I think many of us would like to hear about the ambassadorship program. Maybe we could have a meetup with an agenda instead of a generic meet and greet. Bill McLaughlin 16 Rutland Square Boston, MA 02118 United States cell: 617.510.8267 skype: mclaughlin.bill bill_mclaughlin(a)hotmail.com

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: 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.

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: -- Samuel Klein          identi.ca:sj           w:user:sj          +1 617 529 4266

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: -- Samuel Klein          identi.ca:sj           w:user:sj          +1 617 529 4266

Hey all :) I would love to see a New England chapter or some other group formed. I've backed off from doing it because of my staff ties but I think there are a lot of benefits (though it does take some time). Sj gave a great explanation of the process and there is a nice step by step process at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Step-by-step_chapter_creation_guide too. The biggest first step is gathering people and figuring out bylaws though there are a lot of examples we can look at especially the WMnyc chapter (which is the only approved chapter in the US so far though DC is organized and getting very close). Another thing to think about is the exact structure we want (and if a chapter is going to help us). NYC and DC have had a lot of interaction with people up in Boston in the past and there has been some discussion of wanting to try and see what would be best. Ideas floated have been trying to merge into one east coast chapter, having a bunch of local chapters with a US (or east coast) based council to work together etc. The council that Aude was talking about I think is the best organized at the moment and can probably help the most. If you use IRC at all there is a channel on the freenode network (where all the Wikimedia/Wikipedia channels are) called #Wikimedia-northeast where a lot of NYC/DC/Boston wikimedian's hang out. The guys really involved with the NYC and DC (Aude and James Hare from DC and Pharos/Richard from NYC for example) could be huge since they're already going through the process (and in the case of nyc actually got recognition) . I know there is a WikimediaUS mailing list as well (I think it's WikimediaUS-l but Aude or Sj probably knows better I still haven't joined for some odd reason). For reference and idea's I was getting some examples together: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_New_York_City#Chapter_infrastructu… <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_New_York_City#Chapter_infrastructure> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_New_York_City/Bylaws <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_New_York_City/Bylaws> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_District_of_Columbia <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_District_of_Columbia> On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 7:55 PM, Baruch Stone &lt;baruchstone(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: -- James Alexander jamesofur(a)gmail.com

Sounds awesome all around! I'd love to make the trip up the coast for this :) Thanks, Richard (User:Pharos) Wikimedia NYC On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 1:05 AM, Benjamin Lees &lt;emufarmers(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: