I agree with this. Whether these are official or unofficial is something we need to look at when the need arises.<br><br>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 10/12/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Gnangarra</b> <<a href="mailto:gnangarra@gmail.com">gnangarra@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">Sorry my poor wording there, they shouldn't be separate entities but sub branches of the one entity WMA, purely as away of overcoming the issues of distances.
<div><span class="e" id="q_1159483437d44f08_1"><br><br><br>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 12/10/2007, <b class="gmail_sendername">Brianna Laugher</b> <<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:brianna.laugher@gmail.com" target="_blank">brianna.laugher@gmail.com
</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">On 12/10/2007, Gnangarra <<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:gnangarra@gmail.com" target="_blank">
gnangarra@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>> Its a good idea to have individual chapters<br>><br>> The way I thought we are working is to create WMA first, then WMA helps the <br>> states create chapters during 2008, once created the states would have a
<br>> representative on the WMA committee, realising that not every state is going<br>> to have the critical mass to support a local chapter initially anyway. <br><br>I was going to say that I think WMF expect max one chapter per nation
<br>state, then I remembered about the recent American Pennsylvania<br>chapter talk. So is it one chapter per legal jurisdiction?<br><br>I am not sure that I think multiple legal entity chapters within <br>Australia would be a great idea. What with the small population. I
<br>would prefer formal state structures within a single legal entity<br>being Wikimedia Australia, I think. The European chapters for example<br>have one per nation despite larger populations than us. I am not too <br>convinced that the distance necessitates separate legal entities.
<br><br>On a related note,<br>For those who missed it, Florence recently reported on foundation-l<br>about the recent Board meeting. Her email is here:<br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://article.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/20666" target="_blank">
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/20666</a><br><br>Specifically:<br><br>>><br>Sue Gardner began the<br>discussion by presenting a possible strategy to clarify the relationship <br>between WMF and Wikimedia Chapters. The strategy outlines 4 types of
<br>relationships, essentially ranging from business development with<br>revenue sharing over traditional non-profit activities to informal<br>affilitations. <br>Far ranging discussion resulted, hmmm, with obvious agreement resulting.
<br>(...) We also agreed on the<br>need for a systematic process of gathering feedback from the chapters on<br>their expectations & perceived purpose should precede a strategy draft <br>from WMF about the relationship with chapters.
<br><<<br><br>So, we are not a chapter, and they won't be getting feedback from us<br>:) but it is worth thinking about anyway.<br><br>To me the purpose of a chapter, as in creating and maintaing a local <br>legal entity, is mainly two-fold, or maybe they are in fact the same
<br>fold:<br>1) To gain the benefits from official/formal legal status within<br>Australia. This includes potentially access to grants and funding,<br>charity status to make donations (to us?) in AU$ tax deductible,<br>potential partnerships with Australian groups such as universities.
<br>Also, greater respect and visibility.<br>2) To encourage and enable face to face meetings of Wikimedians on a <br>greater scale than local meetups. Although this is sometimes derided<br>as merely "throwing parties" I think it is much more powerful than
<br>that. Connections made or cemented face to face are much stronger than <br>those only through email or wiki. That goes for connections within the<br>group of Wikimedians and also between non-Wikimedians and "friends
<br>and allies" such as free software people, free content people, <br>education people. Such meetings can boost everyone's enthusiasm and<br>motivation and also spread disparate knowledge quickly and effectively
<br>over short, sharp bursts.<br><br>Some other ideas...<br>3) (probably should be 0) To carry out the WMF's vision and mission <br>within Australian territory and within an Australian context. This<br>could mean Wikibooks(Wikiversity) adapted to Australian (ahem state)
<br>curricula. It could mean Wikisource special topics on historical<br>Australian documents. It could also mean specialised DVDs or books <br>being produced and distributed, collecting (eg) Wikipedia articles on<br>Australian topics. [I personally would be delighted to see a disc of
<br>Spoken Wikipedia as recorded by Australians... there are a few Aussies<br>who have done them and they are delightful to listen to.] It could<br>also mean talking to educators or students about a) how to use<br>Wikimedia resources effectively and b) the benefits of using wikis and
<br>c) The benefits of using free licenses (creating free content). <br><br>4) To lobby the Australian government for reduced application of<br>copyright on Australian government-created works. To lobby Australian<br>public archives and collections for greater access to works in their
<br>collections especially public domain works and digital access.<br><br>This point is my hobby-horse and also the most different from how WMF<br>acts in the US today so likely the most controversial.<br>However... through Wikimedia I have become aware of how we, the Aus
<br>public, are unnecessarily dudded and deprived of works that are owned<br>by us (or by no one), collected for us, created by us, and yet somehow<br>are not recognised as belong to us.<br><br>Why did I become aware of this? Because the US has an amazing attitude:
<br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000105----000-.html" target="_blank">http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000105----000-.html
</a><br>that greatly benefits Americans... that greatly benefits Wikimedia... <br>that greatly benefits the whole world.<br><br>The US appears to be a world leader in this regard. Europe's space<br>agency the ESA is stupid and releases their images under a
<br>non-commercial license. I will sincerely celebrate the day that <br>Wikimedian lobbying helps to overturn this.<br><br>Those of us who have used state libraries' or museums' online<br>collections will be aware that they frequently claim to have
<br>reproduction or other rights on public domain material. This is wrong <br>and misleading... instead of acting as caretakers on our behalf they<br>frequently act as scolding nannies wrapping us on the knuckles for<br>
daring to touch. So a related effort would be lobbying for greater<br>funding for digitisation of all kinds of archives. <br><br>5) To lobby and promote the use of free licenses in academia.<br>The amount of information locked away in subscription-only journals is
<br>nothing short of scandalous...education, via access to information, is<br>nothing short of revolutionary. What is the point of academia if not<br>to ultimately increase the public good. If so, it should be available<br>
to the public.<br><br>I am not totally sold on the use of free licenses in, say, personal <br>art and photography. Things created by private citizens. But in the<br>case of academia, science, education, government, and *works that are
<br>already free* due to copyright expiration, it is nothing short of<br>outrageous to make things expensive and difficult to access. <br><br>Again this point is more removed from what WMF does in the US, but I<br>think it has pretty clear links to the WMF vision.
<br><br>So that's my thoughts about it.<br><br>cheers,<br>Brianna<br><br>--<br>They've just been waiting in a mountain for the right moment: <br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://modernthings.org/" target="_blank">
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