On 6/23/05, Angela <beesley(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I could be wrong, but I vaguely recall reading something that "England
> > > only" (or probably England-and-Wales) was being looked at, as it
> > > potentially simplified matters from a legal standpoint.
> >
> > Yeah, the current Plan is to incorporate under England-and-Wales law, but
> > we'll be for the whole of the UK.
>
> UK is the working name for the chapter at the moment, though this does
> unfortunately exclude Ireland, which might not be large enough to get
> its own chapter yet, so I think there is still room for changes to be
> made to incorporate them.
>
> This was discussed at <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK>.
> The suggestion of using "WISE" (Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England) was
> made at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_UK
>
> Angela.
I think it would be nice to incorporate Ireland into this chapter, but
obviously the name and the legal framework will be the problem. I'd
still like to see the efforts to focus on smaller languages be
extended to Irish Gaelic, which is in big trouble as a spoken
language. It'd be really nice to see pan-British Isles collaboration
on scholarship and general education in smaller languages, learning
lessons from the resounding success in Wales, for example. Even though
there's now a dedicated TV channel in Irish and it's a compulsory
subject throughout school, there's a big need to promote its actual
use and make it a community-based initiative. This, you understand, is
coming from someone who suffers from non-Irish-speaking-Irishperson
guilt, so I'd be happy to help out with this.
Cormac / Cormaggio
As far as I can see, we are pretty ready to start constructing our bylaws
since many of the fundamental issues are settled (legal responsibility,
etc.). This would avoid further stalling and give us a boost.
The best way I can see doing this (as suggested by Angela), is to write a
first draft on Meta Wikimedia and arrange a meeting on IRC (#en.wikimedia)
at a later time to debate wording and such forth.
Is everyone happy with people going ahead and starting to write the bylaws
at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia UK/bylaws ?
Oldak.
We should get more actively into getting Wikimedia UK off the ground.
Once we're a UK charity, possible sources of income include the Arts Council
(freedom of information about culture, innit), and the British Council
(spreading British culture across the globe, as well as much the same
reasoning as for the Arts Council - especially as current Chair is Kinnock,
who will probably like the pro-proleteriat direction open content moves in
;-)), and others - thoughts?
As to personnel, I'm happy to take an active rôle in the UK Foundation;
David has said that he'd rather take a more back-seat affair (non-exec.
Board member, perhaps?); others?
Alison - what's the current status? Probably buried under real work
deadlines, no doubt. :-) Anything I can do to help?
Yours,
--
James D. Forrester -- Wikimedia: [[W:en:User:Jdforrester|James F.]]
Mail: james(a)jdforrester.org | jon(a)eh.org | csvla(a)dcs.warwick.ac.uk
IM : (MSN) jamesdforrester(a)hotmail.com
I have started a FAQ about local Wikimedia chapters at
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Local_chapter_FAQ with 10 of the
questions that I know have been asked a lot.
If you know of any more frequently asked questions, or if you have
questions yourself, or if you are able to answer some of the existing
questions, please help with the creation of this page.
I am hoping it will become a useful resource, both for those involved
with current chapters, those wanting to start a new chapter, and also
for users of Wikimedia projects who are confused about the entire
concept of chapters.
Thanks.
Angela.