Hello Katie!
Yes, the DC draft documents are another good set to look at,
particularly to see what the process looks like while in development.
I'd also like to say that I like the idea of an informal WALRUS :)
committee with a colon-close paren in the name...
I don't know if you saw earlier in the thread, but we will look for
someone with time to coordinate with WALRUS :) at our next meeting.
Good luck with the 'Mania bid.
SJ
On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 1:23 PM, aude <aude.wiki(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi SJ, James, and everyone,
Just want to say I'm very happy to hear there's interest in formalizing the
Boston / New England group! :)
For those that don't me, I'm a Wikipedian in Washington DC where we are
working to form a chapter.
http://wikimediadc.org
We are in the discussion phase, busy at the moment with our Wikimania 2012
bid, but are moving forward soon with the process.
I think we all want local/subnational chapters, but there may be areas where
we / NYC / other US Wikimedians can coordinate, hence the idea for the US
chapters council and the WALRUS :) committee which would be an informal,
voluntary group.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_United_States_Chapters_Council#WAL…
Cheers,
Katie (@aude)
On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 1:06 PM, Samuel Klein <meta.sj(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Great. Sunday the 10th it is.
To formalize a chapter, you need
- interested people!
- a mission statement, aligned with other Wikimedia missions
- bylaws, generally indicating the geography represented, how people
can join, and what work is supported.
--> chapters tend to be membership orgs supporting aligned projects
within their geography
- incorporation as a legal entity
- a webpage (or wiki page) describing the group and its work
You normally discuss the process with the Chapters Committee once the
first three steps are underway.
Once all of these documents seem to be in order and aligned with the
goals of the movement, the ChapCom will vote on whether to recommend
the chapter to the Foundation for recognition (sometimes pending
incorporation).
It is good practice to apply for non-profit status as well, but not
required to become a Chapter.
James has been looking at bylaws recently, and may be able to offer
his own take on best practices.
SJ
On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 7:55 PM, Baruch Stone <baruchstone(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
I would very much enjoy to attend a Sunday
meeting. In fact Sunday is
the
only day I have free. I will forward this to the BU professor whom I am
CAing for.
What would be involved in formalizing a Wikimedia New England chapter?
Baruch
On 3/22/11 7:16 PM, Samuel Klein wrote:
Let's invite the local Ambassadors to join us next meeting. We can
invite some of the profs involved as well. The Tufts profs outside of
public policy who were interested may also want to come.
I think we're leaning towards Sunday April 10 -- Mr. Lees, correct me
if I'm wrong. We could reserve a classroom and bring food there, for
easier discussion.
On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 4:40 PM, Baruch Stone<baruchstone(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> As for me, I have been editing Wikipedia for *several* years. I have
> two
> Good Articles to my credit and have experience in new page patrolling,
> anti-vandalism, copy editing and other areas.
>
> I would like to create a formal Boston/New England Wikimedia Chapter
> and
> would be happy to do a bit of the legwork in getting it off the
> ground.
> Who
> is interested?
This sounds like a good idea to me. I am happy to support the process
and can offer general feedback, as I am currently an observer on the
Chapters Committee. You might take a look at the bylaws and focus of
other chapters and pending chapters (NYC and Canada come to mind;
Brasil and Australia discussions may also be of interest) for
reference.
Active meetup groups and chapters around the US have been talking
recently of forming a national council -- to help regional chapters
grow, and to address questions of whether to form a national group and
how to support work in sparser regions of the country without a
thriving metro or big universities to make organizing events easy.
We should discuss who's interested in participating at our next
meeting.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_United_States_Chapters_Council#WAL…
Sam.
--
Samuel Klein identi.ca:sj w:user:sj +1 617 529
4266
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