Hi,
My question was not whether, the presence of Rahul was useful or not in the Wikimania. My question was, why he was allowed to attend Wikimania depriving other Wikimedians who were in the waiting list of scholarship recipients in India, as the scholarship was said to be given to those who were in the waiting list from India. Where was the documentation or transparency? Even the WMIN EC members didn't knew about his tour. I question about the validity of his selection over other Wikimedians from scholarship waiting list.
Secondly, I posted the question in India mailing list, not here, because some Indian Wikimedians are familiar with what's going on, has insight about the matter. It would not be possible for others to understand the scenario without knowing the perspective. So, I request to comment in India mailing list and not here. Like other Indian Wikimedians attending the conference, I heard many things which question if WMIN should get any future support of volunteer community members of India or not, but that also, I don't intend to discuss in this mailing list. I hope, someone will definitely raise them in India mailing list soon.
So, let's start our discussion here what Subhashis wants to discuss in general. For specific discussions related to WMIN and Rahul, the India mailing list is open.
Thanks,
Bodhisattwa
This is an issue of internal governance and management. Rahul is a member of the Executive Committee of Wikimedia India which constitutes six other members who are collectively responsible for decision-making in the best interests of the organization, as well as maintaining certain standards of accountability and transparency. Has there been an attempt to bring this to the attention of Rahul and the WMIN Executive Committee first?
That being said, I recall having a very productive meeting with Rahul at Wikimania, who gave me a thorough appraisal of the current status of Wikimedia India, recognizing that I am one of the founding members. My impression is that Rahul also effectively acted as the ambassador for Wikimedia India in several discussions, as other participants can also probably attest. Personally, I appreciate his enthusiasm and efforts towards keeping WMIN relevant in the broader Wikimedia movement.
Though I’m not sure if it’d be right to take names here, but this is probably an opportunity to discuss about:
- if there is a need for consensus when a Wikimedia affiliate provides support to one person from another affiliate
- if an affiliate provides support if they share it on wiki for transparency or not
- Wikimania scholarship recipients generally create Learning Patterns and write reports. These are good practices in general but making it mandatory for the scholarship recipients brings out a really valuable pool of knowledge which otherwise might not be the case because of the post-Wikimania fatigue. There is a need for more clarity if non-Wikimania participants (individual/affiliate reps) who travel because of support from another affiliate should also produce the same
- If an affiliate decides to provide support, should they announce publicly (on regional mailman lists and meta/village pumps) if there is any conflict. If there was a rationale that the former used to identify certain individuals, should they share that as well?
I think discussing these above would be useful in general.
Bodhi, didn’t want to steal your thunder but I think some of the general points (above) can be discussed which in someway would be useful for all such future supports.
Subhashish
Begin forwarded message:
Hi,
WMIN chapter president Rahul Deshmukh attended Wikimania 2018 in Cape Town without being selected for any type of scholarship. My question is why was he sent to the conference depriving other community members from India who were in the waiting list.
He spoke in the informal chairpersons' meetup for few minutes. The meeting doesn't require president of the organization's presence, and already there were 2 EC member of WMIN present, who could have attended the meeting.
To me, this is utter misuse of power and abuse of donation money.
Thanks,
Bodhisattwa
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