Wikimedia-ca December 2010

wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org

12 participants
7 discussions

[Wikimedia-Canada] Wiki Canada Logo
by Alan Walker 28 Dec '10

28 Dec '10

I am please to announce that we are in the process of building the new web site for Wiki Canada. Wiki Canada currently does not have a logo. If you're interested in proposing a logo design for Wiki Canada, please contact me directly. Initially we will need to replace the default wiki logo image which is attached to this email. -- View Alan Walker's profile on LinkedIn [http://fastalan.com]

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[Wikimedia-Canada] Fwd: Wikimedia Canada
by L.Gelauff 05 Dec '10

05 Dec '10

Hi, it seems the list moderator never approved this message (sent twice), so re-sending. Lodewijk Gelauff ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lodewijk <lodewijk(a)effeietsanders.org> Date: 2010/11/28 Subject: Wikimedia Canada To: wikimedia-ca(a)lists.wikimedia.org Cc: Chapters Committee list <chaptercommittee-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Dear all, (sending this to the mailing list, hoping to make sure that way to reach all relevant people) I understood from Barry Newstead that James Heilman have been in touch with him about Wikimedia Canada. As chapcom, we have had some communication with several people (on a few occasions) from Canada in the past about creating a Canadian chapter, but somehow contact was lost and the discussion went into nothing. To me, it is unclear what the current status is exactly. I would appreciate it if you could give us an overview of the what the situation is. The last thing I heard was that there was a discussion whether to found under the old or new laws, both having advantages and disadvantages. You will of course understand that chapcom will not take a position in such discussion, and that that has to be resolved internally. Most likely you are already aware of a lot of the following information, but I will send it in any case, just to make sure all information is put together. Wikimedia Chapters are local organizations striving for the same goals as the Wikimedia Foundation - supporting creation and dissimination of free knowledge and content. Generally speaking, a Wikimedia organisation in any country should definitely involve members of the local Wikimedia communities – the membership shouldn't be exclusive to Wikimedians, yet the local Wikimedia communities should be able to feel a sense of ownership towards the nascent chapter in their country. As the people are the glue that hold together and propel a chapter to sustainable activity, I would urge you to try to gather more local supporters - especially Wikimedians among them - for the idea of the local chapter and to set up a central planning page on Meta Wiki[1] and list yourselves on the list of chapters in discussion[2]. This meta planning page and setting up a mailing list could help you in gathering the people - as well as organising local meetups or seminars. Once the venues for discussion are set up, you could probably have more luck soliciting input by approaching the active editors on the various Wikipedias and motivating them towards taking a more active local role in the Wikimedia mission. I see you have already made a very good start with this, but to have a viable chapter, you might want to try and gather more people to become active members. You can find a lot of information about the approval process on metawiki[3], where we tried to outline every step. Let me know if you have any questions or need help finding the relevant venues to contact local Wikipedians (e.g. the mentioned Village Pumps, sitenotices, etc.). Please keep me updated on the progress you are making and how things are going. We are especially interested in knowing who and how many people are involved, and what your ideas are for forming a chapter. If you would like to brainstorm, give or take suggestions or be in contact for any other thing, please do email me. Good luck and please do stay in touch, Best regards, Lodewijk Gelauff chapters committee [1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Countryname [2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters [3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Step-by-step_chapter_creation_guide

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Re: [Wikimedia-Canada] Documents of incorporation
by James Heilman 05 Dec '10

05 Dec '10

Jit makes a very good point wrt the best point in the process to apply for charity status. I agree that our next step after incorporation should be getting a chapters agreement with Wikimedia. -- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, B.Sc.

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[Wikimedia-Canada] Documents of Incorporation
by James Heilman 04 Dec '10

04 Dec '10

With respect to the submitted documents of incorporation, they are not written in stone. Amendments can be filled at any time and may need to be filled a couple of times to get wording that the Canada Revenue Agency is willing to except as charitable. The process is: 1) Incorporate as a non profit 2a) Submit application for charity status to Canadian Revue Agency 2b) Apply to the chapters committee to be recognized as an official chapter 3) If we wish to use ca.wikimedia.org this would be the time when we would get the domain I assume. -- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, B.Sc.

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[Wikimedia-Canada] Steering Committee
by James Heilman 04 Dec '10

04 Dec '10

WRT being part of the "steering committee" it was set up only for getting this organization through the incorporation process. The documents has been submitted. Only if it fails will more input be needed. If does pass the bureaucratic hurtles and people disagree with any of the bylaw we can than discuss amendments. Some of the previous email contain personal information. While I am open to sharing this others may be less so. WRT where we go next everyone has an equal opportunity to provide input. As we are not formally an organization at this point there is no official membership and no one to give official approval to carry something out. This also means that any funding needed will be personally provided. Once we have a bank account and a formal link with Wikimedia opportunities for funding may appear. We will eventually need a site which will accept donations. I think Alan Walker has expressed interest in creating something like this. It is my hope that it will eventually go live at an address such as . ca.wikimedia.org Wiki UK has a good design that we could emulate here http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page and http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK If anyone has projects they wish to pursue please feel free to begin discussion either here or on the meta site. The meta site of course could use further development. Someone able to maintain translation into French would be nice. Once incorporation has taken place I have a friend who has agreed to help with this. Projects I have been working on getting up and running include: 1) A Wikimedia club at UBC. Another faculty member and Wikipedian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jbmurray has expressed interest in this. 2) Pushing for release of material by the Canadian government into the creative common. A bunch of other great suggestions are listed here http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Canada/Potential_Projects -- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, B.Sc.

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[Wikimedia-Canada] Chapters Committee
by James Heilman 04 Dec '10

04 Dec '10

There have been some concerns raised that not enough discussion has taken place wrt incorporation before documents where submitted. WRT contacting the chapters committee: June13 2010 I contact Cary Bass about setting up Wiki Canada. June 14th 2010 he sent this message to chap comm I email chap comm list again July 21st, 2010 as I had heard no reply from June, Jerry Yuyu replyed I send this gentleman our bylaws Aug 4th, 2010 I email Sue Gardner July 30th, 2010 and she replied that she would help find us someone from chap comm. for an ongoing interactions Oct 6th 2010 I send all the documents of incorporation to Sue Gardner as I had not heard further from chap comm On Oct 18th this was forwarded to Erik Moeller and Barry Newstead Documents of incorporatation where sent in to the Federal govenment early Nov. 2010 I meat in San Fransisco with Barry newstead in mid Nov 2010 WRT getting other involved I have made hundreds of edits over the last year to the meta site as seen here http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Canada making explicitly clear of my desire to get Wiki Canada incorporated. I send personally emails to everyone on the previous steering committee questioning them about a desire to get the process rolling again. I think I emailed a few of them twice. Anyone at any time has always been free to jump on in and help. The precess has always been exceedingly open. I am very excited to see the reply from Lodewijk and am looking forwards to the chap comm getting involved in this process. Our documents and statement of purpose are on the meta site. I would be happy to email chap comm our most recent copy if they wish to contact me. -- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, B.Sc.

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[Wikimedia-Canada] Name
by James Heilman 30 Nov '10

30 Nov '10

If the government rejects Wiki Canada ( as the name could be potentially confused with the federal government ) we can discuss what other name we should us. The name of incorporation however is not that important as we will be operating under the name "Wikimedia Canada" once we have signed a chapters agreement. The reason we are incorporating under a different name is to keep the government happy. We need to be at arms lenght from other organizations to be a charity. -- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, B.Sc.

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Wikimedia-ca December 2010