The December newsletter has been published at http://
meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK_v2.0/Newsletter/December2008 and
is copied below for your convenience:
Summary: You can now join Wiki UK Ltd, which hopes to become the
official UK chapter of Wikimedia in January. The organisation is
planning its first Annual General Meeting, where members can vote on
who is on the board, and put forward and vote on resolutions. The
organisation is already supporting activities such as a bid to hold
Wikimania 2010 in Oxford and the exciting Wikipedia Loves Art project
at the Victoria and Albert Museum. We also bring you news of the the
recent Wikimeet in London.
In this month's newsletter:
1. Chapter formation
2. Membership
3. AGM
4. Wikimania 2010 - Oxford bid
5. Wikipedia Loves Art
6. London Wikimeet
Chapter formation
As mentioned in our November newsletter, the Chapters Committee has
recommended we are approved as a chapter of Wikimedia, and we are
expecting the Wikimedia Foundation to decide on this at their next
meeting, on 9th–11th January. We hope to complete bank account
opening shortly after we are approved. In the meantime, we are
preparing for the rush of events which will happen immediately
afterwards (see
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK_v2.0/
Timeline ), and we are also supporting activities ranging from the
bid to hold Wikimania 2010 in Oxford to Wikipedia Loves Art.
Membership
As we announced in our last newsletter, we are now inviting
membership applications: being a member gives you an official say in
what the company does, allowing you to attend and vote at AGMs, put
forward written resolutions, elect the new boards at the AGMs, and
much more. You can download the application form here: http://
meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Wiki_UK_Ltd_membership_application_form.pdf .
We will start processing the applications received as soon as the
bank account is set up. We should also be able to accept tax-
refundable donations at that point, and claim back the tax from the
donations already received with the permission of the donors.
AGM
As soon as the chapter status is approved and the bank account
opened, the board will move to call the first AGM. This is currently
pencilled in for the end of February, giving us enough time to give
the statutory notice and to organise the elections. However, if there
are any delays this may be pushed back. The draft of the agenda for
the AGM (see
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK_v2.0/AGM )
currently includes the election of the first permanent Board,
discussing the priorities of the chapter and passing some formal
resolutions.
Wikimania 2010 - Oxford bid
Wiki UK Limited is keen to bring Wikimania to the UK, and the 2010
Oxford bid still seems like the best chance we will have for this in
the next few years, since there is a common feeling that 2010 is
Europe's year. Organising a conference on the scale of Wikimania is a
lot of work, and we desperately need your help (see below for details
of things you could do). A lot of progress was made on the bid over
the summer, but since then the momentum has died down a little due to
the other commitments of those who had been working on it. In the
last few weeks, Seddon has once again begun work, obtaining the
support of the local flickr group, and investigating a new source of
sponsorship for us.
How you can help:
* work on the bid page (expand existing sections, fill in place
holders) - see
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2010/Bids/Oxford
* contact potential sponsors and partners on our behalf (see
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2010/Bids/
Oxford#Organisations_not_currently_being_investigated and the talk page)
* show your support by signing up as a member of the local team:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2010/Bids/Oxford#Local_team
Wikipedia Loves Art
The Victoria and Albert Museum, the world's largest museum of
decorative arts and design with a collection of over 4.5 million
objects, is joining in with a world-wide project in February 2009 to
photograph major pieces of work and release the images under public
licence: Wikipedia Loves Art. They have invited Wikipedians to get
involved in collecting the images, putting them online and using them
in Wikipedia articles. More information is available here: http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:WLA@V%26A . Please sign up to get involved
and let us have your ideas!
London Wikimeet
Sunday 14th December saw the 16th London Wikipedia meetup ( http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/London_16 ). As the numbering
suggests the meetups have been running for quite some time, with the
first one in June 2004. The meetups currently take the form of a pub
lunch at the Penderel's Oak in Holborn on the second Sunday of every
month. Eight Wikipedians came along, falling within the stereotypical
Wikipedia demographic (15-45, higher education, involvement in a non-
manual job). Topics discussed included Wikimedia UK and its current
status, the (now concluded) Arbitration Committee elections,
(briefly) contract law and various other tidbits. The meetups are
excellent fun and a good opportunity to meet other Wikipedia
contributors and get to know them; several projects people have
worked on have come about as a result of interactions with people at
these meetups. The next one is due to be held on Sunday 11th January
2009 at 13:00 (see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/
London_17 ).
Wiki UK Limited 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.