Hello all,
As many of you already know, we had a meeting on Saturday in Kendall Square (the notes can be found here: https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/New_England_Wikimedians_April_2014_meetup). For those of you who weren’t able to attend, we planned out two more meetups and the next general meeting, as well as talked about the edit-a-thon on May 3rd at the Peabody Essex Museum. Further information on all of these events can be found on our Meetup.com page, as I have yet to finish developing the respective Wikipedia pages for two of the events: http://www.meetup.com/wikipedia-5/
In terms of other major things that came out of the meeting, we agreed to gain fiscal responsibility through the sponsorship of Wikimedia District of Columbia. This will allow for us to spend money and have a place to put any funds that we raise without having to rely on anyone’s personal bank account, and prevent the need for incorporation. We will also be able to raise funds and have a place to store them, without having to do sort out where the money should go. Additionally, we will pursue having a website so that we can consolidate some of our web activities, which would also allow for the discontinuation of the Meta page, as well as allow us to have a website to direct people who are interested in us. Another lesser matter that we will pursue will be generic business cards for members of the user group, so that people will be able to perform outreach better. This will come into affect once the Affiliations Committee decides on a redesign of our logo, due to there being some legal issues that many user groups are skirting by using the WMF’s logo in their designs. Each of the above things were the result of myself and Ben talking to people at the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin last week, and have all gotten the green light from the Affiliations Committee.
Finally, per the implementation of other chapters, we have developed an Friendly Space Policy that outlines the user group’s views on harassment and other unwelcome behavior at chapter events: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_England_Wikimedians/Friendly_space_poli…. This policy will go into effect immediately, as we want to create a welcoming environment for anyone who attends our events. If anyone has any questions or suggestions about this policy, please feel free to e-mail myself or Maia.
On behalf of the provisionary board for the New England Wikimedians,
Kevin Rutherford- Co-Chair
Maia Weinstock- Co-Chair
John Sanzi- Secretary
Benjamin Lees- Treasurer
Jennifer Baek- Legal Council
P.S. These officer roles are for temporary organizational purposes. If anyone wants to run for an office that would take on certain specific responsibilities, we will hold elections at our annual meeting in July when we decide upon some more roles for interested persons.
The following looks like a beautiful opportunity to expand access to a
special collection that isn't currently online. Some people savvy to the
most successful WiR projects should apply: this will work out best as a
facilitative role that networks with the editors and curators on
Commons/WS/WP.
http://mblc.state.ma.us/jobs/find_jobs/rss.php?job_id=8583
I look forward to seeing people this afternoon! SJ
Harvard College Library Houghton Library: Wikipedian-in Residence
> Assistant, $16:00/Hour
>
> Duties/Description:Supervised by the Curator of Early Modern books and
> Manuscripts, and working with other Houghton subjects
> specialists, expand coverage on Wikipedia of topics
> relevant to Houghton collections.
>
> Adding sources for existing pages and creating new pages on
> notable topics. Provide appropriate formatting and metadata
> (and OCR cleanup in the case of texts) to upload public
> domain content to Wikimedia and Wikisource, and facilitate
> the use of such materials by other Wikipedia users. Explore
> the creation of WikiProjects related to Houghton holdings
> and promote participation in such projects.
>
> Qualifications:BA. Candidate must be a registered Wikipedian in good
> standing, with substantial experience in writing and
> editing Wikipedia articles, and possess knowledge of
> Wikipedia standards, culture, and rules. Knowledge and
> experience working with Special Collections preferred.
> Attention to detail, good organizational skills, problem-
> solving ability, ability to work independently and
> collaboratively. Demonstrated ability and enjoyment in
> writing both clear narrative text and documentation.
> Excellent oral and written communication skills.
> Proficiency with Windows-based applications.
>
Hello fellow Wikimedians,
I hope that you are all enjoying this beautiful day, as there are two things that I wanted to make known to people. I just realized that I don’t think there was ever an announcement on the general mailing list for the meeting that we are having on Saturday, so here is more information on our quarterly meeting: http://www.meetup.com/wikipedia-5/events/157467352/ It will be from 1-3 in the Clover Food Lab in Kendall Square, which is a new location for them.
Also, our Facebook page is nearing 100 likes, so if you haven’t already connected with us on Facebook, check us out: https://www.facebook.com/WikimediaNewEngland
We hope to see you there, and please feel free to e-mail me back with any questions.
Kevin Rutherford
Hello Bostonians (as well as everyone else on the list),
The article on the 2014 Boston Marathon is a tad short for DYK (which has a
minimum article length of 1500 characters, around 60 more than what the
article has now). The DYK nomination has stalled because of this. If
someone would be kind enough to expand the article, and another person be
kind enough to put it through a DYK review once it's been expanded, I would
then be able to place the hook in a prep area on the appropriate date so
that the article appears on the main page during the marathon. (I can't do
the expansion or the review if *and* also move it to prep, which is why I'm
asking here).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Did_you_know_nominations/2014_Boston…
Thanks in advance,
Sven Manguard
Hey everyone,
Just wanted you to be aware of the following upcoming Wikipedia events in
Massachusetts over the next month. Hope to see you all at our
organizational meeting on the 19th!
**Wed, April 16**
Law edit-a-thon at Harvard Law
School<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Boston/HLS_edit-a-thon>,
Cambridge, MA. The organizers, Kendra Albert and Sam Feldman, are
requesting a facilitator (interest in law topics ideal but by no means
necessary): "We'd love to have some members of the local Wikimedia
community attend and help guide us, and if this edit-a-thon is successful,
we'd love to make a semi-regular event." If you'd be up for volunteering,
please contact Kendra at kalbert(a)cyber.law.harvard.edu or Sam via his talk
page <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Hallmark>. 2-7PM.
**Sat, April 19**
New England Wikimedians general
meeting<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Boston/April_2014_meeting>,
Cambridge, MA. Agenda: Meet-and-greet for all new and returning members;
Brief recap of local WP events held so far this yr (will also include a
report from Berlin Wikimedia mtg, to which we are sending representatives);
Attendees recount any interesting Wiki projects that they are proud to have
worked on recently; Brainstorm spring events such as a potential trip to
Cape Cod for a photobombing expedition for Commons and a trip to
WikiConference USA in NYC; Brainstorm ideas for NE Wikimedians swag.
(T-shirt, buttons, etc.); Any other business you would like to bring up.
1-3PM.
**Sat, May 3**
Native American & Chinese Art edit-a-thon at the Peabody Essex
Museum<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Peabody_Essex_Museum_Edit-a-…>,
Salem, MA. "Come and join the Peabody Essex
Museum<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peabody_Essex_Museum>(PEM) for
our very first Wikipedia edit-a-thon! PEM is committed to making
information about its collections available to a global audience. At this
first edit-a-thon, we'll be editing Wikipedia articles and uploading images
on our Native American and Asian collections using the resources and
expertise provided by the PEM curators and staff." 9AM-5PM.
cheers,
Maia
maiaw.com | WPuser:Girona7 | @20tauri