with national heritage boards who govern the lists. This happened successfully in multiple countries, I can&#39;t see why that wouldn&#39;t be possible in the UK. </div>

<div>(iv) this definition is different in every country, because every government has its own definition. We did not want to introduce an artificial definition, but rather go with the existing ones. It would make no sense for us to define a British monument. The UK (or English etc) government already did that for us. </div>

<div><br></div><div>I am very sorry that you did not ask these questions in an earlier stage, I could have given you these answers then already. However, you ought to realize that the national contest would have to be organized by local volunteers - we will not do that for you. The work would still be with UK people, but collegues throughout Europe could have helped you with advises, ideas and brainstorming. You would have been welcome also to participate in the Wiki Loves Monuments summit in Berlin. </div>

<div><br></div><div>I definitely do hope that questions like this next time will be asked early and directly at the relevant people. </div><div><br></div><div>With kind regards,</div><div><br></div><div>Lodewijk Gelauff</div>

<div>one of the international WLM coordinators</div></div><br></div>