The November newsletter of Wiki UK Limited has been published at
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK_v2.0/Newsletter/
November2008 and is copied below for your convenience:
Summary:
Wikimedians in the United Kingdom are working to set up a chapter of
the Wikimedia Foundation, which will aid and encourage people to
collect, develop and effectively disseminate knowledge. A board of
five members has been elected, and a company has now been set up.
Membership applications are now invited, and will be processed as
soon as we have a bank account. The organisation needs the support
and involvement of people like you.
Creating a chapter
Wikimedians in the United Kingdom have been working since 2006 to
create a chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. A company - Wiki
Educational Resources Ltd - was incorporated on 14 February 2006.
This company had several problems with recognition from the
Foundation and opening bank accounts which meant the decision was
made in August 2008 to wind the company up. The community decided to
start the process to create a new company, firstly electing an
initial Board.
Elections
From 20 - 27 September, the community voted for an initial board of
five members to incorporate the new organisation, set up a bank
account, request charitable status and arrange the first Annual
General Meeting (AGM). Nine people put their names forward to stand
and eight were accepted as candidates - the ninth being rejected as
they were under 18. These five candidates received the support of
more than the required 50% of voters:
* Kwan Ting Chan (88.5%; Chair);
* Michael Conn (57.7%; Communication Officer) ;
* Tom Holden (92.3%; Treasurer);
* Mike Peel (53.2%; Membership Secretary);
* Andrew Turvey (73.1%; Secretary).
Of the 37 people who registered in time to vote, 26 (70%) cast their
ballots. The board members took up the positions listed alongside
their names. New board elections will be held at the first AGM.
Status of Company Formation
The board has agreed a timeline of objectives. Good progress is
being made. Following extensive discussions, a company named '''Wiki
UK Ltd''' has been set up and was incorporated on 5 November. The
company's Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association have
been agreed, and these include the organisation's objectives:
The charity's Object is to aid and encourage people to collect,
develop and effectively disseminate knowledge and other educational,
cultural and historic content in the public domain or under a license
that allows everyone to freely use, distribute and modify said
content, by means including (but not limited to):
1 promoting freely accessible online information repositories whose
content is freely and collaboratively editable;
2 acting as a voice and representative for the community of UK
residents and citizens who use and edit such repositories;
3 preserving world heritage, and particularly that of the UK, through
such repositories;
4 supporting the charitable work of the Wikimedia Foundation;
5 enabling, assisting, promoting and promulgating wider participation
in the creation, dissemination and expansion of information and
educational resources covering the world's knowledge and languages to
all persons, everywhere;
6 furthering the development of electronic, printed, and other
resources required to support such participation;
7 producing, publishing and developing, or cause to be produced,
published and developed, information resources, whether in printed,
electronic, or other forms;
8 making use of or encouraging the use of information resources for
the advancement of education; and
9 encouraging the adoption of practices and policies to widen
education, participation and dissemination of information worldwide;
The chapters committee has passed a resolution to support us becoming
a chapter of Wikimedia. This does not yet give us chapter status, as
the board of the Wikimedia Foundation must decide on this, and their
next meeting is from 9th-11th January.
Membership
We have decided to have one membership level to start with. Members
will have the right to elect the Board, submit motions and vote at
AGMs, thereby playing a central role in determining the activities of
the organisation. The membership fee will be £12/year, reduced to £6/
year for concessions. These fees may be revised, and additional
levels of membership created, at an AGM or by future Boards.
We are now inviting applications for membership of Wiki UK Limited;
you can get the application form from
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/
Image:Wiki_UK_Ltd_membership_application_form.pdf. We will process
these as soon as we have a bank account. We are currently applying
for a bank account and hope that this will be up and running by late
December.
More information on membership can be found at http://
meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK_v2.0/Membership.
Getting involved
In order to aid and encourage people to collect, develop and
effectively disseminate knowledge, the chapter needs the support and
involvement of people like you. Now is a great time to get
involved. If you haven't already done so, you can subscribe to this
newsletter. You may also like to subscribe to the WikimediaUK
mailing list, where discussion on the chapter is taking place. You
can additionally pose questions or make suggestions on Meta Wiki,
where you can also respond to the items raised for consultation by
the Board. Our Board Meetings held on irc are generally open to the
public to listen and contribute and the agenda, reports, minutes and
IRC log are posted on the wiki
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