Hi all,
Please find copied below the minutes of the Board meeting that was held last Tuesday,
which have also been published on the wiki at [1].
The meeting focused on the three initiatives that the chapter has agreed to focus on and
aim to complete by the next AGM in spring next year:
- The Schools Project
- Britain Loves Wikipedia
- Workplace Learning Lunches
Work is continuing on the planning of these initiatives, with a full plan, timetable and
budget being prepared for each one by the end of August. Two schools are already lined up
for the Schools Project, we have expressions of interest from two museums - the V&A
and the British Postal Museum and Archive - for Britain Loves Wikipedia and discussions
have been held with senior BBC managers regarding Workplace Learning Lunches.
In other news, we approved our 29th member and reported the launch of the Wikimedia UK
blog [2] and twitter account.
As always corrections, questions or comments are always welcome either in reply here or on
the wiki.
Regards,
Andrew Turvey
Secretary
Wikimedia UK
Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited.
Wiki UK Ltd is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered
No. 6741827.
The Registered Office is at 23 Cartwright Way, Nottingham, NG9 1RL, United Kingdom.
[1]
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetings/2009-08-18
[2]
http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/
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Wikimedia UK Board meeting Wednesday 18th August 2009, 8:30pm BST at #wikimedia-uk-board
Present: Michael Peel (MP) (Chair); Andrew Turvey (AT) (minutes); Zeyi He (ZH); Joseph
Seddon (JS); Paul Williams (PW); Steve Virgin (SV)
Apologies: Tom Holden (TH);
Minutes of previous meetings
The minutes of the meeting dated 5 August was approved.
The following actions were carried forward:
1. AT to draft an email to the WMF formalising the agreement to use Wikimedia Foundation
trademarks in members-only merchandising and to look into where we could produce
merchandise.
2. MP to draft templates for the six press scenarios identified at Media relations#Media
response .
3. MP to work with SV to do mini press releases, no more than one per month, advertising
spikes in traffic per WP:POPULAR related to particular news events.
4. JS to get a copy of the WMF's press release contact list in the UK.
5. MP agreed to add the HMRC letter appendices as attachments to section C of the Charity
Commission application
6. JS agreed to look into CRB checks for directors and Schools Project volunteers - their
transferability, who to approach for them and how much they will cost.
7. PW will develop a proposal for buying a computer for the Schools Project with,
potentially, peripherals such as a projector, screen, printer etc.
8. JS to draft an email for the Open Knowledge Foundation mailing list, to recruit new
members.
9. AT to arrange printing of the business cards
10. AT will reply to the charity sponsorship request as proposed.
11. MP to investigate moving our wiki at
http://uk.wikimedia.org to
http://www.wikimedia.org.uk subject to technical feasibility re Single User Logins and
hosting, with
gb.wikimedia.org as a potential alternative. Bug Report
12. Once this has been completed, MP to follow up with Wikimedia Ukraine regarding the
"uk." website conflict.
13. AT to investigate NCVO and other charity support groups for guidance on setting up
procedures
14. AT agreed to investigate getting paid legal advice on charitable status, using the
Foundation's offer to fund.
15. JS to start drafting child protection policies.
16. PW, MP to deliver newsletter.
Matters arising
MP has established his relationship with the Communcations Committee is " either be
as mailing list subscriber, or representative of Wikimedia UK ". Therefore, for the
purposes of the conflicts of interest policy, it was agreed he would not be treated as a
Foundation committee member.
Reports
Secretary
The Secretary's Report was noted.
Treasurer
There was no Treasurer's Report. However, TH had sent a previous email regarding a
membership application that had been received.
The board went in camera for a discussion
Member number 29 confirmed by a majority decision subject to cheque clearing. TH will
respond to the member and update the Register of Members.
ACTION: TH
Chair
The Chair's Report was noted. MP also mentioned that he had received an offer of a
free ticket to the "C&binet" conference on 26-28 October - a
"not-for-profit network, created by the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media
and Sport to link the international creative and commercial communities to grow the global
creative economy" SV and AT had both volunteered to attend. It was agreed that AT
would attend and MP would ask for a second ticket for SV if possible.
ACTION: MP
The board discussed having an in-person board meeting around the "Pictures in
Public" symposium on 10-11 September in Oxford which MP and TH will be attending. The
London Wikimeet is also that weekend on the Sunday morning, so we could like it with that.
JS, SV, ZH and PW could not confirm if they could attend. MP agreed to email round
suggested dates and locations to see what people could make.
ACTION: MP
Initiatives
No report was available. It was agreed to discuss with the initiatives discussion later in
the meeting.
Conferences
JS gave a verbal report; he hadn't found anywhere where he could get free CRB checks.
It was estimated they will cost around £500 (£38 for ~13 people) and it was agreed we
should ask the Foundation to reallocate some of the existing schools budget to cover this.
At the same time the budget for a computer would be extended to cover other ancillary
hardware.
JS has also prepared a blog post on the joint 2010 WMUK/OKCON Conference.
JS has had some discussions on a future Wikimania in Manchester and has been told that
continent rotation "is considered the most minor criterion", opening the door to
a Wikimania 2011 bid.
Corporate relations
SV gave a verbal report. He has been approached by a school in Wrexham which is interested
in working with us. SV will forward to PW who will follow up as part of the Schools
Project .
ACTION: SV
Steve Bowbrick has met with some senior BBC managers to discuss collaboration; SV will
chase him to get an update on how it went. Progress on this has been slow, and we are
unsure of timetables or outcomes at the moment.
ACTION: SV
Volunteers
PW had nothing to report on this.
Charity Commission application
AT gave an update and a summary of the current situation: there are three things that need
finalising - the conflicts of interest policy , section D of the Charity Commission
application and the child protection policy . The last item is waiting for the example
policies that AT has ordered from NCVO. Given that the application can't be sent off
until this is complete, it was agreed to hold off on discussions until the next meeting.
AT will chase the NCVO for an eta.
ACTION: AT
In the meantime, AT is continuing to look for paid legal advice to assist with the
application.
Initiatives
The Board discussed the milestone listed on the initiatives timeline to "establish a
plan for each initiative including timetable, aim and outline costing" by the end of
August. It was agreed that this would still be done, except for the Workplace Learning
Lunches where it might not be possible to complete before mid September.
Workplace Learning Lunches
As noted above, SV will follow up with SB regardng progress with the BBC. The milestone
above may be delayed until mid September.
JS agreed to follow up with his contacts at the BBC Digital Reolution and click and get
them in touch with SB and SV.
ACTION: JS
Schools project
PW hopes to start talking to schools at the start of September when they return from
holidays, with most progress made after the half term 23rd October and the first visits
possibly in the second half term. JS may be able to arrange a visit to his college
earlier. PW will start discussion on the schools email list after the meeting regarding
the project plan and arrange to get a timetable and budget approved by the end of August
ACTION: PW
Britain Loves Wikipedia
There was a discussion on whether the initiative should restrict to just London or cover
the whole of Britain. AT mentioned that Wikipedia Loves Art project had 15 museums, but
over half the images were generated from the 6 clustered in New York. The Dutch Wiki Loves
Art had 43 museums around the country, but generated fewer images than Wikipedia Loves
Art. MP suggested we have clusters of museums in several locations. MP will start a
discussion on the mailing list and defer a decision depending on the response from
museums. MP will also pencil in a timetable and budget by the end of August.
ACTION: MP
AOB
MP mentioned that the blog is now up and running. A Twitter account has also been set up -
it was agreed any board member is encouraged to make appropriate twitter posts without
need for prior approval. AT, JS agreed to email round draft blog posts for approval.
ACTION: AT, JS
MP and SV agreed to work on a press release for the 5 million media files on Commons
milestone.
ACTION: MP, SV
MP and JS may be meeting with the V&A in London on Friday to discuss Britain Loves
Wikipedia and GLAM-WIKI-UK respectively. It was agreed JS could claim travel out of the
content access funds.
Next meeting
The next meeting was agreed for Tuesday 1st September, 8:30pm.